Members of the group have been busy preparing for the Army Days event at Castlemartin range in Pembrokeshire.

It all started with a phone call to Lt Col Johnny Rogers the Commandant of the camp and the enquiry about us attending. He was most welcoming but was not sure if the event was going ahead due to operational commitments and that bad word, “funding”.

We then saw in the local press that we were included in the program and on the Monday before the event Andrew was contacted officially to confirm our attendance. So started a hectic week of preparations of the logistics for the Saturday. Thursday saw a large group at the control tower sorting out what we were taking and practicing putting up the new tent, followed by the great load up of the vehicles on the Friday evening. Anyone looking into Dean's van would have had a shock with all the RAF uniform attired manikins in there and I must say it is was rather surreal. Thanks go to Gerald, Dean and Barry for the use of their vehicles over the 2 days of operations.

We arrived at sunny Castlemartin range in what seemed a gale but was merely a strong breeze on a very exposed and beautiful part of the Pembrokeshire coast. Setting up was fun and a judicious use of the vehicles as strategically placed shelter was the order of the day unless we wanted to lose the new tent. A huge crowd of visitors attended and were treated to a plethora of displays and static exhibits from the Army and cadet forces. We had an excellent pitch and welcomed many interested parties into the display.

Pat and Brenda did a roaring trade with the shop and sold a number of Airfix kits as well. Dean and Ben kept us watered with a good supply of tea from the van and we all had a chance to look around and make new contacts. The display was well received and lessons learned from our first foray into the world of external showing.

We welcomed a flying visit from our Chairman Derek Brock who had made a window in his busy diary (going to see Mcfly) to offer his support and encouragement. When we returned to the control tower and opened on the Sunday it was nice to a number of the people we had spoken to on the Saturday actually fulfil their promise to visit us.

New contacts were made and a number of very knowledgeable people have offered advise and support for the future, which will be fantastic. We will be setting up a show display system over the winter and hopefully attending the local agricultural shows this year if issue like work and transport allows. Many thanks go to Lt Col Rogers and Mr James the RSM for hosting us and for a worthwhile annual event.