Swap Meet Time Again

The first Sunday in February always sees the Bathurst Swap Meet take place at the Showground and keeps us very busy. You can see previous years here, here and here.   It is the major fundraiser for the Bathurst Historic Car Club and also allows us to make some great donations to local charities.

We were down there bright and early on the Saturday getting everything set up.  There was, however, time to do a bit of stitching before the we manned the gates in the afternoon for lots of the stallholders to come in and set up for the next day.

It has been wet here all week, although nowhere nearly as bad as some places.  Mick’s phone ran hot in the few days before with people wanting to know if it was raining, if it was flooding and if it was still on.  Someone must have been looking down on us because it was fine on Saturday, with just a light sprinkle in the evening.  Then the sky lit up, boding well for Sunday.

We camped in our little camper trailer overnight, ready for the early start at 4.30am when people started to turn up.  It really is a case of the early bird coming to catch the worm.

We had a stall again this year.  Mick took down the old Douglas bike to sell and it was just amazing how it worked as a magnet.  People literally flocked to look at it and find out all about it and how much it was. The flow on effect was that they then looked at the stall and lots even bought things.  Mick had a big clean out in the shed. No, the Douglas didn’t sell, but we really don’t mind.

I didn’t do too badly with my section of the stall either.  Once again, having a big clean out of the cupboards.  We collect too many things and the house is about to explode.

During the morning this little fellow took a liking to a little green china vase.  He walked around and around it for ages.  The number of people that came up and asked if it was real or part of the the vase. He really did keep me amused.

The weather was just glorious and I think lots of people just wanted to get out in the sunshine, so they came down for a look.  Therefore, all the stallholders that I spoke to had a very successful day, as did the Club.  We have been so blessed, as in the 26 years of the Swap Meet we have never been washed out.

We were both really strong and didn’t even look at any other stalls.  It is the first time that I didn’t even go for a walk around, except to get breakfast and lunch.  It was the only way I could be sure that I wouldn’t defeat the purpose by bringing more “treasures” home.

Next Sunday we will do it all again at the little village of Newbridge.  We really enjoy attending their Swap Meet as we just turn up and don’t have to do any work. Hopefully, we will get rid of a bit more of our surplus stuff.