LRO Show, East of England Showground, 28-29th September 2002

LRO seem to be in a slightly nomadic state since leaving Billing for their annual bash. Last year this event was at the National Agricultural College at Stoneleigh, this year they have moved east to Peterborough and the East of England Showground. Boasting an ample arena but not much in the way of scenery, the EES provides plenty of space, despite what the stand plan and map had looked like.

Mark Buddle had missed most of the traffic by arriving Friday morning and, by all accounts, worked like a skivvy in order to have our entire allocated space under netting by the evening. The dining shelter was up, the table and lighting were installed, the fridge was running and the carpet was pending delivery.

Saturday dawned bright and a tad chilly, but as soon as the sun made it over the trees the dew dried up, the netting rose and the crowds poured in. Being Stand A1, we were located on the outside corner of the site (conveniently situated for the toilets and showers). There were fears that this perimeter position would lead to us being ignored. As it turned out, there was a constant tide of people past the front of the stand, and a good proportion would hang a turn under the nets to see what we were trying to hide.

But what were we trying to hide? The There Must Be No Dust contingent was headed at the front of the stand by Mark's MP110 and Peter's 101 Intercept; the Bright and Shiny section was represented by Sue's 80", Mike's RAF 109 Ambulance and Richard and Becky Lock's RAF 127 Ambulance (although this did begin the display in the Unpolished Sin Bin) and Dave Wilson's SAS Range Rover; the Fully Dressed and Disrobed element was represented by the Lightweights of Mike Timlett and Carl Honeyset, while Audience Participation was provided by Rex Hunt's children's' entertainment and military radio demos from the back of his FFR 109" and Dave Fish's School of Gunnery from the back of his 88" Recce.

The EMLRA: Fun for all the Family.

"If you don't look more vicious than that my lad,
I'll take out the rest of your front teeth..."

Some very in-depth judging in progress, right down to your tax disc

Evening entertainment provided by Rob Short and, despite his absence, Prince Albert Owen

Sunday started distinctly chilly and misty, but Weatherman Rex assured the doubters it would soon burn off and be as hot as Saturday. He was wrong; it soon burned off and became hotter than yesterday. After a slightly slower start, the now familiar avalanche of punters started and continued unabated until mid-afternoon. Which was a pity - because this was the allotted time for our turn in the arena.

We were asked to leave the stand and RV at a holding point just round the corner at 1530... and were then told that the event was running "bang on time for four-fifteen". Great, we'll just hang around here instead of getting some packing done then shall we?

We hung around not doing any packing for half an hour and were then directed into the arena in front of a grandstand containing as many as fifty people, a good proportion of which were wearing reflective marshal's jackets.

Gradually a display containing all of the club stands was assembled and the audience grew, although by this late stage of the day those there were hardly enthusiastic. Which was a shame, as once complete the display was visually very impressive and, had the intended audience been there, would have sounded very impressive too.

The award ceremony had a good range of categories to cover, there evidently had been a great deal of background judging going on. And some of it paid off - in the Best Restored category, Peter Barratt claimed second place with his Intercept 101 and Mark Buddle was momentarily stunned into immobility by being awarded first place!

"They do a lot of great work for charity, don't like to talk about it much..."
The cheques totaling £250 are being donated to this year's Club Charity, the Army Benevolent Fund.
Top marks!