Page 17 - Koi Net - On-Line Koi Magazine - Issue 94

Friday – always a busy day for the team managing the I mentioned earlier balloons going bang but the biggest
arrival of both dealers and exhibitors; a logistical
challenge given our limited access point. Whilst some
of the team managed the dealers, the benching team
set to work. We have a 4 man team who have worked
together for many Shows and includes a senior judge,
a trainee judge, Rob Whittell and (err) me!
A BUSY DAY
Whilst we (well Rob) use the KSP software, we do not
FOR THE TEAM do pre-Show benching as it has caused us problems
MANAGING in the past. We also think it sets an even playing field
having the team measure all the Koi with the same
THE ARRIVAL bowl. With me on the net, Laurence on the bowl
OF BOTH measuring and classifying, Keith double checking and
Rob taking the pics on the iPad and updating KSP, we
DEALERS AND worked our way through 191 Koi across 25 vats.
Regrettably, 2 or 3 Koi had to be disqualified for health
EXHIBITORS issues that the exhibitor had not spotted but this
shows the team were on the ball.
It was good to see a good mix across the Classes (as
usual Bekko and Hikari Utsuri being low) and 9 Koi in
Size 7+ (we merge Size 7 and 8) including a 95cm
Mukashi Ogon which we awarded Jumbo Champion
as the biggest Koi entered.
A lesson learned from last year was we got to the end
of Friday we had 25 vats to cover with jump nets so
this year we formed a small team whose job it was to
cover the vats as they were benched and this certainly
A small team covered
the vats with jump nets. helped us get done at a sensible hour.
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bang of all came as we were benching late on Friday.
We had been advised about a fire nearby that had
closed a road some of us use but little were we to know
that shortly after a HUGE explosion would occur which
literally shook everything – including us! Some of you
may be familiar with the incident from the national news
of a fire at an industrial estate in Essex that lead to
fertiliser being stored exploding, causing a great deal of
damage, putting 20 fireman in hospital and destroying
3 fire engines, 2 other fire vehicles and multiple vehicles,
buildings, homes, etc., nearby. Next thing we knew, a
big cloud of smoke was overhead and debris falling
WE WERE from the sky. This caused no issues inside the
greenhouse but all our freshly filled water reservoirs
outside now had ash and debris in them and so, we had
BACK EARLY
THE NEXT no choice than to dump the water and clean the pools –
we simply could not risk using it! This led to the next
MORNING AT challenge – with the fire brigade using all the hydrants
locally, including immediately outside the garden centre,
5.00am TO the water pressure was gone. The solution – a 5.00am
UNCOVER start for the water team. Luckily, given how close we
were, we did not use power.
THE VATS We had one late arrival after we had finished benching
and decided to get that done rather than wait until the
following morning so that the vat sheets could be
printed and posted on the boards early the next day
before we opened to the public. And so it was we left
the site in the safe hands of the overnight team.
We were back early the next morning (some as I
mentioned at 5.00am) to uncover the vats, check the
Koi and do the first water change. Overnight, one vat (in
fact the late arrival) had clearly been a little frisky and a
small number of eggs were on the bottom being eaten
by the Koi. The vat got a larger water change than
standard and was then tested and monitored.
The details of the Koi in each vat were posted so visitors
could tell what varieties and sizes they were seeing.
Importantly, a key member of the Crouch team was
preparing sausage rolls for the Show team and dealers
and the tea urn was fired up! Mmm, I wonder if it’s the
great food that has the dealers wanting to come back!
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