At the December 2003 AGM the club members elected a new Closed Show Chairman, Dene Crisp.  Dene has been a member of the clubs for a few years now and has been itching to get his hands on the Closed Show!, he has been our Club Night Raffle Organiser and it must be said has been very successful in getting money out of our members and also our sponsors.

In January 2004 the planning started for the Show and once again we were very lucky to be invited back to The Rosery in Shepperton the home of Rosie & Barrie Alger-Street and their beautiful cat’s.  Our set-up team are always assisted by Storm, Lancelot, Celia & Dasha the cats and of course, Marmite the dog, who, between them, make sure we have everything in the right place!!.  Rosie & Barrie run a very success cattery where they breed Bengal, Asian South’s and Burmese cats.  The Bengal cats just have to be seen to be believed, have exceptional temperaments and are always very helpful when we are setting up the Show!  We would also like to thank the ‘Shepperton Moat House Hotel’ for allowing us to use their car park for our visitors – we really do appreciate it.
 
Ok, so here we are in January and Dene decides on his Show Committee for 2004.  Coerced or just happy to be part of it I’m not sure but he ended up with my-self as Vice Show Chairman, Ken Wilkes, Graham Kerwood & Dave Tranter.  I’m sure there were some meetings where he wished he had chosen differently!!!
 
Anyway with the bones of the show sorted we ended up with a date of the 18th July (…… hoping for good weather again) and the venue of The Rosery, Shepperton.  At the 2003 show the weather was exceptionally kind to us and the sun shone and shone and shone so much so that we  were very worried about the fish.  So this year we decided to have the vats covered with marquees and run the airlines along the roof, thus eliminating pipes and cables etc all over the floor.  We again invited Simply Koi as the Dealer, and also invited to attend were Fenn’s Lane Nursery and Taurus Ornamentals.  Our thoughts then turned to the children’s activities, we hadn’t done this before so it was virgin territory! So…… we gave them a Bouncy Castle to play on!  -  This really turned out well as I didn’t see my granddaughters for more than about 10 minutes at a time the whole day!  The beauty of this was that the parents could sit and relax and also keep an eye on the children.  There were also small tables and chairs for them to use at lunchtime and a ‘Guess the number of Smarties’ competition and would you believe it someone only got it spot on!  Let’s hope they didn’t get too sick eating all the Smarties! 
 
The Saturday before the Show we were very pleased to see about 12 members turn out to help us (along with Storm, Lancelot, Celia, Dasha and Marmite).  With the helpers split into 2 groups we set about getting the vat’s put up, in place and cleaned.  Whilst that group were busy the 2nd group were putting up the marquees…… and how glad were we that we did that!     
 
With lunch time approaching the black clouds started to gather and it got darker and darker and then the thunder started and the lightening (very pretty) and then down came the rain………and when I say down it came I really mean it!!  Luckily we had got 2 marquees up by this time so it was everyone under cover until the rain stopped.   A couple of the vats started filling up themselves - well with a little help from the rain!

Anyway it stopped after what seemed forever and the sun came out again.  Everyone was starving by this time so I went off to get fish & chips – very yummy and the cats enjoyed the leftovers.  So with 4 marquees up and the airlines all in place and working we left for the day.  Barrie was going to be filling the vats during the week so that everything would be ready for the following weekend.
     
The following Saturday dawned bright and clear and again we were happy to see a good number of club members to help finish setting up for the ‘big day’.  The 2 marquees for plant and ornament dealers were set up along with some gazebo’s for sitting under (should it rain – fingers crossed not!  Or it was too hot!).  By the time we left the show ground at 7pm (well some of us did!) it looked fantastic.  All the vats were being aerated, we had decorated the marquees with banners, Japanese paper lanterns (don’t get the red ones they leach the colour as some of us found out to our cost).         
 
Something that especially pleased us was the Trophy Stand.  We had re-instated some of the old competitions, ie. ‘Mature Champion’, ‘Jumbo Champion’, ‘Best GinRin’ and ‘Best Doitsu’.  The trophy for‘Adult Champion’ was donated by myself and my husband and the Show Committee donated a new Baby Champion Trophy.  There were shields for 1st, 2nd & 3rd places along with rosettes.  
 
