Sheffield Fayre 2004

Norfolk Park, Sheffield - 29th & 30th August 2004

We as Sheffield Kite Fliers attended the Sheffield Fayre again this year. For those not from Sheffield, the Fayre is a two day even held in one of the city parks and offers lots of historical re-enactment (mock battles, tents, swords, guns, etc.), local groups (that's us!) advertising their existence, flower and produce shows, etc. And all free I must add (lets hope it stays this way). This year we had a stall in the Community Tent and two flying demo slots each day in one of the demonstration arenas.

So how was it?

Sunday

This was my day to turn up with the family and have a look around at what was going on. Which we did (and was good). Whilst my wife and children were at a 'History of Underwear' (yes for real) display I went off to see what SKF were up to - I found out that the morning flying session had been 'interesting' given that a) it was a very strong, gusty wind, and b) the demonstration arena was at the bottom of the hill and lined with trees. I was promptly asked if I wanted to do the second demonstration as it was nearly time. My response was "er - by myself?". To which the answer was "yes". Now call be chicken but the idea of doing a Revolution demonstration by myself in a strong gusty wind at the bottom of a hill surrounded by trees, with lots of people watching didn't fill be with confidence (especially given my habit of doing something really stupid when I know people are watching me!). So I elected to do some Revolution flying on a grassy bank above the arena (the arena and fun fair was separated by this grassy bank from the rest of the Fayre - and was actually the best place to fly). And fly I did - Paul stayed with me and had some conversations with people passing - which was good.

Once the 'History of Underwear' thing finished my family caught up with me so I put the kite away and went to have a look around myself.

Monday

This was my day on SKF duty - so was there early with Paul, Jay and others to help set the stall up. As I had a load of my stunt kites with me we attached them around the stall (including the nice new Freevol LX) to look good. Then we sat and waited for it too open. I decided that I would go and experiment flying on that grassy bank again - so Stuart and I went off to fly some Revolutions there (wasn't windy enough for the Vented Revolution - sort of OK for the normal). Upon our return to the stall we found an extremely unhappy looking Paul who had found out that we were not allowed to fly on the grassy bank due to the danger (we took it to mean 'Traction Kites'.......) and not only that because of 'Its a Knockout' contest we couldn't fly in the arena due to all the inflatable stuff. So no flying demos then.

I managed some Revolution flying at various times during the day, Jay flew the Airbow, Stuart his Revolution and others holding traction parafoils up by their bridles all on the grassy bank.

The classic moment came towards the end of the day - Paul and Stuart decided to try flying Paul's 10.5m Blade III on it's bridles (which they did eventually - for 10 seconds) and I decided I would try and fly the Freevol LX (for it's second flight!) so off we went - I was happy trying to fly (wind was a bit low when it dropped so I was having some problems) - when I became aware of some kids surrounding Paul and Stuart (who weren't having much success with the Blade at that point). The conversation went something like this:

Kid: "Ere. Can I have a go?"

Paul: .....

Kid: "How much you pay for that then?"

Paul: "£600"

Kid: "£600? That's a f***king rip off! That's C**p, that is!"

Kid & friends walks over to me.

Kid: "Ere. Can I have a go?"

Jan: "I'm sorry, no."

Kid: "How much did you pay for that then?"

Jan: "£40"

Kid: "£40! Look at that kite!"

indicates Freevol

Kid: "That's flying. Not like that f***ing other one. That don't even f***ing fly! That's a real sick kite you got there mister".

Jan: "......"

And at which point they went to annoy some solider in a historic camp thing (out of the corner of my eye I could see said solider getting angry with the Kid and his friends).

So there we have it: I fly "Sick Kites" - or at least the Freevol LX is! And it's better than a Blade III 10.5. Didn't impress Paul though - I think he will stick with his Blade.....

And so the day ended. OK for me and the other who could fly stunt kites, not so good for those who wanted to demo traction kites. I would like to think we will be there again next year, but we have to see if we can get a better arena for kite flying (not least to put barriers in place to stop people wandering into the lines). At the end I felt positive about doing it: not only to advertise kites and kite flying in Sheffield, but to kind of celebrate living in Sheffield and to contribute to the event as a whole. At least that's my view.....