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Group’s publicity drive at the Royal Berkshire County Show, usually known as the Newbury Show, on the weekend of 16 and 17 September was an astounding success. We obtained the IAM’s new Mobile Display Unit (MDU), as the centrepiece of the display.
The MDU is very striking, finished in IAM red and sporting red and green IAM flags flying from a pair of flagpoles. The photos give a flavour but don’t really do it justice. It is equipped with a DVD player and flat-screen LCD monitor, and we ran a selection of driving films, including Roadcraft and the new IAM publicity DVD, Driving Road Safety, throughout the day. We also used a reaction tester, kindly loaned by the West Berkshire Road Safety Team, where people could test their speed of braking in response to a series of driving scenarios and see their thinking and braking times displayed.
Fortunately, the weather was good throughout, and the Show attracted the usual many thousands of visitors. Our Group stand was manned from 8 am to 6 pm on both days, with a minimum of two people and up to four at busy times. The reaction tester proved very popular, often with small boys who wanted a go at ‘driving’; although they were not our target population, we were able to talk to their parents who often expressed interest in advanced driving and in joining the IAM.
A total of 70 people showed interest by filling in contact slips at the show, and we took bookings for nearly 80 assessment drives or demonstration drives at the Drive Day on 1 October (see the article on page 8).
So was it worth while? The answer is a resounding ‘YES’! We were able to talk to a great number of people, and there is no doubt that we will attract several new members to join the group and the IAM.
As the Project Officer for the group’s involvement at the Show, I would like to thank everyone who made it possible. That includes the following group members who helped to man the stand: Lauren Anderson, George Gibbs, John Hutchinson, Chris Kirkby, Catherine Lloyd, George McNulty, Ivor Money, Tony Parish, Alan Wareham and Michael Wheaton, and Brian Mehaffey who helped me to set up the stand (with Ivor Money) before the Show and to dismantle it afterwards.
We are also very grateful to Trevor Pembroke, the IAM No 2 Region Co-ordinator, who gave us much valuable advice and also spent most of the Saturday manning the stand with us. Thanks also to West Berkshire Road Safety for their loan of the reaction tester, to Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service for loaning display boards, to David Wilson’s Trailers for supplying and erecting the MDU, and to IAM Head Office for providing display materials and trinkets and for making a generous contribution towards the costs of mounting the event.
We are already looking forward to Newbury Show in 2007!