Joyce's Column: July

As always, the recent Open Day at Park Avenue courtesy of Electrocoin and UDC was a great success, with a vast range of equipment from both of these companies plus a plethora of equipment from all the other companies that attend the event, and the number of these companies seems to grow each year.

The organisation behind the day is fantastic and I am sure just doesn’t happen overnight there must be so much planning goes into it to make it a success from where each company and their equipment is placed, the catering which is always first class, the champagne on arrival and the bar that runs all day staffed by Neil who has a great memory for what people drink, the raffle and the prizes amassed, the welcome guests receive and I am sure they must have some extra magic in their organising, as there have been few and far between these Open Days that the sun doesn’t shine, and true to form it did just that this year.

This is a day that should definitely be marked in your calendar, and we could do with more of these type of events during the year, as they make us all feel so happy.

Gary and Gloria Newman had been in Brighton the day before the Open Day to celebrate their 42nd Wedding Anniversary, Gary treated Gloria to a fantastic meal and then she decided that for her main present she would like to go down The Lanes, ouch thought Gary at the thoughts of his wallet!! Gloria got her wish and she wanted a new Eternity ring, which of course Gary bought for her, so she is now proudly showing this off to all and sundry. Congratulations to you both and hopefully you will have many more Weeding Anniversaries to celebrate together.

Thanks to Paul Scott of E-Service for assisting me with the tools of my trade, pens, and I have to say Paul they are very nice ones too and I am very appreciative of them.

Bob Nicholson was going to attend the Open Day, but alas he was unable to do so, as he was suffering from Shingles and these were in his eye, now I know these are very painful at the best of times but they are not only painful in the eye but can be dangerous, you can lose your sight, as I had them once many years ago in my eye, and the doctor told me then I was very lucky not to lose my sight in the affected eye. Shame you couldn’t attend Bob, but I hope by now that you are over the Shingles and are fighting fit again.

Nice to see Stern’s Doug Skor at the event and even though it is such a long way from the USA to come over for it, either he or Gary Stern comes every year, it wouldn’t be the same without you. I have to say that Doug looks more like his late Father Fred each time I see him apart from the beard, and like Fred who was a perfect gentleman, Doug is following in his footsteps.

Another visitor to the event this year was ex BACTA’s Dawn Millroy who was as effervescent as ever, and it was good to see her, and I am sure she enjoyed catching up with many people that she knew, and I was very pleased to see her, as I go back many years with Dawn.

Another ex BACTA employee Parveen came to the day, and she tells me that she was appearing in Eastenders again very soon, in fact I think she said it was about 2/3 weeks after the Open Day. Besides the acting roles she is now involved in some fitness training, there doesn’t seem to be any end to this lady’s talents.

John Collinson ex Electrocoin made the trip up from Cardiff for the day, he said he hadn’t been to the event for a couple of years, but he was enjoying this one very much, and fair does to him to drive to London from Cardiff and back again in the one day is hard going these days. Mind you he told me that he drove up to Oxford a few Sundays ago just to have lunch, and then drove back again to Cardiff after lunch, gosh with all the traffic on the roads these days John, you must have some stamina and always have to have your wits about you with the way some people drive these days.

Many thanks to GeWeTe’s Robert Clarke for being my Knight in Shining Armour by assisting me with my luggage to Hangar Lane tube station this was much appreciated especially as I was suffering with the torn ligament in my knee, Robert you really were a Godsend, also thanks to his boss Mark Edmundson for allowing Robert to do this for me. I understand that he didn’t lose his crown this year for being first in the queue for the buffet, he usually manages this each year, and has only occasionally not managed to succeed at this, but this year he made sure he was the first, well he is a growing lad after all!!

Just what was holding Karen Cooke’s and Steph Norbury’s interest on Steph’s phone, something certainly was as you can see from the photo here, Karen is actually craning her neck to see what it is, obviously it was top secret between the 2 of them. (editor's note: nothing top secret Joyce - probably just reading your latest column!)

We have 2 smiling faces here, John Marriott of Sterling Amusement Machines and his friend Jason McDonald, who both enjoyed the day and kindly kept me amused during lunch, and sorry John about the glass of wine that you got for me and I had disappeared by the time you brought it back, but you did take rather a long time and I had to leave to get to Hangar Lane. I am sure though that the wine didn’t go to waste, despite the fact that you were drinking beer, that the glass of wine went down just as well.

Many thanks to Peter Murphy for his kind words to me regarding the retirement article I did on him in my June column, he was most appreciative of this and Peter it was my honour to do the article, and you did deserve it after all your years of service in and to the industry, Peter also wished to thank Steph for her kind words about him too. I think you will all be pleased to know that Peter (PM) is well on the road to recovery after his unfortunate accident at EAG in January this year, and he is hoping to be fighting fit before too long.

Well it didn’t quite ‘Come Home’ the football trophy of course, such a shame, but good to see that something is ‘Coming Home’ well northwards at least, a new exhibition in April 2025, well done to Karen Cooke for organising this, and it will be good to have a show in the north once more. 

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1 August 2024

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