Cheers for the great lectures

[stuart edwards]

Just wanted to say another big thankyou to Mark and Kim Pennell for organising the event, we will definatly attend next year where hopefully there will be afew more people.

Also a big thank you to Martin Huber, Chris Hamilton, Richard Gallon, Soren Rafn and Andrew Smith for the great lectures. And Last but not least another thank you to everyone who i managed to pester and talk to throughout the day

[Ray Hale]

We second that. Great weekend. Friendly people, superb lectures and an all round not to be missed event. Thanks to Mark and Kim for organising it again. They put a lot of work into it and it shows.
This year was a milestone event.....Andrew Smith used PowerPoint for the very first time. As he would say " It was defining moment".

Thanks to Richard Gallon for an insight into the Turkish Theraphosids, Martin Huber for a superb lecture on Laos, Soren Rafn for tackling the immotive subject of Tarantula Collecting in such a professional way and to Chris Hamilton for his ground breaking research into Aphonopelma. I have a feeling his work will prove invaluable in the coming years.
Andrew Smith produced another fascinating talk on his African travels with some fine pictures and commentary.

Good work guys.

Ray and Angela

[Mike_Strick]

Seconded. Katherine and I had a great day. Very interesting and entertaining lectures all round. Good to get a chance to chat with some BTS folks, in particular Soren whose posts I've been reading on various fora and mailing lists for at least a decade. We chose the cheaper option of staying in The Lodge, but I rather wish we'd stayed at the Aztec so we could have been more sociable.

(Edit - okay thirded, Ray got in there while I was typing my post!)

[Phil Rea]

Excellent lectures and dinner (not entirely sure what the green stuff the noodles were floating in was, but it sure as heck tasted good. ).

Great to see friends again and catch up, and it was also nice to meet some new people. A brilliant job of organising as usual from Mark and Kim, and thanks to all the lecturers for their efforts. Every single lecture was informative and enjoyable, and it was well worth the journey from North Wales, and braving all of the extremely long and tedious 50mph average speed zones on the M5 and M6!

[Adz_Smith]

That mystery green noodle stuff gave me some serious Jip (heartburn) other than that the weekend was fantastic break to get away, will certainly try to make it yearly calender event as missed the last 2 lectures.
Although there were not as many guests this year didn't put too much of a damper and still great socialising.
Next on the list the BTS show and will certainly be a good one as that week will have just finished my university course and can treat myself to a couple new spiddies. That is if the boss (Hayley) will let me .

[Michael Olsinia]

Yeah, great weekend again. Thanks to Kim and Mark for making it all happen, (and for all the pink vodka!) And many thanks to all the speakers, I really enjoyed the talks this year.
And thanks to Sean and Monica, and the Invicta group, who made it possible for us to attend.
Look forward to seeing everyone again next year

[Richard Gallon]

I really enjoyed the lectures this year. Just a pity I had to leave straight after the dinner.

I know what you mean about the 50 limits on the M5/M6 Phil, I had the added pleasure of the M6 being closed between J10-11, with a twisty diversion through Brum lol.

Was a long day, but well worth the 9 hours of driving

Richard

[Ray Hale]

I have just heard about your aborted "Fez" joke Richard. Shame that it would have been a good one. Interesting lecture mind you.

What was that guys name again?


Cheers

Ray

[Peter Kirk]

Ditto regarding the joke - can't believe you blew it!!!

Just wanted to echo everyone's comments above; the lectures were really good this year (as they have been in other years - but both Connie and I enjoyed them immensely). Thanks to ALL the lecturers who gave up their time to keep us informed and entertained; the RT. Rev. Rayzor Hale, Richard Gallon, Martin Huber, Soren Rafn and Chris Hamilton - and not forgetting Andy Smith who, once again, gave a quality lecture.
AFRICAAA!!!
The social side of the weekend was top quality and it was great to see so many familiar faces.

