War and Peace show 2013 new venue

[Adrian Stevenson]

I was there from Monday until yesterday.

In effect it is now a new show. As Martin said, it is huge. No way could you walk around and see it all in a day or even two days. Very hot and dusty, but us Brits like to moan about the weather....

Minuses:

Stall layout was a bit confusing due to the pitch layout, but we found everyone we needed to see in the end.

The Living History area had several drainage ditches running through it which made it hard to walk around.

Toilets not cleaned until yesterday morning. This really needs to be addressed given the site had been in use since last Saturday. I nearly threw up with the smell on Tuesday. And I have a strong stomach. Some extra Toilets need to be sited in the stalls area too. Water ran out on occasions at peak times in the morning.

Pluses:

Plenty of space overall.

Very easy to get to.



I actually sold a few surplus items and came home with a profit. Bought a nice 36 patern cap star (at £18 a very good price) and two '47 dated Soviet undershirts for £15 each.

Cheers, Ade.

[Gary J]

Sounds like a classic English summer show ..

"But us Brits like to moan about the weather".... "I nearly threw up with the smell on Tuesday"

Anyhow, good to hear some feedback ..
I still think they moved the show in the wrong direction ....
Most people were pi**ed off enough having to negotiate the M1, A1, A14, M25, Dartford Tunnel, etc ...
THEN adding more miles to the journey, was the final nail.

Gary J.

[spandau]

Hi

Been there today and was also there on Wednesday. It is hot, dam hot but then last year we sank in mud ! So overall I liked the show venue and found the stalls ok to navigate and as Ade said you eventually find everyone you need to.

Prices are high and nice things scarce but if you look there are things to be had. I came away with some cap parts and insignia a nice artillery units photo album, pictures and postcards plus two imperial german caps.

I am back tomorrow but I only live 15 miles from the venue so no complaints about it moving from me !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Always worth a look if you can get there......loads to see and do other than just the stalls.

cheers

Tony

[Mark Tuson]

Personally I thought the facilities were very poor for the campers. We were situated in the far corner of Kitcheners field where there must have been close to a 1000 people camping, and there was only 1 toilet block that had 4 urinals and 4 traps for the men (not sure about the ladies), 4 cold showers and 4 hot showers. So apart from the 1/4 of a mile walk, when we eventually reached our point of relief, we had to join a queue of 10 or 12 people all standing cross legged. At Beltring last year when they faced a problem with toilet facilities, they brought in extra units. This year when I asked an Official about the situation, they didn't seem to care less.
This was my 7th year on the trot for War and Peace, but I'm not too sure I will be attending next year, unless they can seriously do something about the toilet situation. It was the same all over the site from what I can gather talking to both dealers and re-enactors.

[spandau]

Mark

The toilet situation was bad all over the site.............having to queue for a pee was a new experience for me............now I have more empathy with the ladies who queue for ages at any venue while the men just stroll into the urinals !

These women are tough !

[davejb]

Well I hate to be negative re the site,as its only the first time for this venue,but I found the whole place chaotic and shambolic,the layout of the stalls were all over the place,toilets are as Ade said and leave a lot to be desired, a particular point that I found absolutely ridiculous was the sitting of the disability scooters, nearly 300yds from the main entrance, that makes no sense whatsoever,the point about pre booked tickets was laughable,at the other venues there were two queues,one for people who had to buy tickets the other for prepaid,when we asked about this,staff just shrugged their shoulders,then to top it all, when the gates did open,there was a guy dressed as an american cop letting only 5 or 6 people in at a time,what the hell was that all about,the 4 outdoors eating trailers only had two tables and 6 chairs for them all, that was remarked about by numerous people especially elderly people, all in all I found it disappointing,hard graft and very confusing as well as higher prices all around, let's hope all these problems can be addressed in the future

[wrecker]

Heres a snapshot of an email i got from a friend after the show,i was telling him i had a bad attitude about the extra drive,rude stall holders,stall holders missing and leaving dopey kids in charge,no numbers on the stalls,high prices etc etc

