Guys
there have thankfully been very few Brick-bats relating to this years show,but in answer to those the Main Event Organiser,Mr Neil Porter,has asked me to cut 'n' paste his reply from the Feed-Back page to our web-site;-
Firstly, many thanks for all your comments - it is all useful information. To address some of the points raised:
Toilets - yes, we underestimated the number of toilets needed, as we didn't expect quite as many people to turn up! Last year we got it right, this year we didn't. Unfortunately toilets are one of our largest costs - they are around £50 per unit per day to hire - multiply that by the 25 units onsite... we simply couldn't afford any more, as a non-commercial and volunteer-run show that gifts most of the profit to the Air Ambulance. The money we retain each year has to be spread across the board to make the show run. Having said that, it seems we may be in a position to hopefully remedy the toilet situation for 2010, and we will look into hiring the troughs mentioned too.
Traffic - a road accident in the vicinity of Abingdon didn't help matters. The traffic queues outside the airfield could be helped a bit if everybody made sure they didn't leave large gaps - it was apparent from aerial observation that the physical length of the queue could have been cut drastically if everyone had closed the gaps (thus freeing up the main roundabout under the A34 and the A34 slip road exits). Traffic queues are unfortunately one of the organisers' worst nightmares as to be honest we cannot do anything about it - we will look at the situation to see if there is anything that can be done to help but is highly unlikely.
Delays on the airfield - access to the airfield is restricted to the southern gate off Barrow Road, which gives us the maximum length of hard surface within the airfield to try and get as many cars as possible off the public roads. This hard surface - the perimeter track - is only wide enough for 3 lanes plus a further lane for emergency access and any departing traffic. Use of the grass either side is not possible due to the poor condition of some of the land - and had it been wet, could have been very muddy/unuseable/dangerous. We can see people's views on the 'lack of paygate staff'. Our problem here is getting willing and competent volunteers to run this point - we only had 13 people available (not all available simultaneously due to breaks etc.). You can help to some extent by buying advance tickets, enabling you to utilise the advance ticket lane to get in quicker once on the airfield.
Advertising & Signage - a few people mentioned the lack of banner advertising for the show in the run up to the weekend; well the answer is unfortunately that the local council have banned banner advertising etc and any unauthorised banners - or 'flyposting' - could lead to the organisers being fined! We were, however, in the local newspapers and radio and on various websites including - of course - this one!
We hope you all enjoyed your day despite any inconveniences you suffered and will return to support us and your local Air Ambulance next year!
Neil Porter, event organiser
On behalf of Neil and the rest of the committee,thank you for reading this and I hope you are re-assured that we do everything possible to make your visit to this annual all-volunteer run CHARITY event as pleasant as we can
Colin