The first day at RWM is drawing to a close for LARAC staff Lee and Jenny. The show is really buzzing and has a new liveliness in its new location in Halls 4 and 5. LARAC has relocated and we are now have a great stand 4M30 right next to CIWM. We've had a really good day meeting members and welcoming back some old members into the fold. It's been great talking to old members and reminding them of all the benefits of belonging to LARAC and realising how valued we are by local authorities, and how non-members seem quite envious of the service we provide - talking of which, it's not long until our conference when our scholars can enjoy free attendance and our paying members can enjoy rock-bottom prices for a top event. We've attracted new supporters today and we have been catching up with current supporters such as Valpak and UKCM. A highlight of the day was meeting up with Emma and Julian Elston of UKCM on their stand which is a spectacular recycled bus. Take a look at the picture whcih shows the garden deck and an excellent view of the showThe bus is a testament to their skills of refurbishing. It was formerly as sad case ready for the scrapheap in Scotland when Emma and Julian bought it for a song. 4 months later they had taken off half the top deck to create a roof garden and installed a kitchen and lounge downstairs - and there's an excellent paint job on the outside. As you can see 'Big Bertha' is now a thing of beauty and now has a new life as they take it around to shows and exhibitions. It is an excellent re-useable resource - no breaking down the stand after the event for UKCM, they just drive it off to the next event. It makes a lovely stand, somewhere to get away from the hubbub of the day - and plenty of people were enjoying its atmosphere when we were there - and Emma and Julian were obviously really enjoying being able to take time to talk to their customers. Emma is keen to make the bus available to local authorities as an excellent comms and education tool.
A good day today, tomorrow is traditionally Local Authority day, so I hope to see lots of our members then, and we will make sure we get round to see our supporters. If you are coming, don't forget to look us up on stand 4M30.
