The Yoga Show, Olympia, October 2009
The first day of the Yoga Show was Friday 30th October. It was an early arrival for me and I was at Olympia by 9:45 am in case Pierre Bibby, our CEO, needed an extra hand to set up the BWY stand – but all was in perfect order – he had done an excellent job. The stand looked very smart and was in a good central location. The show included more than 200 exhibitors and some 108 yoga or pilates classes available over the 3 days.
10 am saw our first batch of Volunteers who would be manning the BWY stand that day along with me. June Milner was first to arrive and would be with me all day; she was an excellent support as this was the first time I had manned the stand. She was quickly followed by Jane Roberson, Fiona Wells and Jacqui Mees. Once the show opened at 11 am we just seemed to stay busy all day long. We had many requests on how to become a Yoga Teacher and it was great to have so much supporting literature on the stand to pass out to them. This covered all aspects of Yoga that are taught by the Wheel, a history of the Wheel itself (very interesting), an article on the Wheel being the Governing Body for Yoga in the UK, and also mention was made of the new BWYQ. Spectrum Magazine was also very well received.
As you may be aware, the Wheel provides one free Open Class on each day, and the Region that is manning the BWY Stand provides that teacher. On our day, Jacqui Mees gave an Open Class in the afternoon, which was very well received. I think her theme of the lesson, ‘Mind The Gap’, was certainly topical. Lesley Isaacson was also on the stand and she and Danny Deville demonstrated a few yoga poses together – quite fitting for the surroundings we were in!
Jeanette Cassels and Meryl Hopkins did their bit and manned the stand admirably. Volunteers were still coming in throughout the day. Jacqueline Purnell also popped in (she has done a number of IST days for us in our Region) and as she said she would be on the stand on Saturday as a volunteer it was great to be able to run through with her what we had dealt with on Friday.
My thanks to all our Volunteers who made the first day of the Yoga Show a great success. I feel sure this will be continued over the following two days when the Stand will be managed by the London Region (Saturday) and South East (Sunday). Special thanks also need to go to Danny Deville, Yolanda Belle Isle, Katja and Madhu from the London Region; they were most helpful and their assistance was very much appreciated. Thanks also go to Edelgard Moss who organised the rota for the day – it certainly made the day run very smoothly.
Namaste
Tim