APF 2022: The final word on Warwickshire forestry show

WELL they say the sun shines on the righteous, so we must have been really good in the run-up to the show. The sun shone, the temperatures felt more like July than September and ground conditions were so dry we had to resort to spraying the roads with water to dampen down the dust.

APF 2022 had finally arrived – and what a show it was! After four years, the APF team came out of hibernation and played a blinder. Around a third of our team were new to us, but they learned from older hands and blended in seamlessly. One of the comments we get from exhibitors is how friendly and helpful our staff are. This just adds to everyone’s enjoyment and the generally pleasant atmosphere on the show ground.

On behalf of the APF Demo committee I would like to say thank you to our team of around 40 staff and contractors who worked so well as a group to put the show on.

Other events of the scale the APF has become cannot believe that we do not have any full-time staff at all, yet our organisation matches if not exceeds the quality of other shows. It is a truly magnificent effort from everyone.

I would also like to thank all those exhibitors and visitors who have taken the trouble to email or contact us on social media to thank us for putting on such a great event. People will quickly tell you if things go wrong but are less likely to do so when things go right. We appreciate all your comments and how much you enjoyed the show. It means a lot to us after the effort we put in.

Our advance ticket sales were 400 per cent higher than in 2018. In the end we welcomed around 23,000 visitors to the show – far more than in 2018! Our 300 exhibitors reported very strong business. One told me confidentially they did £3 million of deals in three days. Jas P Wilson’s stand seemed to have sold stickers on every piece of machinery on their site. We did have around 25 companies pull out late in the day, all after having paid their site fees in full! Some simply could not get machines in time to exhibit, while others had simply forgotten they had booked in 2019 and told us they had ignored our many emails to them as marketing spam!

Probably our greatest fear was a re-occurrence of the traffic delays we had in 2018, especially with an increase in predicted numbers. We invested heavily in a new traffic plan, masterminded by Tony Wall, our traffic consultant. We had five police-approved traffic officers at major road junctions, and with CCTV coverage Tony kept the cars flowing. I cannot recall a single complaint about getting in and out of the show. Well done Tony!

Another concern of mine was our campsite. By early September we had over 450 people booked in for the Friday night. Although we have had a campsite before, these numbers represented double what we had catered for previously. Hence our decision to stop taking more bookings to ensure those who had were looked after rather than just taking more money. My apologies if you missed out and had to book elsewhere. The campsite worked out very well in the end and we will look to expand it next time.

I always get a sleepless night before we finally open, with all sorts of worries over traffic, weather, ticket scanners, credit card machines, etc. I already have grey hair, so maybe some more falls out.

Thursday morning dawned bright and clear – a short overnight shower had done no more than dampen the dust – and suddenly we were open! The crowds came in, the saws and machinery started and there was a buzz of excitement everywhere. Our technology worked with barely a hiccup.

All the features and competitions were very well received. The Husqvarna pole climbing was again a great draw. Dan Whelan retained his world title with a final climb of 9.06 seconds. He narrowly missed out on breaking his own world record on Thursday by just 2/100ths of a second in 8.86 seconds.

The A W Jenkinson & Tilhill European chainsaw carving competition was as competitive as ever, with Will Lee and Sam Bowsher receiving equal scores and having to be split by who had the lowest individual mark. Will just retained the trophy he won in 2018, but Sam deservedly took the carvers’ choice prize. In the auction afterwards, the quality of the carvings on offer was reflected in the bidding. Sam’s Roebuck sold for £5,500 – a record price for the event.

The McVeigh British Open Fencing championship was a new event for us this year, but was very well received and attracted big crowds on the Friday. The organisers took pity on the competitors, recognising how hard the ground was due to the recent drought, and pre-augered and backfilled the holes. If they hadn’t, I suspect some would still be digging now! Congratulations to John Morgan and Si Gibbs on their success.

Joining forces with the Arb Association gave us a much bigger arb focus and the Arb Worker Zone, with its great range of seminars and activities, the Harkie UK Open Tree climbing and Reeve competitions and the crane-dismantling demos were all a big success. Many thanks to Simon Richmond from the Arb Association for pulling this together.

Friday at the show was rammed. All three days had that general air of excitement and people enjoying themselves. We had 850 schoolchildren and their teachers come along on organised visits. A huge thank you to Becky Wilkinson from the Royal Forestry Society for pulling this together. The sight and sound of groups of happy schoolchildren was wonderful to see and hear. Thanks to the exhibitors who took time to entertain and talk to the children as they went past.

The award for the best stand was another close-run thing. All our staff give us their suggestions based not just on how the stand looked but also on how helpful, friendly and co-operative the stand staff have been. In the end Först was the winner and Matthew Cobb presented the Alan Cobb trophy, named in memory of his late father. It was great to see the change of expression on the faces of the Först staff as we marched onto their stand on Saturday afternoon, thinking they were in trouble for some misdemeanour only to find out they were show winners! It clearly meant a lot to them. Have a look at our social media and photos elsewhere if you didn’t see it. It looked even better after dark!

Saturday evening came around very quickly and soon it was all over, the dry weather making breakdown a much easier affair for everyone. I personally hate the Sunday after the show.

The excitement has gone along with the adrenalin and all you are left with is tiredness and stuff to clear up. Mat Box, our assistant chief co-ordinator, drew the short straw and had to stay on until the Friday of the following week to clear the site, which he did to the satisfaction of our hosts Ragley Estate. A few machines lie scattered about but £80 million of machinery has disappeared – most, it appears, to new owners!
I have got the unpleasant job now of paying bills. Any fellow Yorkshiremen will appreciate how unpleasant that is!

A huge vote of thanks must go to our all sponsors for their support. We really could not have put on a show of this scale, variety and quality without your help. We do not take your support for granted and hope you will continue to work with us in 2024. As to 2024, we haven’t yet confirmed dates or location, so watch this space. We hope to announce this before the year end. Many exhibitors have already emailed to reserve their site or book a larger one for 2024.

Finally, there was close competition for Wally Of The Show. We had several marquees pitched in the wrong places, one on the wrong stand altogether. 

One visitor rang to say he couldn’t find the show and he was in a private road of houses – outside my office 130 miles away, as it turned it out, despite the site postcode being listed four times on the home page of the website! An unnamed major sponsor of the show had to trash all its marketing banners when I pointed out the wording read ‘battery and petrol-powered chairsaws’ instead of chainsaws.  

But I am afraid the title has to be awarded to yours truly. Two exhibitors handed me all their vehicle keys for safekeeping when they left the site on Saturday to be collected by drivers on Monday morning. In my sleep-deprived state on Sunday, I brought these all back down to my office – leaving several disgruntled drivers. Hey ho! If that was the worst that went wrong over the set-up, show days and breakdown of the biggest and best show we have ever run, then I would have settled for that before we started!

The rest of the team are now going into hibernation for a while to recover before we start planning for next time. Thanks again and see you all at APF 2024!

www.apfexhibition.co.uk