Of course there was the annual surge of interest, the excitement as to who would carry off the prestigious awards plus the pleasure of meeting up with old friends but the main discussion point was where would the Festival be held in 2011?

With the venue undergoing a change of ownership, it was not unexpected that the Federation would be looking for another site for the 2011 Festival.

What most of the people attending didn't know was just how close we came to losing the 2010 event itself.

It was only through the strenuous efforts of the Festival Organisers,
led by Joe Nethersell, that got us over the finishing line just in time to start the setting up – it was that close! Despite the relatively late start in setting up to caused by these negotiations, all was ready for the Friday evening start even after nearly a week of dreadful weather.

Well done, the Festival Team.

There was a good proportion of 'visitor participation' to be found whether it was getting as near as one dared to the reptiles, or voting in the two Furnished Aquarium Competitions.

Each day there were competitive fish shows to admire whilst the 'fish-widows' could find more things to their liking in the Craft Show.

The first events on a very packed Saturday were the Killifish Show, Catfish Show, the Laguna Koi Festival, the Goldfish Society of Great Britain Open Show, the British Open Championship and the first round of the Society Furnished Aquarium Competition (judged by the public) and the Final of the Individual Furnished Aquarium Competition.

New to the Festival, Aquajardin arrived with a superb display Stand plus their talented staff lost no time in setting up some excellent furnished Aquariums around the Show site. When you know that these guys had been up in Telford all week at the new aquatic Trade Show until Thursday you can appreciate how hard they must have worked.

Due the venue's change of ownership, there were obvious signs of 'running down' from the likes of previous years - no 'Hudson's Bar' nor even the Arcade full of its noisy and highly-illuminated games. Fortunately, after the week's wet weather, the sun came out for the weekend and people obviously made their own entertainment to some degree.
The evening entertainments were as noisy and enjoyable as ever, with the Sheaf Valley Society totally dominating the Fancy Dress - and Trevor!

Discus, Koi, Goldfish, Society Displays, Reptiles, two lots of Furnished Aquarium Competition to get involved with, all added up to a brilliant weekend and that's without the high-spot Competitions such as the British Open, the Festival Open Show and, of course, 'The Supreme.'

With TDC concentrating more on Pairs and Breeding, it was inevitable that they should feature strongly in these Classes although Stuart Brown made sure they didn't get things all their own way.
In other events, young Jack Finnigan successfully elected to enter some fishes into the 'adult' Classes, as well as in his own right as a Junior.
The double-sized Furnished Aquarium Competitions drew in the voters - the 'Three Wise Men' of Dr David Ford, Dick Mills and Tetra's Dave Hulse deliberated independently, and their accumulated votes meant that Washington A.S.P. grabbed the Resident's Aquarium Trophy. Over the two days, nearly a thousand voting visitors made their evaluations in the Society Furnished and the outcome was that Hounslow eventually triumphed (by one vote) over the Island Fishkeepers' entry. Yet again, the entries from 'The Koi Girls' brought many admirers - and that Big Black Rat got everywhere!

Congratulations to all the successful exhibitors and a very well-deserved 'Well Done' to everyone concerned in the planning, the setting up and the day-to-day running of Britain's best aquatic hobby event.

We now look forward to next year's event at a new (to some) location.

If our splendid organising team led by Joe and Grace got us through this difficult year, just think how easy it will be next time!

You can see details of the venue

Sand Bay Leisure Resort, Beach Road, Kewstoke,
Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset BS22 9UR

online at www.martynleisurebreaks.co.uk