A Historical Overview
An East of England Koi Show wasn't a new idea, the Cambridgeshire Koi Club under one of it's previous guises, the Peterborough and District Koi Club held it's first show in the late 80's at Bretton Woods School in Peterborough before going on a roam around the area taking in Notcutts Garden Centre, The Barn Garden Centre and Avenue Fisheries who kindly allowed the club to use some of their land for the show before ending up at the Sue Ryder Care Home in Peterborough where the last show of that generation was held in 1999.
There would be a gap of some 9 years before a show was once again discussed by the club and 11 years before it was actually decided it was viable.
2010 - Nervous steps!
At the clubs January 2010 AGM Geoff Winn (the events co-ordinator) put it to the floor that the club should once again look into the feasibility of holding it’s own show, and after much discussion that saw everyone weighing up both the pro’s and the con’s of holding a show, it was agreed by all members of the club in attendance that 2010 would see the first club show in recent history, a show that was open only to club members to exhibit and that would prove to be an immense learning opportunity for all who dug in and got involved.
When it came to the location there was a choice to be made, pay for the use of a field or showground or take up the kind offer from Sally and Iain Kirkbright to use the field at the side of their home for free, the choice was obvious and so it came to be that the Cambridgeshire Koi Show would be held in the small fenland village of Threeholes and a terrific success it was too!
Over 140 koi were entered and displayed in the 24 vats situated in the centre ring and the show was described as 'the best closed show this year' by a well known koi judge!
The success of the show and the feedback received by the club meant that a decision had to be made, would the club hold another show in 2011 and would it be an open show or once again a closed show?
A vote was taken at the club meeting held in October 2010, directly after the show and whilst the event was fresh in everyone’s mind, where the membership were asked if we should hold an annual show that is open to all hobbyists country wide to enter, the result was that this suggestion was passed by all in attendance.
2011 - The start of something new!
2011 saw the club stage it's first open show, a show that was open to hobbyists from outside of the club as well as from within to exhibit at, a show that has received rave reviews from those that came despite the weather that has been described as 'biblical'
The show saw the addition of owls and also Alpacas which the children and adults alike seemed to take a great interest in. In total over 270 koi were exhibited and over 1300 people passed through the gates over the course of the weekend making it one of the most visited koi shows of the year.
A quick quote to finish off with, just one of many found on forums around the web:
Thanks to the Cambridge Koi Club for a truly great show, guys you have well and truly raised the bar once again.
