Trowbridge MDC Rally 2008

THE 2008 RALLY - A report by our secretary

As Secretary I was involved in most of the early planning of the rally. This started back in September of last year, when I began looking for some land to hold it on. The outcome of that was I had to get permission from four separate farmers in the ideal block of land.

This permission was given readily as soon as they knew which charity it was for. The date was set for September the 14^th, as normally it would have been cropped, and some even seeded by then. Little did anybody think that we would get virtually six weeks of rain from early August?

Most of the farmers were lucky (if you can call that luck) they had a day here and there, where they could harvest some of the Barley, but one of the main fields could not be cropped in time, and that was only started on the 15^th .

We did in the end have backup fields to ensure there was enough land on the day.

There were quite a few bits and pieces found, including over eight hammered. But as Tony is going to write an article about the Weekends finds, and include photos I will not say any more.

Our FLO is going to write a few words about her part in recording the finds, as soon as she gets a chance.

Our Chairman along with the FLO checking the finds

The whole weekend was sunny and warm, which really rounded it off.

We were quite well supported by some retailers, and two Manufacturers. One of which was Mine-lab who gave us enough items for virtually all 30 prize winners to receive something extra, Mine-lab really pushed the boat out with their prizes.

Also included were Whites, Regton, Treasure hunting magazine, and the Searcher with a Subscription. Joan Allen sent two books for beginners, (not many of them at a rally).

We also spent a fair bit of money on prizes to ensure that each prize was worth having. This included £50 for the ten £5 instant wins plus 5 Token tickets to start them off.

One lucky winner won Bill Wyman’s book on Detecting finds, which Bill himself kindly donated. Also included were a George foreman grill, a DVD player, wall clocks, silver wall photo frames, fruit baskets, and ½ hams, the list seemed endless. Three lucky winners each won a pack of 5 items of Mine-lab bags/hats/T-shirts etc.

We buried over a 1000 tokens for the token hunt, but only just over 800 were found. Some people stayed on the Token field all day. It goes to show how popular that event is.

 Good weather, good detecting,everyone had a great day

Our Marshals did a good job of talking to people and answering questions. While   two of them were in a 4x4 and another on a bike just to reach the far fields.

 Early morning our marshals ready for the rush

The loo’s stayed clean, good parking, and excellent food, and with a pub next door, what more can you want.

It’s these things that make a Rally worthwhile and stand out from just a day’s detecting.

Overall we were very pleased with the outcome of the day, so if you came we hope you enjoyed yourselves. If you did miss it, come to our next one see what it’s like. If you do, you can be sure we will not lower our standards.

If anybody would like to comment on the rally, please e-mail us.

See you next time

Dave

We will shortly be putting up a full article on the finds made on the day so bookmark this site and check back soon.