Wednesday 27 August 2014

Active Dartmoor goes to the Dartmoor shows.

It's been a busy but fun filled couple of weeks, with Okehampton Show, Active Summer Day at the Dartmoor National Park Visitor Centre at Princetown, and Chagford Show. Very sadly we had to cancel our trip with the show trailer to the lovely Lustleigh Show, as the torrential rain would not have done our lovely magazines any good at all! 


Big thank you to Dartmoor Search and Rescue, Plymouth, for getting the trailer into position in front of the visitor centre in Princetown. We'd dropped it off the evening before so I was unable to shift it myself!





One of the Active Dartmoor team,  our intrepid David, drove up from Cornwall just for the 10K run at  Lustleigh, here he is setting off in the rain, far right of picture in blue. He did well, apparently managing to get past several other runners in the last 3K and is currently writing the whole experience up for us in the autumn issue of the magazine. 


                                                                              A great attraction at the Active Summer Day at Princetown was the Dart Rock climbing wall. A large number of very small children seemed to scoot up to the very top at alarming speed, they don't seem to have any fear at a young age! I literally had to cover my eyes several times, a morbid fear of heights combined with a natural aversion to seeing small people dangling in space made for uncomfortable viewing, but the young lads coaching them were brilliant, not one child had a second of trouble. Sadly I was talking to someone when the lovely Richard Drysdale of Dartmoor National Park Authority, who had overseen the whole day, took his turn up the wall, so I'm disappointed not to be able to show you any pictures of his endeavor. But a big thank you to him for taking such good care of us all, and regularly plying us with hot drinks to stave off the cold!

The Active Dartmoor dogs Daisy and Skye have been a great asset during the shows, so many children love to come and give them a bit of attention, which gives me the opportunity to chat to the parents about Active Dartmoor. It has to be said though, that after a few hours of this Skye starts to lie at the back of the trailer and refuses to speak to anyone, so at that stage I pop her into the van for a snooze!





It has been absolutely wonderful to catch up with lots of old friends, and meet lots of new people, many of whom have become friends or supporters through advertising, by email or telephone, or on Social Media but we'd not previously met up in person. Lots of plans for working together with various organisations and businesses have been hatched, and plenty of ideas for new articles in the autumn and spring issues came to light. Working together, joining up with as many different people across Dartmoor as possible, we are sure this is the right approach in these difficult times. 









The Active Dartmoor trailer is looking splendid, many thanks to the businesses who have supported us by sponsoring panels this year. National Trust Dartmoor, Malcolm Snelgrove Photography, Adventure Clydesdale at Brimpts Farm, Dartmeet, Spirit of Adventure and Young Spirit, Powdermills, Postbridge, Outdoor Trail in Ivybridge. Could not have done it without you, and this trailer is an absolute joy when the weather is not as kind as it could be! 

See you at Widecombe Fair!!









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