BTS Lectures - a great day!

[Mark Pennell]

Hi All
Just a quick note to thank all those who attended the BTS Lectures and Dinner yesterday.

Special thanks to the guest lecturers.

Volker von Wirth
Stuart Longhorn
Thomas Ezendam and Sjef V Overdijk
Ray Gabriel
Andrew M Smith

And of course Ray Hale and Carl Portman who opened up the day with a hilarious warm up talk.

It was a long day for Kim and I but we really enjoyed seeing everyone and hope everyone had a great time. I wont have to eat for a week now, to much food!...

Also I am sure staying up and drinking and chatting till 4.30 in the morning is not good for me!

It was also very nice to see some of our old European friends, meet some new ones.

Eddy Hijmensen
Timo Raab
Boris Striffler
Chris and Bo Sainsbury

Thank you for making the long journey to attend.

So thank you all for making this year the best ever Lectures and Dinner all 61 of you! You know who you all are.

Here is to next year! Feb 25th 2006 - Book Early!

Regards
Mark and Kim Pennell

Feel free to post pictures.

[Ray Hale]

We second those thoughts. What a great day ( and night). Nice to see some old friends and meet new ones.

Our personal thanks to Mark and Kim. They really pushed the boat out this time.

The lectures where excellent. Stuart Longhorn, how clever is he?

Great lectures, great surroundings and above all great company.

See you all next year

Ray and Angela

[Carl Portman]

BTS LECTURES

Congratulations to Mark and Kim and our personal thanks to them for organising a superb event.

If you weren't there, you might never know why Andrew Smith associates himself so spiritually with 'fairy lights'. You won't have learned how to take DNA from a tarantula. You won't know where to still POSSIBLY find gold in Africa. You won't know why a certain Malaysian theraphosid occurs also in Africa. You won't know which spiders to steer well clear of in Panama, and you won't know which committee member stood in a bucket in only underpants as a child!

Still, you can always come next year but it is a long time to wait. Book early when the opportunity arises.

On a personal note, it was lovely to meet new people (you know who you are) and listen to what you have to say about our excellent society. The membership is a multi-talented lot - one gentlemen (nameless for legal reasons!!!!!) even taught me how to make a chicken out of a napkin - but don't go there.

Some very nice things were said about the society and the committee. I can assure you all that we try very hard to maximise the benefits for members and shall continue to do so.

What other group have people has such a bond of friendship with people here and abroad? The Dutch and the Germans are frequent visitors to BTS Exhibitions and lectures and are always welcome, as is the rest of the world!

Finally, I cannot sign off without quoting our esteemed chairman who during his lecture gave forth the immortal line...

"look at that for a lovely crack, the legs are just below it and they just need a good tickle"

You DEFINITELY want to be there next year folks.

Carl and Susan Portman

[marie metcalfe-brachygirl]

we had a great day and night. thanks Kim and Mark for making it possible,so much knowledge in one place.
Dont know where the day went, it flew by, met lots of great people and aquired lots of very interesting information, my head is still buzzing, and no its not from the drink.
looking forward to next year.
Marie

[Graeme Wright]

Yep saturday was a great day. plety of interesting stuff going on. Got to meet loads of people. Carl signed me book lol got loads of pokies etc. as usually I come back with more spiders then what I take down. Was nice o meet kim and mark and everyone eles.

Looking forward to the next one.

Now where did I put that asprin my head is killing. hardly no sleep for 2 days.

[Phil Messenger]

Hi All
I would firstly like to say whet a great day the lectures were, thanks to Kim & Mark for organising the event, also thanks to Ray G, Sjef & Thomas, Stuart Longhorn and Volker Von Wirth for giving such excellent informative lectures.
It was a great chance to meet up again with old friends as well as meeting some new ones.
here's a couple of pics.

[Kate R]

What a day! Really nice to meet up with old friends, and make lots of new ones. The lectures were absolutely fascinating, much more in depth and captivating than last year (though I did enjoy last year immensely). Food was also very nice

Well done to all our new committee members

Looking forward to next year already

[Guy Tansley]

Agreed, thanks to Kim and Mark as always and everyone else invovled, lets hope for bigger and even better next year...

[mrs Tescos]

Hi
Thank you Mark & Kim for organizesing such a great day out and for making a journey of 900+ km well worth the effort.
Not only were the lectures extremely interesting but they also gave the chance to catch up with friends which we haven´t seen for a while and the opportunity to make some new ones.
Chris and I, would personally like to give a special thanks to Phil and Tracy Messenger for not only putting up with us over the weekend, but also organizesing our transportation to and from the lectures on the day.

Regards and all the best from Germany

Bo & Chris

PS. Kim, Chris says he will have his revenge.
Tracy, the airbeds will be fine, believe me.
Richard, thanks for not eating all the cakes this year.

[pocoloco]

top day

Hi all, thanks for a top weekend, it was great to see old friends and make some new ones, see you all soon ,paul

[Ray Gabriel]

Our thoughts also,

Thanks to all for a great weekend,

book our places for next year (will try to pay on time Kim)

Ray n Lesley

[Phil Messenger]

Hi
Thank you Mark & Kim for organizesing such a great day out and for making a journey of 900+ km well worth the effort.
Not only were the lectures extremely interesting but they also gave the chance to catch up with friends which we haven´t seen for a while and the opportunity to make some new ones.
Chris and I, would personally like to give a special thanks to Phil and Tracy Messenger for not only putting up with us over the weekend, but also organizesing our transportation to and from the lectures on the day.

Regards and all the best from Germany

Bo & Chris

PS. Kim, Chris says he will have his revenge.
Tracy, the airbeds will be fine, believe me.
Richard, thanks for not eating all the cakes this year.

Hi
It's a pleasure having you here, your always welcome anytime
Also Thanks to you and Chris for keeping an eye out for spiders on my wish list and bringing them over, very much appreciated.
looking forward to next year now.
just sorry you forgot your cheese

[Volker von Wirth]

Dear all,

I also want to thank you very much for the familiar care during the BTS lecture and dinner weekend! It was the first time for me in England and I'd enjoyed the inhabitation during the weekend! Unfortunately my lecture was a little bit to fast, but I'd thought I had to hurry up because of the technical problems at the beginning!
Especially I want to thank Mark and Kim Pennell for the outstanding organisation before and during the Weekend, and Mark, it was really not your fault that I misunderstood a technical term of the e-mail! So, keep cool, everything is okay!!!!!! REALLY!!!!
I also want to thank Ray Hale for the good short privat talk!
Furthermore I want to thank my old friend Ray Gabriel for the Material and that I had the possibility to use the pig sty as sleeping room and the straw to build a bed (but I couldn't sleep because the odor from the pigs was so strong)!
I've also want to thank Richard Gallon, because he's always there if I need him (as well as Boris Striffler)!
I also want to thank clever-Chriss and Bo Sainsbury for endure me during the long drive!
Last but not least I have to say that it was a geat pleasure for me to meet Andrew Smith and Peter Kirk again! I'd really enjoyed the meeting with you!
Anyway, in the meantime I've overcame the terrible stomache flu and the following influenca, so the energy is back to pin down this words!

With all my best to you all, Volker