Ready to jumble!
This month I visited my first – possibly the first – bike jumble since lockdown. Elk Promotions’ Ardingly event, on the sunny weekend of July 11/12, proved popular with stallholders and visitors alike.
Organiser Julie Diplock started planning the event as soon as restrictions on ‘markets’ were eased, but with shows still banned that aspect had to be dropped. Mind you, the beautiful roads leading to the South of England Showground encourage riders and the car park is a show in itself.
Any concerns about attending such an event were dispelled by very responsible organisation. Making the event two-day succeeded in dividing footfall into rough halves, so each day was lively but never crowded. The spacious site helped with most stalls outdoors and a one-way system in the main building that effectively prevented ‘milling about’.
“The great thing was that everybody ‘got it’,” says Julie. “Stallholders and customers observed social distancing and we’ve had great feedback since – but I admit it was hard making it all work. I was up at 4am every morning the week before!”
We enjoyed the ride down, buying needed parts and catching up with friends and their lockdown projects. My pal Dennis Frost was there on his justfinished LE Velo, a super low-mileage bike that he has managed to recommission without destroying the original factory finish.
Julie’s next event is the Hamstreet Autojumble on September 13 – I’m looking forward to it already...