lorna
New Member
Posts: 11
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Post by lorna on Apr 11, 2008 13:28:25 GMT
Although my daugher shows her pony locally i dont really hava lot to do with it other than paying the bills. In my effort to get more involved and to be more supportive of my daughter i recently went to a swpa show! On arriving i found the gentleman!!!! on the gate to be very stressed and almost rude! I suspect spectators are not a good source of income really!! I found that the ladies who do all of the paperwork behind the desk to be very pleasant and helpful and i felt extremely sorry for one of them when same gentleman from the car park went storming in and had a "hissy fit" at one of the ladies beause he had no help in the car park! surely these shows are held for peoples pleasure!!
I left there thinking 2 things, 1. I will stick to paying the bills and not bothering with these shows and 2.thank goodness it was not my car that i witnessed being stomped on by a stallion!!
Moan over but people please remember you are supposed to be enjoying yourselves!!
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sue
Junior Member
Posts: 56
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Post by sue on Apr 11, 2008 13:46:19 GMT
Well all I can say is when I arrived at both the SWPA shows this year I have found the Gentleman on the gate both polite and helpful in a difficult situation. The shows where both well attended and trying to fit all those horseboxes in a relatively small area is certainly a task I wouldn't want to have to sort out. Plus being out in all weathers and not a lot of thanks I bet. Would like to thank the two Gentlemen that after a long day at the show helped to push my horsebox out who's front wheels had sunk in the mud.
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Post by mrogers on Apr 11, 2008 15:07:40 GMT
What you also need to remeber is that most of the time, the people that do run the car parks etc are hardly ever comittee members but poor old dads that get roped into doing......I know thats the case with us anyway
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Post by karen on Apr 11, 2008 15:10:18 GMT
sorry you didnt find every one helpfull ...... the gents on the gate did a grand job in awkward curcumstances (lack of space for one ,, dreadful weather two. as for the car being stomped on,,, he was my stallion and the car owner was informed straight away ...................... and sorted out ..
last but not least none off us make or collect any money from these shows .. all is done voluntary.
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Post by kitty on Apr 11, 2008 16:29:36 GMT
O.K. we've all had experiences at shows that might make our day less than perfect, and a lot worse than the odd stressed parking attendant! However let's empathise with these hardworking committee members, especially the parking attendants that have had to stand in the freezing cold wind and rain from as early as 6.30 in the morning trying to organise everyone to park as safely as possible. It's a thankless task and I couldn't do it without feeling let's say 'challenged' at times especially with the amount of traffic they had to deal with on that day. I have always found them to be polite and accommodating wherever possible and that goes for whoever is on the gate. Come on cut them a bit of slack, we're all human after all! ::)Or maybe you caught them at a 'low' moment when they're faces were so frozen they could hardly crack a smile
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Post by drakelands on Apr 11, 2008 19:34:55 GMT
O.K. we've all had experiences at shows that might make our day less than perfect, and a lot worse than the odd stressed parking attendant! However let's empathise with these hardworking committee members, especially the parking attendants that have had to stand in the freezing cold wind and rain from as early as 6.30 in the morning trying to organise everyone to park as safely as possible. It's a thankless task and I couldn't do it without feeling let's say 'challenged' at times especially with the amount of traffic they had to deal with on that day. I have always found them to be polite and accommodating wherever possible and that goes for whoever is on the gate. Come on cut them a bit of slack, we're all human after all! ::)Or maybe you caught them at a 'low' moment when they're faces were so frozen they could hardly crack a smile Here, Here, I agree with what she just said! ;D
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Post by medwinatswpa on Apr 11, 2008 19:46:31 GMT
