THE COUNTDOWN CONTINUES
Wow – in less than 50 days our first timers will experience
what us old crows take as normal
A BIG thank you to all the old hands and the new volunteers who have offered to come and share their time and expertise for our annual nesting. Without you, as we so often say, this couldn’t happen!
Since 2020 when that dreaded “C” word interrupted our Festival less than two weeks from when we were due to start, absolutely everything was ready for the flock to arrive and so it all had to be put into storage. We were hoping for 2021 but alas that “C” word intervened again.
Late this month, all the stored goodies will be checked what’s there, hopefully they are still in the pristine condition and fingers crossed everything we need for 2022 will be sorted after a few days work.
An inspection of the ACTA grounds will assist in our preparations. The most important aspect is to check if any changes made to the grounds will affect our site layout plan. Every year ACTA does work to improve the grounds, so nothing beats a physical look, see, check. Plus there is the annual catchup with all the local businesses who assist with many attributes such as marquees, supplies, trophies, printing and more.
Squawkers’ Permits, which are your entry tickets, will be sent in the first half of March, once the grounds are checked. Yes this is later than normal for the old crows but after over 2 years hibernation, we want to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible. . For our fledglings, this indicates your site number, which gate you need to enter through (either Copland Street or Tasman Road) and the arrival time that suits our traffic management plan. When you receive your Squawkers’ Permit, if there is an issue, please email me and we will endeavour to sort out whatever is the problem or query from your end.
Don’t forget if you have an unpowered site, you can still use a generator from 8 am to 11 am and again from 4 pm to 8 pm each day to keep batteries topped up. Water taps are scattered throughout the grounds and you can hook up several hoses to top up tanks. No one (even me) can stay connected 24/7 to be fair to everyone. If you need to charge phones, scooters or other equipment, there are external power points available to share and also at the office, you just need to ask. For our newbies, there are two amenities blocks and two dump points – one each eastern and western sides of the grounds.
Don’t hesitate to email any queries and they will be answered asap.
Take care till we next “squawk”
Chrissy
For the Chief Crows, all our volunteers and the people who help make everything happen