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Comitatus at Wallington - Printable Version

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Comitatus at Wallington - John Conyard - 05-04-2011

I just wanted to post up some photos of Comitatus at Wallington over the early May Bank Holiday. It was simply a stunning event on many different levels. The weather was great, the shows were brilliant, the new horses were superb, the client was excellent, and the crowds were fantastic. Over 9,000 people came to see us which was just amazing.

Frankly the rest of our season will have something to live up to because that was one of the best events I have ever attended. It was brilliant.

Hopefully we will get a gallery up on our events pages over the next few days.


Re: Comitatus at Wallington - M. Demetrius - 05-05-2011

Gorgeous photos. And a beatiful day for an outing.


Re: Comitatus at Wallington - Caballo - 05-05-2011

Looking very good!


Re: Comitatus at Wallington - James Decius - 05-05-2011

Must have had a good turn out from your group to get over 9000 people to come and watch you


Re: Comitatus at Wallington - John Conyard - 05-05-2011

Not just a good turnout, but careful organisation, good advertising, perfect weather, a great veneu, a brilliant client, a good size arena, exciting shows, and horses.Big Grin


Re: Comitatus at Wallington - James Decius - 05-06-2011

Does look impressive, but I dont see 9000 people in the crowd...were they hiding?


Re: Comitatus at Wallington - Neil Irving - 05-06-2011

The memsahib and I were there, so there's only 8998 more to find.

I'd nere seen Comitatus before. Very impressive and tremendously good humoured. I was good to see the way that the group got the children involved.

Well done you.


Re: Comitatus at Wallington - John Conyard - 05-06-2011

James, I hope you just haven't joined RAT to question my veracity. Be more positive:-)

Most of us arrived to set up on the Friday. In terms of the public 2,000 came to really see the hall on the Saturday which is a good benchmark. We had over 3,700 on the Sunday and over 5,000 by 2.30 pm on the Monday when the local BBC news channel turned up to do a bit on the record visitor figures. We hit the 9,000 visitors by the end of the event. Although I think we would have been happy to stay up there longer and do another day. The staff were excellent.

Thanks for the kind comments Neil. The last kiddies drill on the Sunday had two encores to get through the number of kids. It was rather time consuming.


Re: Comitatus at Wallington - Yurko - 05-06-2011

Dearest James,

With 2 posts a mere 2.8333333 hours apart regarding questioning the exact numbers stated attending this event, why don't you simply ask Mr. Conyard to provide you copies of the ticket sales receipts? That being if it was indeed a ticketed venue. I would think all on this forum would be interested in those exact numbers.

Really, who cares if 900 or 9,000 attended? The fact that Comitatus is out there actively promoting something all on this forum is interested in one way or another is probably good enough for most. Maybe he exaggerated. I'm certainly guilty of it. Albeit, usually after more than a pint mind you.

Well done Comitatus! Unless Wallington is next door to your stabling arrangements, I understand the logistical hassle, work involved, cost, etc. of getting horses and kit safely to an event and back.

Now that I've defended you, think I can get a price break on one of your lovely Roman saddles after any kinks are worked out of the design?? Just kidding....lousy, @#$%!@* U.S. Dollar.

Valete,


Re: Comitatus at Wallington - John Conyard - 05-06-2011

An American may exaggerate especially after a beer, but a Cornishman never. The visitor figures were astounding.

We used three of the new saddles last weekend which was another source of satisfaction.


Re: Comitatus at Wallington - Ammianus - 05-06-2011

It was a wonderful weekend. And there certainly was no exaggeration. I know many of us did not have time to eat in the day, it was all rather 'go go go'!
I thought women were usually the ones to stir but I think on this occation we come up rather civil. :roll:

It is always very enjoyable talking to the public, they get very engaged in what we aim to do and the shows are all good fun. I know we all worked very hard and it paid off. I hope the rest of our year is just as busy. Though like Yurko says it does not matter about the overall number as long as you can make it enjoyable and educatinal for the people who do attend.

When our photographers have sent me some photos I'll get some up on the website for people to enjoy.

Here's me charging the infantry, with a horse that likes to jump shield walls :lol:
[attachment=816]IMG_1430-Copy.JPG[/attachment]


Re: Comitatus at Wallington - M. Demetrius - 05-06-2011

@James, Sir, I have been to a number of outdoor events, and participated in various ways. In none of them were the entire visiting public on hand at any given time, as they come and go, and spread over a three day event, the only way to have a good idea of how many visitors arrived is from the staff of the facility. The reenactors are simply relying on that count, which is usually tied to a number of tickets sold or in some other way tallied. Seems to me the benefit of the doubt should be dealt to the participants.

Why not come and join up with Comitatus, then you can count the patrons for yourself? The distance can't be that great that you couldn't get by for at least part of the time.


Re: Comitatus at Wallington - jvrjenivs - 05-06-2011

Quote:Really, who cares if 900 or 9,000 attended?

Well probably the people financing the events do. As part of the commitee of the Nijmegen festival I've to say that to get funds raised we have to give the counts of (previous) events and expected numbers for the one we're asking money for.

And it's alwasy nice to be able to have some numbers of how many people you do try to educate yearly, just to be able to show the importance of this kind of public events.


Re: Comitatus at Wallington - John Conyard - 05-06-2011

Good morning,

I don't really want James' posts to slant this thread towards a discussion on event planning. We can start a separate thread for that. But I will say that I am sure every client has a target in terms of visitor numbers and for some venues visitor numbers are vital. It is heavily dependent on weather, but insurance can be taken out to help protect large events from heavy losses. At Wallington we hoped for 4,000 and got 9,000 visitors. It was brilliant.

We were lucky at Wallington that everything just came together to make an exceptional event. Often the first event of the year can be a "rusty". Members may sit up too late over their wine, horses need a bit of time to get in the groove etc. But everybody in their own way had prepared well for the event. Lots of new kit was looking good. The new horses were well prepared and I have never ridden such well groomed mounts at an event. A few javelin shafts had dried out over the winter and broke over the weekend but we were expecting such breakages and had spares. The advertising really worked well, the weather was perfect, the venue excellent and the arena just the right size. We walked through each show and had prepared all sorts of alternative plans if various bits of kit and equipment had broken. I could have made a new ballista from the spare parts I was carrying. We just about kept to timings and everything ran like clockwork.

It was just a really exceptional weekend. I do not think Comitatus has ever entertained 9,000 people over a weekend before. It was very special. Enough said!


Re: Comitatus at Wallington - James Decius - 05-06-2011

Im not trying to slant anything....Im just surprised all of 9000 people came to watch a few infantry and a few horses playing soldiers