The show

[Kate R]

Great meeting you at last Craig.

Was Kate in greenstripey top Leon?? She got cambs and irminias from me.

I did indeed, thank you very much I always seem to be on the look out for cambs & irminias, but there haven't been any at the show for the past few years. Glad I managed to get in and snap a few up before they all vanished. I had a really stunning female P. irminia, but she died earlier this year and I wanted to replace her.

Really need to get back in to this spider community milarky. It's been too long!!

Had a great show anyway and really enjoyed being on the Spider Shop equipment stall. I was supposed to be revising for my finals this week, but we were a bit too busy for all that. Thankfully my first exam went alright today, so hopefully the day off did me some good

[gareth yates]

the show

wow wot a day poped my cherry got my first spiders 2 slings gramotola pulchara : pchangui blue beauty eualhlus s.p beauty a lovely grammostola concepicon and a grammostola iheringi which was all on its own on the stall that had the goliaths on my daughter eva whos 4 spotted it and we fell in love amazing colours could any one give me a bit of info on it as would like to know more eva wants some more spiders please and i do but gotta learn first and next time wont take her pink dolly (long story) so it begins

[Colin D Wilson]

Another great show, thanks as always to everyone who helps in some way to organise and set up the event.

Nice to see old friends and make new ones.

Hope everyone that attended this show as their first one enjoyed it and will come back next year, I know that Elaine enjoyed the show (especially winning "Best New World Arboreal" at her first ever attendance..... (putting things into print and to save any speculation...Yes we are a couple, Yes i am moving to Scotland....and yes i will be marrying her in the future thanks to all who wished us well ))

Came back (between us) with a nice little collection of breeding stock, Avicularia mainly...a couple of fantastic Orange Huntsman, irminia from Mary, Grammostola vachoni from lee (not one to be missed if you get the chance), some Avics from Wesemy (cheers matey) and last but not least a couple of Cheatopelma sp "kunti" and a nice mature pair of Euathlus pulcherrimaklaasi from the ever helpful Mr Ray Gabriel.

[Leon Lane]

Oh and Leon, great to meet you and how do I keep this orange thing you sold me!

Like this!

[SylviRigden]

I had a great day! Thank you BTS Commitee for all your hard work in creating such a fab day. Where did that scrummy fruit cake come from? mmmmmm It was yummy!
I came home with H lividum and H schmidti slings, a lg juv female H hainunum, and a lovely X immanis female from Elaine

[Matthew Baines]

Thank you everybody who help put this show together and running smoothly, was a totally mind blowing experience. Not seen that many folk crammed into a small space in a long time. It was my first Expo but it will not be my last, cheers Claire for the lift your a star would of probably missed it if it wasn't for you and your car.It was good to catch up with friends and meet some new ones too ( Even if they were a bit mental !!! .) Got everything i came for and more. Thanks BTS you made my year ! And thank you to everyone i received spiders from . Oh and thank you spiders!

[mary walters]

Elaine and Colin, congrats in person, and now in print, I am soooo happy for you both. Elaine, some of my lil perus will find a way to you when ready xx

Sylvi, I made the cake at show, on our tables, well, I made it here not on our tables lol. I take it you didn't sample the banana and coconut one then.

Matt it was great to see you however brief love, and Lisa.

[Gayle E. Anderson]

Had a great day, well worth the drive
Great seeing such a huge variety of inverts in the flesh!

Think thats my OH a definite invert convert now, unfortunately we missed the lecture but he wanted to see it even more than I did! And he mentioned more than once that he wants to enter his GBB Binky next year

I left with 8 new babies, P. Cambridgei, 3 P. Irminia, G. Pulchra, B. Albiceps (which were all labelled Ruhnai), C. sp 'Machalla' and a C. Crawshayi
The OH got 4 mantids, a pair of sexed sub adult S. Lineola and a pair of tiny H. Membranacea.

[Matthew Baines]

Yeah congrats Colin and Elaine , Not many people seems to click together like you too have . The last time i saw that happen was when i met Lisa , your good for each other which doesn't happen very often!
Mary i will make sure next time we meet I am going to have a good natter with you , I was just a bit overcome with all the anarchy most of the day that I never got a good chance to chat with you .But as most folk I spoke too will tell you I spent most of the day trying to track down any Cyriopagopus Sheioedtei , it was like looking for the holy grail but I got there in the end thanks to Lee .

[James Box]

just a quick post at the minute, should do better tonight!
was fantastic as always meeting new people and seeing old friends! i wish i could've chatted for hours to all of you!
in fact there's room for a blanket apology, i had so much to do, and so little brain power from lack of sleep, that i think i accidentally started conversations with people and then got dragged away by other people or just got distracted. so if i did that to you, i am very sorry and please!!! don't take it personally!
Ray G...looking at your table sadly was one of the things i didn't get a real chance to do! if you want to shift more of those kunti's, i will happily buy a couple!
right, i will post more later!!!
again was fantastic seeing everyone, but it was pure chaos! in a good way of course!

[Nicola Dolby]

Well done Elaine and Colin! All the best to you both, I hope you have everything you wish for. Congratulations!

[Mike_Strick]

Just to add to the thanks to Ray and Angela for another excellent show.

We managed not to splash out too much this year, just a hand full of new inverts. I was mainly on the look out for Aphonopelma species, but ended up only getting a "blue" courtesy of The Spider Shop. Also found a nice big P. imperator to add to our existing colony, and Katherine left with some new millipedes and some cockroaches. I couldn't resist picking up a Brachypelma albiceps after enjoying Andrew Smith's talk on collecting them!

As always we met lots of interesting people, both old friends and new.

A lovely surprise too was our names coming up in the prize draw!

Great to see the nice, non-sensationalist press coverage.

Mike

[Peter Lacey]

Colin and Elaine, that's fantastic news, congratulations to you both, you make a great couple.

Mark, Ray etc. no chance anyone handed in some P. ornata slings, in an opaque tub clearly marked up for collection?

[James Box]

Mike: i am in the same boat as you. i was hoping against hope there'd be Aphonopelma chalcodes there for my (ill-advised lol) breeding project, but nothing there
i blame it on the flashy spiders!!!

[Adz_Smith]

Mike: i am in the same boat as you. i was hoping against hope there'd be Aphonopelma chalcodes there for my (ill-advised lol) breeding project, but nothing there
i blame it on the flashy spiders!!!

Must admit that sometimes the most basic colouration such as a chalcodes are nicer than the flashy metallic species. I have only ever seen chalcodes at the bts expo at 3cm going for £8 each wish I had picked up a handful.