A BIG thanks to Kim and Mark for organising another great weekend and I am already looking forward to the next one.

[James Box]

Thanks Mark and Kim for organising a brilliant event and to the lecturers for imparting their experiences and wisdom and keeping us well and truly entertained at the same time!
Richard's lecture was great as it was brilliant hearing about the Turkey trip, one of those legendary Chaetopelma is in my collection along with a couple Iurid scorps from the trip, so it was great to hear about the actual adventure.
Martin's lecture about Laos was very entertaining and had the thrill of new discovery and the interesting food you showed us in the slides got me well and truly ready for dinner! i wonder if Jean Michel will ever live down leaving after 10 days! hehe
Soren's lecture about collecting was nothing short of amazing, full of thought provoking information and a whole new perspective on a number of debates! i can think of some people that would benefit from hearing what was said in this lecture rather than engaging in pointless and divisive speculation online under the woefully mistaken idea they are doing the hobby good. of course no one that is at all switched on believes they are that altruistic really in addition to that, there was great information on preparing for a trip and collecting data. i quite liked the machete as well haha
Chris's lecture could well be my favourite, just because it dealt with my favourite genus his lecture had fantastic natural historic information which cleared up the relationship between A hentzi and many species in its general area...was amazing! even more amazing was that the complicated stuff was explained so clearly even i could get it!

of course the best part of the weekend is the social side, and it was great catching up with people i haven't seen in ages and forging new friendships!

thanks particularly to Stuart Longhorn, Chris Hamilton and Andrew Smith. Stuart for the ride home, the excellent company and helping me clear up the mystery of that mature male spider's identity and the booooooze! Chris for excellent company and fascinating conversation. Andy and Liz for hospitality and amazing food and making us all feel at home.

[chris carter]

Cant thank Kim and Mark enough for another excellent weekend, sorry about being fashionably late on Saturday.

See you all at next years lectures.

Matt will never forget his £14.75 drink the look of shock is still etched on his face

Chris and the Invicta crew

[Tony Hammond]

As an absolute newbie to the world of T's & the BTS I would like to say thanks to Kim & Mark for Saturday. It was an enlightening day which I enjoyed greatly & a dinner with added well to my girth.

I can now put a few faces to the names I've seen on various forums & have realised that, on reflection, I've missed much whilst on my travels. An enormous thanks to all to lecturers for opening my eyes & pitching it at a level I could follow (gee you guys go deep).

Also my thanks to you all for making me feel welcome, included & not uncomfortable when I asked some of you some more basic type questions.

I look forward to the exhibition now & the chance to grow a collection.

Cheers

[Adz_Smith]

[QUOTE=Tony Hammond;47814
I look forward to the exhibition now & the chance to grow a collection
Cheers[/QUOTE]

Be sure to have plenty of pennies in your pocket, especially if you bring your child along lol. Pretty sure there will be some GBB's

[Martin Huber]

Hi,

being involved myself in two non profit societies, I know how much work it is to put up such an event: I raise my hat off to Kim (and Mark) that they organized such a perfect event!

I really enjoyed the weekend and have the impression (don't know why), that there was even more/better socializing than the year before. I really enjoyed the weekend... ups, I think I start to repeat myself, even it can't be said often enough! =

Cheers,
Martin

[Mark Pennell]

Thanks everyone!
We are so glad everyone had a good time...

It was great to see so many attend those who have come so far thanks to all those who attened both new, regulars and guest lectures that all made it such a great weekend.

As we were both very ill just a few days before, we really thought we would not make it, I know Kim was not about much as she was still very ill and had to dissapear every now and then to rest.

So thanks everyone and see you next year, and for those who could not make it this time see you in 2011!...

Big thanks to Ray Hale, Chris Hamilton, Soren Rafn, Martin Huber and Richard for great lectures, fine company and all the effort for making this such an entertaining day.

Regards
Mark

P.S Well wishes to Kim who as I type is under the surgeons knife...