In July 2010, PRT was delighted to receive a telephone call from the President Elect of Pembrokeshire Agricultural Society, Roger J Mathias Esq, offering a stall at the 2010 Pembrokeshire County Show. We were even more delighted when we found out that the stall was FREE, an offer that a charitable organisation such as ours could not turn down. Of course, this meant manning the stall for the 3 days so rallying phone calls were made to the PRT Trustees and its volunteers. Thankfully, enough willing souls stepped forward and Roger Mathias’s kind offer was accepted.

There was a fantastic response from two of our Trustees, Nica and David Prichard, who offered the use of their caravan, gazebo and tables/chairs for the show. Alongside the PRT gazebo and a tent from the PRT Vice Chairman, Lloyd Evans, this meant that we had the basis for a fairly professional looking layout! However, as PRT had not taken on such a large event before, we were short of suitable display banners and advertising material. Display banners were a must and calls were made to get a number of quotes, all of which turned out to be fairly expensive. As a charitable Trust, funds are always a matter of concern and things were looking bleak! Then Laura Allen Clark, Community Liaison Co-ordinator at South Hook LNG (funding partners in the 2009- 2010 Educational Otter project) very generously stepped forward and offered to fund the display banner.

Advertising material was organised by Lloyd Evans, who also assembled a River Invertebrate Monitoring display with material supplied by Steve Morris, PRT Trustee and Helen Johnston from Afonydd Cymru.  Afonydd Cymru is an umbrella organisation, founded in 2008, that represents five Rivers Trusts across Wales and further details can be found at www.afonyddcymru.org. The display was enhanced with an electronic microscope and monitor which provided a great visual display to the visitors. Display boards were retrieved from the garage of one of the PRT Trustees, Mark White, dusted off, filled with posters and hoisted into place. Job done!

The focal point of the display was to raise the Trust’s profile and also to show the public what (a) PRT was doing in Pembrokeshire and (b) Afonydd Cymru was doing in Wales. Additionally, the need for volunteers was also emphasised and their importance in delivering all our projects. The River Invertebrate Monitoring display is always a great attraction, especially to children who seem to be fascinated with the bugs and creepy crawlies that inhabit our rivers and ponds. In addition, it represents a visual display to the public of the scientific approach taken to the monitoring of the local rivers.

Setting up on Monday afternoon was fairly straightforward thanks to the help of David Prichard and PRT volunteer Gareth Evans. The weather was great and things looked good! However, Tuesday turned out to be a fairly dampish day, with a few showers during the afternoon. This did not put off the visitors and great interest was shown by a steady stream of people in the invertebrate display and the activities of the Trust. In fact, over the 3 days, a number of them offered their services as volunteers, both as Habitat Surveyors and River Invertebrate Monitors. There were also enquiries, from a number of riparian owners, about how the Trust could help in improving their stretch of river/ponds. The stall was manned on Tuesday by Lloyd Evans, Nica & David Prichard and David Griffiths, a PRT volunteer. David had also generously offered his professional services in designing and launching a new PRT website, an offer which we gratefully accepted. We managed to get all the required information to him in time for the show so the website was launched on the Tuesday and is proving to be a great success (as you can see!).

The weather on Wednesday was much better except for a torrential downpour in the morning that saw the two PRT gazebos filled with sheltering members of the public. They say every cloud has a silver lining and those manning the stall took the opportunity to educate everyone on the activities of the Trust. Manning the stall were Lloyd Evans, Richard Blacklaw-Jones (PRT Trustee), Eric Williams (the Chairman of Pembrokeshire Anglers Association) and Helen Johnston. Once again, thanks to the sterling efforts of those manning the stall, a few generous individuals offered their services as new Trust volunteers.

Thursday started off with fairly good weather and a steady stream of visitors kept everyone busy. For the last day the stall was manned by Lloyd Evans, Roger Burns ( PRT Chairman), David Griffiths, John Pilcher (the President of Pembrokeshire Anglers Association) and Kay Dearing (PRT Treasurer and Trustee). As the afternoon went on, the weather got gradually worse with heavy rain setting in at 2 o’clock. This prompted a mass exodus from the show and visitor numbers to the stall plummeted. The wind also picked up and at 4 o’clock disaster struck. A large gust hit the stall and lifted the two gazebos 3 to 4 foot in the air! Thankfully, Eric Williams was visiting the stall with a few members of his family and they all grabbed at the gazebos and held on for dear life. A command decision was made and the displays/gazebos were hurriedly taken down and thrown in to the tent. The show was over!

Overall, the show was a great success for the Trust, definitely raising our profile and attracting a number of volunteers to our cause. Hopefully the Show Committee will make the same offer to us next year and we can continue the good work. If you're interested in volunteering for the Trust, do feel free to either contact us or register you details online here...

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