Saturday 19th August 2023
And what a day that was, not least for the chance to enjoy those fabulous views from airside 🙂 Well done and thank you Paul! See his report below the photos.
Paul has had lots of feedback about how people enjoyed themselves and how we must do it again, a big thank you to everyone who came and supported, especially the runners and cyclists! And a massive thank you to PCSO’s Mel Culliford and Luke Hosken of our Community Policing Team who rocked up in the morning and joined in the game of rounders so energetically!
Thanks also to Paul’s family Tim & Sarah who used their teeny camera and invisible selfie stick to take some epic video which is now on Youtube at https://youtu.be/CKXCC322Cpo, plus we have a gallery of some stills from Sarah Dow below:
Saturday, 19th August dawned bright and stayed fair, but with a brisk south-westerly breeze. The Crash Gate 3 padlock yielded to the key, and we had soon set up the Gatekeepers’ table, the ‘bush toilet’ and the First Aid post. Traffic cones were placed to mark the extremities of the ‘strolling’ area and a Start/Finish line was chalked across the tarmac.
James Bouault was deployed on his bike to ride around the perimeter track to check for hazards, and I was just about to start the volunteer briefing when a police car arrived.
“This is it”, I thought. Ever since I started this mission to have just one day where villagers could get back on to the Airfield and enjoy the wonderful open space, I remained convinced that the “authorities” would find some way of stopping it. I had spent nearly a year battling the bureaucracy of licences, risk assessments, insurances etc and couldn’t really believe it was about to happen. I was convinced the police were here at the last minute to say “No”.
But I was wrong! Our friendly Neighbourhood Policing team had not run over my “No Cars” sign, but carefully put it to one side, driven past and replaced it again, to give their “Community Support” to our Games Day. To be fair, it transpired that they had emailed me that morning to say that they were coming, but I didn’t have time to check emails!
So the briefing went ahead with PCSOs Mel and Luke joining the team, while we waited for the villagers. Things went quiet, but fortunately my granddaughters had brought along their cricket set so we played rounders on the tarmac. Mel was good with her one-handed tennis technique!
Families eventually started arriving (hoards would be an exaggeration!) and the first race was the Under 5’s Downhill Dash where young Heath Glen took the gold medal. (Sadly, the opposition had suffered with cold feet!) Next came the “12 and Under” bike race where our granddaughter Gwyneth was first over the line.
Then things got a bit more serious using the full 5km perimeter track circuit. The Adult Duathlon was won by Tim Burrell followed by the ‘Teens’ Bike Race in which Mason Dalgleish was first over the line. The Adult Bike Race was next with a dozen entries. Will Bromham won the ‘gold’ medal … coming downhill on the home straight with the wind behind would definitely have taken the speed record if we’d been able to measure it!
The final event was the Adult Run where Tim Burrell collected his second ‘gold’ and Connie Bromham put in a very respectable performance, which should have merited a medal.
Then it was all over to the bar followed by the usual clearing up and getting all the kit back to its rightful place.
Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the general feeling was that we should do it again next year, but bigger!
The finances almost balanced, but with £99 for the required Public Liability Insurance and modest entry fees, sadly there was no profit for Wiltshire Air Ambulance. Maybe next year!
Paul Lenaerts 24 August 2023
KEEVIL VILLAGE 