The show

[Ian Hall]

I was gutted that I didn't go, I new I wouldn't be able to make it tbut still. It's good to see that it went really well and that everyone enjoyed it.

[Leanne King-Smith]

Really enjoyed the show, great Expo. Great to meet great friends, and new faces too.

Can't believe I walked away with an award at my first BTS too

Thanks to Ray and Angela, and EVERYONE else involved for a wonderful day

[mary walters]

Thanks Matt, I never expected the breeding one, that was a complete shock.


Now I have to put pen to paper, or finger to pooter as we do these days and write a few articles, got some ideas so has to be done. Get ready Richard is all I can say.......

[Adz_Smith]

Had an excellent time as always, same as the last few years ended up assisting on the Spider Shop stand - good job we did because it was much busier than I expected - credit crunch, what credit crunch!

You do seem to get lacky (sp)work with spidershop, probably more fun job than anything else. From what I could see it was a lot busier at the very start than from the last few years, usually open it's easy to get around and come lunch time but Yesturday it was busy right from the start so the hobby population must have grown a lot over last couple of years.
I didn't get chance to chat to many this year didnt want to keep the other half waiting too long but will catch up at the lectures.

[Mark Pennell]

Thanks Matt, I never expected the breeding one, that was a complete shock.


Now I have to put pen to paper, or finger to pooter as we do these days and write a few articles, got some ideas so has to be done. Get ready Richard is all I can say.......

Mary
You where nominated for this by Lee @ thespidershop.. back at the lectures in Feb.
you have him to thank, we normally articles produced etc. and pick a winner from these.

Regards
Mark

[Jennifer Todd]

My boyfriend and I came along to the show for the first time and had an excellent day. Especially enjoyed Andrew Smith's lecture. Everybody we met and spoke to was so nice. Picked up a B albopilosum, a G pulchra and a E truculentus, along with a few bits of equipment. My boyfriend keeps saying he wants to get a pokie after seeing so many at the show.

[Peter Kirk]

Myself and Craig were very impressed with the show, it being our first. I loved the Spider Shop stand, even though you had to battle to get near it! Haha. I picked up my first T from them, a female G. sp "Concepcion"/"Concepicon" (seems to be some dispute as to how that's spelt!). Such a cute spider!

The correct term is "Concepcion" - from the city of the same name in Chile. "Concepicon" is simply a typo - ignore it.

[Peter Kirk]

had a graet time it was my first show when i got there after my turbo blowing on the m6, got some nice t,s, and 1 that forgot the name so dont know what it is think its a sudan thailand but cant find 1 on the internet any1 help when grown its a dark colour with a yellow strip down its legs.

Chris - give Ornithoctonus aureotibialis a look. I think it's probably that. Sudan Thailand(should probably be spelled "suden") just means Southern Thailand in French.

[Craig Mackay]

Great meeting you at last Craig.

Thanks Mary, I managed to find an irminia sling after you had sold out from another table but I may be after some more when you get your next lot. I'll keep my eyes peeled on arachnophiles.

[Phil Rea]

Great show as always. Thoroughly enjoyed it. A long and tiring day, but well worth it. Good to see and chat with old friends and meet new people.

Many thanks to everyone who gave me spiders and cockroaches, much appreciated folks

Cheers, to the BTS committee and everyone involved in running and organising another great show

[mary walters]

Mary
You where nominated for this by Lee @ thespidershop.. back at the lectures in Feb.
you have him to thank, we normally articles produced etc. and pick a winner from these.

Regards
Mark

OMG, I showed him the certificates because the spiders that won came from him, says a lot for his stock don't it, but he never said bless him. I will email him now and thank him, thank you Mark for telling me.

[Peter Lacey]

Well I turned up for the Eurovision Song Contest only to find halls full of spiders!!! bah! must have got the dates wrong!

I'm thoroughly Kerry Packered after that. 2 hrs sleep the night before, wrong directions by Google, human error by Sat Nav (OK, it was prob me) and a foot-down journey that prob beat the land speed record (I think the police have some pictures to authenticate the attempt).
Fantastic to meet old faces (hello Mr Kirk, grumble grumble), Colin, the Goss Bros, Leanne, Mary & Trevor, Dan, Sylvi and Julie plus new friends (the Bains!). Great to put faces to names (I love those accents Craig and Elaine), and finally meet the likes of Stuart Longhorn, Steve McIntyre, Gareth, several Matts, Lisa's, and Johns. Thanks to James Box for the company during the journey. Thanks to everyone who came over to the stall to say hello, to all the children who refused to eat vermiculite and to anyone that I started but never finished a conversation.

This is definitely just as much a social event as it is a buying/selling show. It's wonderful to see the passion of hobbyists and rewarding to share the information that others have spent time to tell me. The joy of other peoples purchases, the excitement from the winners of the show and the hunt to find that elusive invert or that new species.

Next time I'm going to bring some rechargeable batteries, phew! And next time, can we please have some singing!!!!

[Maria Clarke]

Just wanted to say fantastic show, bought too much spent too much,
but had a great day talking to people, seeing people there I already knew,
got stuck on the M6 as it was closed due to an accident, got absolutely soaked due to the weather, but I am a fully fledged member of the BTS now.
and the show was fantastic, cant wait for the next one now

[Ulwembu]

Thanks for a great show again! The trip was long but well worth it although I didn't buy anything. For me it's more the socializing, talking to friends I haven't seen in a long time. After the long trip over on Saturday, I had a great dinner with "the gang" and some chit chat afterwards. Then the next day I stood at the door, the BTS table and in the afternoon at the entrance table. Sorry I wasn't able to stay to get the tables out of the way but I was completely tired. Drove back to Dover in one go, landed on the French side at 1:15 AM and had to stop in Belgium for a 1,5 hour nap so I wouldn't crash... I arrived at home at 5:30 this morning... I'll take an extra day off next year

I'll try to be there for the lecturers next year!!!

Thanks again to the organisers for putting up a great show and putting up with myself

[Ray Hale]

Thanks for the comments guys. They are much appeciatted. The BTS Exhibition is like no other. We believe it is one of the friendliest events you will ever attend. Please continue posting up your comments and thoughts on the day and take a look here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blackcountry/content/articles/2008/05/12/spiders_are_coming_feature.shtml

There are some great photos on their gallery here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blackcountry/content/image_galleries/spiders_09_gallery.shtml

Its is hard work but worth it. The only problem is that myself and Angela spend so much time sorting out exploding toilets or tracking down a key for the lecture hall etc.etc etc. that we dont actually see any of the spiders.

Never mind ...................thanks to you all for attending and hopefully see you next year if I can find someone to unblock this damn toilet........

Ray and Angela