Thanks guys for your support. As secretary I back up everything that has been said - car parking is a thankless task where the poor guys doing it get abused, soaked, frozen and forgotten as far as a warming cup of tea goes. [hint hint - none of them would ever say no to an offer of a warm cup of tea!] Nearly every lorry nowadays seems to turn up with a car attached that needs to be parked - halving the space available for lorrys and trailers. When we try to organize it all the poor guys get so much abuse I wonder whether they ever volunteer to do the job again. Extra cars - do you really need to bring one? The car that was kicked was actually a judges and the matter was settled very amicably at the show - so where was the problem? As a very successful showing association we KNOW there will need to be organization in the parking at any indoor venue we use, but with the increased regulations being imposed on outdoor venues the use of indoor schools for shows maybe the norm in the future! And with that will come parking attendants who will need to deal with their role effectively and decisively! If that is mistaken for rudeness ........................ It is clear to me as secretary that people do not plan their arrival at shows to allow themselves time to park, enter their classes, get ready, ride in and be ready waiting for their show class. They arrive at the show stressed because they are late, and the first point of contact they have is with the poor parking attendant. Without their dedication and hard work you would be stuck out on the road queuing! SWPA has a strong committee of very dedicated people who all help and support each other on a completely voluntary basis. They all give hours of their spare time to run the association and provide the equine community with a very sucessful series of shows. This situation is replicated all over the country with any show you attend. Many, many shows are folding due to lack of this type of support. In conclusion just think about whether you would be prepared to do the job! Try it for one day then you might not be quite so quick to criticise those who do it at every show, and do it willingly.
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Post by marian on Apr 11, 2008 20:19:01 GMT
just a reminder lorna everyone gives up their free time to give us well run shows we applaud all of them not always easiest time they get shouted at screamed at not nice all i can say if any one can do it any better COME ON IN .i have run shows so know what im talking about .
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jem
Junior Member
Posts: 143
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Post by jem on Apr 11, 2008 20:38:44 GMT
I would just like to add "THREE CHEERS TO ALL CAR PARK ATTENDANTS AT SHOWS" As already said the job often goes to a long suffering Dad, or Husband who is doing the best he can & i as are others am very grateful to him (even if i dont show it when i arrive late, stressed and the car park is already over flowing lol)
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Post by anotherdeal1 on Apr 11, 2008 20:41:37 GMT
here here i agree i think you all do a marvellous job and as soon as my daughter is old enough to amuse herself i will volunteer I disagreeistance in between classes!!
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Post by suemoore on Apr 11, 2008 22:14:15 GMT
I have attended SWPA shows and have found the car park lads very polite and ready with a smile. I do not envy them their task, stood out in all the weather and having to deal with some "ungracious" people, my hat is tipped to all who help run these shows, as without them there would be no shows ;D ;D
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Post by winglewangle on Apr 12, 2008 7:19:18 GMT
and so say all of us, my husband did the car parking at a show recently and the weather was foul, but hopefully it helped people with their parking and everything seemed to go smoothly.
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Post by titch on Apr 12, 2008 7:54:37 GMT
They have always been great when greeting us at shows. When they said mum had to park in an awkward spot they even parked our trailer for us!!!!! How lovely is that!!!! It's a difficult boring job and well done to these people who give up there time to do such a great job. We all show for fun and maybe if just arriving in a car without a pony it wouldn't hurt to park up the road and have a little walk down!!!
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Post by tiggy01 on Apr 12, 2008 8:47:06 GMT
That show was particularly difficult for parking and at one point we just had to stop people coming in - I was sent down to the end of the road to stop anyone else coming up and apart from 2 trailers and 1 lorry the majority where cars - why can't you all come in one vehicle?? especially with fuel being so expensive. One of the car park attendants is my poor husband and yes he can be a little abrupt sometimes but it does get wearing when every competitor has a reason why they should be parked as they want and not as the space dictates. Thank goodness he is happy to do this as otherwise it would be total and utter chaos.
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Post by mrogers on Apr 12, 2008 11:47:35 GMT
we have that trouble to contend with tommorrow. We are a small pc with VERY limited amount of parking and with pre entries alone we have taken over £400 with each class beeing £3.50. We are taking over a car park from another company in the industrial estate down the road to park empty trailers and EVERYONES car apart from the judges
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