Newark

[Ray Gabriel]

Hi All,

Sorry I could not make the show, no transport anymore.

Those people who were going to bring stuff for me can you post it instead?

Well How was it? what you get?

Cheers

Ray

[Andrew Ferguson]

Hey Ray, it was full of butterflies. Lots of them pinned into display cases. The livestock seemed to consist of two tables. And that was where the vast majority of the BTS members congregated. Either there or stood in the cold at a very slow paced burger van. I waited 10 minutes (felt like 20!) for a cup of awful coffee.
I finally got to meet some of the BTS members at long last. Leanne and Patsy (even if it was very brief), James (a real pleasure meeting you), Colin (my wife really likes the idea of a tailless rat!! ) Matt and finally Lisa. You could have wound me up and said you weren't just to make me feel like a berk again.
I didn't get any livestock although I was very tempted by a beautiful G.rosea (actually there were quite a few) and the desert scorpions. But some of you saw the text my wife sent about me sleeping in the car if I did.

Looking forward to meeting you all again sometime soon.

p.s. James, what was the name of the little sling that we were looking at that doesn't grow to a big size. I've been looking through Stan Schultz's book to see if I recongnise the name, but I'm not having much luck

[Rebecca Norris]

Hi Ray,

Gutted you weren't there!! You're the main attraction lol!
I came home with:

Sub female Brachypelma annitha and a little annitha spiderling, and a Brachypelma baumgarteni spiderling...

Show was generally pants i thought! There were 4 tables selling spiders, the rest were bugs in cases. Still, was good for a social visit

Got all the deads for you from Mary, myself, Chris and Kev!

See you Sunday xxx

[Colin D Wilson]

There wasn't a mad Scottish bloke there this year to temp me with some unusual species.
I came home with two scorplings Heterometrus gravimanus and Heteromatrus mysorensis both from messrs Goss, some Aphonopelma abberans from Andy Hood, a scorpion from Lisa (and i've completely forgotten what you said it was)
My lad shane was spoilt as usual and came home with millipedes, beetles, snails and a royal python (thanks from him to James and Daniel)

[mary walters]

There weren't many tables, not many customers either.

Ray, I ended up on Lee's table so he could have a fag lol, enjoyed selling spids for a change though.

I got,
2 abberans slings from Andy, thanks love.
1 OBT from Jamie, thanks love.
1 NCF murinus, thanks Colin.

I bought,
1 bohemi sling
1 mm irminia
1 mm blondi
1 annitha sling

[James Box]

it was a shame you couldn't make it, Ray!

i bought six tubs and was given a gorgeous Euathlas sp. "Green" (thanks Colin!) and two Aphonopelma aberrans slings from Andy. that was it!

i enjoyed the show, wish i could've got more, but hey always next time.
yeah there were alot of deads, but that's to be expected, plus it's been debated before on here!
there was a decent amount of livestuff, but as i was "exercising restraint" i didn't look too hard...though was tough passing by Lee's Aphonopelma selection.

Andrew, that was Aphonopelma iodius...it is a relatively new species, definitely new to the hobby over here (just over a year now unless i'm wrong!) but bred at least twice with success, so slings are popping up everywhere.
Stan's book is less a reference then say Sam Marshall's, but i doubt you'll find them in any commonly available books just yet.
the care is basic Aphonopelma care, which you'll find in a number of books.
was great meeting you too, mate!
i didn't mind the coffee when i got some later...must've been the icey cold weather freezing my tastebuds!

was fantastic seeing all you lot and the others that came!

[Matthew Baines]

Some dodgy bloke from Loughborough sold me a very nice (but utterly confusing with regards to identification) Earth Tiger ( Cheers Colin Im well chuffed with it) . Was good to meet up with everyone again and also meet some new faces . Cant wait till the next gathering . Wasn't enough asian species there for my liking but losts of fancy coloured crisps ( dead butterflys) and poison's . And i remember seeing some mental woman legging it past the spiders and scorpions squeeling which was a laugh ( she eventually went to buy some crisps i think and tried paying my dad for them).

[Kevin Hasley]

Its a great shame you wasnt there Ray , was looking forward to catching up , but will see you Sunday anyway

i bet i was one of the very few people not to come home with any like inverts

[James Box]

yeah i didn't see any Avics, Kev...that's probably why