Day 1
Each year 2425 Squadron are invited by the Committee of the Rempstone Steam and Country Fair to perform two major roles at their event: car parking and programme selling. I am writing this at home after a long hot and humid weekend at the fair. As I write on day 1, the cadets are still there, enjoying some well-earned leisure time on the stalls and funfair this evening, before they turn in for the night to their tents, to go through the whole thing again tomorrow. They started work at 8am and finished around 4pm, working in rotating shifts.
Throughout the day they worked in the blazing heat in full dress uniform (blues) but remained polite and cheerful throughout as they dealt with the general public, showing hundreds of car drivers where to park, selling show programmes, answering questions and generally making visitors feel welcome to the fair. Some young people get a lot of stick but these cadets have given up their entire weekend to be at the event and they make us adult staff proud to be part of the ATC supporting these youngsters. Two of our cadets even left the fair this evening after a long day’s work to perform in a music concert, before they return tomorrow for day 2. How’s that for dedication!
Day 2
More of the same! Although the day started off a little overcast and even quite cool at one point, the sun soon burst through and we had another hot day to contend with. Again, the cadets were fantastic and worked hard all day, as did the staff and Committee. The book stall, 'wine or water' and Tombola proving very popular and helping to boost Squadron funds. Then there was the cars! Hundreds of them flooding into the event but our cadets did a marvellous job keeping them all heading in the right direction to their parking spaces. We kept the cadets supplied with water and suncream throughout the day and thankfully there were no cases of heatstroke. It was also good to see ex cadets visiting our stalls. Finally a brief thanks to Mr Hawkins and ex-cadet son Tony, without whom we would struggle to get all the kit to the site and back. Mr Hawkins, brings two of his Scattergoods Coal Merchants lorries to transport this gear for which we are most grateful. See our photos of the weekend here.