All the Champion Trophies had to be signed for and will be returned to the Show one month before the 2005 Show, at that time a plaque detailing the win will be given out.  Hopefully this will give them an incentive to return our challenge trophies on time!
 
Championship Prizes
     
Awards for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd
 
The Show Chairman & Show Vice Chairman
 
The day of the Show dawned dull and miserable – oh great!........what have we done to deserve this we wondered.  This was to be our first step into the world of showing koi.  Luckily we had caught the possible entrants and had kept them in a vat overnight.   So in the midst of us catching and bagging the fish (something I didn’t particularly like doing) the Show Chairman phoned me – it was only05:45!  “Just thought I’d let you know I’m catching my fish” says Dene “Snap” was the reply, so with the a few things discussed it was back to the fish.  Once the fish were bagged and boxed I was off to the show-ground and Colin would follow on.  By the time I got there I was in mild panic and concerned that the fish hadn’t travelled very well – but need I worry – NO they were fine!
 
The dealers began arriving and setting up – we were very grateful to Fenn’s Lane Nursery, Guildford and Taurus Ornamentals for donating prizes for the raffle.  By 10:15 all fish had arrived and the benching was underway with Gary & Lynn Pritchard heading up the Benching Team.  The judges for the day included Kate McGill &, Bill Ennis along with trainee judges including Heather Payne & Christine Woolger.  They did a great job and the Show Committee would like to extend their sincere thanks to all of them.
 
We decided to have a proper lunch break this year so all the helpers could have some of the excellent dishes supplied by our club members.  The BBQ was manned by our Section Chairman, Terry Hill and Colin Goff…… and they didn’t burn anything!!!   
 
Once the judges had had their lunch it was full swing into the judging.  There was over 100 fish being exhibited and we had decided on 13 varieties and 3 sizes, these being Size 1 (BKKS sizes 1 & 2), Size 2 (BKKS sizes 3 & 4) and Size 3 (BKKS sizes 5 +).   The quality of fish was exceptional and after much deliberation the Grand Champion was declared as Frank Chalke’s Kohaku.  A full list of prize winners can be viewed via the links at the bottom of the page.
 
During the afternoon there were numerous raffles and auctions which really got our members interested.  We were lucky enough to have a lot of donated prizes and would like to thank the following for supporting our Club so generously.  Watch out for next year – Dene has you in his sights already!!
David Brown – Simply Koi
Kevin at Kursuri
Mike Shaw – Evolution Aqua
Fenns Lane Nursery
Taurus Ornamentals
Craig Peebles – Pump House
Terry Hill – Koi Pond Konstruction
Dene Crisp – Harry’s Gas
Joe Nethersell
Koi WaterBarn
 
So with the day drawing to a close we started the presentations.  The Saturday evening prior to Show Day had seen me setting up the trophy stand and, with a lot of shields to display became a nightmare, especially when they kept falling over!  However, perseverance paid off and come Sunday morning they were still standing!  The presentation’s were made by Joe Nethersell of the FBAS and I am sure everyone will agree that Joe’s presence was very much appreciated…..and I am sure you will understand the laughter when I accidentally knocked over all the shields!
 
Our Hosts, Rosie & Barry Alger-Street    
Marmite showing us where the cable ties were
 
Anyway with the last of the presentations over it was time to start packing up once the fish had been de-benched.  With our band of helpers we were able to get the vat’s and marquees down and packed and some of us went back on Monday evening to finish up and by 8pm on Monday 19th July Rosie & Barrie’s garden looked very empty indeed.

Quick, where’s the Fire Brigade!!
 
The MSB Chairman, Terry Hill, preparing for the raffle draw
 
The Show Committee would once again like to thank Rosie & Barrie Alger-Street, the BKKS Judges, our sponsors as detailed previously, and of course our Club Members who helped with the set up and supplying some really great food for the BBQ.
 
The date and venue of the 2005 Closed Show will be available once we’ve had a rest and have got our brains into gear again!!! – See you in 2005 and in the meantime enjoy your koi!!
 
Sue Ravenhill
MSB Membership & Club Secretary
Closed Show Vice-Chairman