Good job you didn’t go Saturday as they had to close the gate for over an hour. One wally bought a grenade from another wally, pulled the pin, unscrewed the detonator and then it went off. Wally lost four fingers, the other wally was arrested and everyone had to wait for bomb disposal from Chatham who packed up wally’s pitch and hauled it off. You had an attitude? Rex Cadman’s private army had the worst attitude. There were only 2 restaurants and they closed one and only Officials were allowed in and the other was rubbish. Your only other choice was to buy a £6 beefburger from a van and eat it standing up as there was nowhere to sit, ever try and eat a beefburger, chips and have a drink standing up in a breeze? It was very breezy every evening, but the breeze did not take away the stench of overflowing toilets and backed up showers. The Grandstand split the show in two, the vendor area, as you know was all helter skelter, one camping area had no grass, just dirt, another was freshly ploughed so try staking a tent in that and most days there was no water. We went and bought our own from Sainsbury’s as who knows what the water from, under a racecourse is like with all the chemicals they put on the grass plus all the horse++++ they hosed away !! Overall as a show it was bloody awful with some vendors in a particular area not taking one penny on a few of the days. Me? Financially it was the best W&P I have ever done,

[Allegra]

I know that this is rather off topic (well in a round about way)...and I know that the UK is a tad smaller than Australia...but let's get the drive into perspective. When I began teaching, I lived in the far north of South Australia. I can remember quite clearly driving to Adelaide (400 - (4 hours) kms away)) with a couple of friends from work, for a hamburger; eating it, and then turning around and teaching the next day. Were we happy? Absolutely! Did the students suffer? No.

Of course, living so far away from perceived civilization for 6 years made some people do strange things.

[ford369]

Heres a snapshot of an email i got from a friend after the show,i was telling him i had a bad attitude about the extra drive,rude stall holders,stall holders missing and leaving dopey kids in charge,no numbers on the stalls,high prices etc etc

Good job you didn’t go Saturday as they had to close the gate for over an hour. One wally bought a grenade from another wally, pulled the pin, unscrewed the detonator and then it went off. Wally lost four fingers, the other wally was arrested and everyone had to wait for bomb disposal from Chatham who packed up wally’s pitch and hauled it off. You had an attitude? Rex Cadman’s private army had the worst attitude. There were only 2 restaurants and they closed one and only Officials were allowed in and the other was rubbish. Your only other choice was to buy a £6 beefburger from a van and eat it standing up as there was nowhere to sit, ever try and eat a beefburger, chips and have a drink standing up in a breeze? It was very breezy every evening, but the breeze did not take away the stench of overflowing toilets and backed up showers. The Grandstand split the show in two, the vendor area, as you know was all helter skelter, one camping area had no grass, just dirt, another was freshly ploughed so try staking a tent in that and most days there was no water. We went and bought our own from Sainsbury’s as who knows what the water from, under a racecourse is like with all the chemicals they put on the grass plus all the horse++++ they hosed away !! Overall as a show it was bloody awful with some vendors in a particular area not taking one penny on a few of the days. Me? Financially it was the best W&P I have ever done,

although many valid points are raised in this email it is exaggerating somewhat,I was camped in the ploughed field and it was not the best for sure and extremely dusty,true there was only 1 toilet block in the field but the toilets around the grandstand etc were ok.Regarding the explosive incident it was a thunderflash not a grenade and was early in the morning before the gates opened and the individual involved lost the top of one finger after tampering with something that she should not have.As far as the catering is concerned we ate from the concession stalls and although not cheap the food was reasonable and the grandstand seating provided somewhere to sit and eat whist watching the world go by,as for the water situation we simply drank beer instead ,its safer.
One thing that is definitely right is the stall layout ,confusing and disjointed to say the least,but that simply meant I got to take some money home.
All in all some lessons need to be learnt but as it was the first show at the new venue it could have been worse and at least it didn't rain
Nigel

[Adrian]

I know that this is rather off topic (well in a round about way)...and I know that the UK is a tad smaller than Australia...but let's get the drive into perspective. When I began teaching, I lived in the far north of South Australia. I can remember quite clearly driving to Adelaide (400 - (4 hours) kms away)) with a couple of friends from work, for a hamburger; eating it, and then turning around and teaching the next day. Were we happy? Absolutely! Did the students suffer? No.

Of course, living so far away from perceived civilization for 6 years made some people do strange things.

As you say, the U.K. is much smaller and more densely populated.

A four hour drive is great when you can drive for four hours but in the U.K., it often means a four hour wait in a traffic jam..........