AEOLIAN.CO.UK - 2004 - Middle Wallop Kite and Buggy Festival

> Archive > 2004 > Middle Wallop Kite & Buggy Festival - May 2004

Middle Wallop Kite & Buggy Festival (May)

Saturday 29th - Monday 31st May 2004

Location: Middle Wallop Airfield, off the A343 Andover to Salisbury Road, Hampshire
Organised by: Kites Up & British Buggy Club
Official website: http://www.wallopkitenbuggy.org.uk/

This fantastic kite & buggy event at Middle Wallop just keeps getting bigger and better!

There were more people here than ever before in previous years - the British Buggy Club and Kites Up did a great job in organising everything, so a big thank you to them! STACK UK were also at Middle Wallop running competitions, and the White Horse Kite Flyers ran the children's kite making workshop. Kite traders included Kites Up, The Highwaymen, Dunstable Kites and Sky Bums.

The weather wasn't always great, but the rain didn't last for long and Monday was particularly warm and sunny, with a good wind. Anyway, whenever it rained it was a good excuse to go and be sociable with the traders (or visit the beer tent).

As always, there was plenty to see and do, both during the day and also in the evening. On Saturday night Garry Box brought out a giant version of 'Jenga' in the beer tent, which was a lot of fun. On Sunday night there was the first Wallop Film Fest, featuring kite & buggy films by Robert Evans (aka Trebor Snave), aeolian and Dan Eaton. This drew a large audience, especially with the preview of Dan's new powerkiting DVD.

Sunday saw what was probably the largest number of Airbows flown in any one place, by "Airbow Selecta" (see pics below), including Tim Benson and Andy Wardley. Well done to Joe Brown of Dunstable Kites for organising this! Brian got an Airbow on Sunday at Middle Wallop and you can read the review here.

The event was very well organised, and hopefully the MOD will cut the large section of long grass in the corner of the field, before the next Middle Wallop kite & buggy event in August. Last year there was a lot more space available because the grass had been cut - it would have been very useful this time!

One gripe was that people did not clear their litter off the field (shame on you), which made buggying more hazardous, and also meant that the organisers had to spend their time clearing up at the end.

It was such a busy event that the traders ran out of food by lunchtime on Monday, the beer tent ran out of beer on Sunday night (despite them ordering in 23 barrels!), and the bowsers quickly ran out of water. There was a decent selection of food traders, including the 'Fair Trade' coffee stall (one thing you need is a decent cup of coffee!) and at least the portable toilets were cleaned every day!


Registration van	Another busy Wallop !

Axel in his buggy	Paul "Bunny" Martin & Elana	Mercedes buggy



Mark Lycett giving it the thumbs up	Traders stalls	Camping

More camping....

Double rainbow	Joe Brown flies his 'bow...	... as the sun sets over Wallop

Aeolian Banners

Our new banners designed and made by Carl Robertshaw's Kitestudio.com

Most useful for finding your way back to the car after a long buggy session at Middle Wallop!

Also handy for checking the wind speed and direction!

Look out for us at more kite festivals in 2004!

Airbow Selecta

Left to right: Rob Dixon, Andy Wardley, Joe Brown, Brian Fattorini, Roy Martin, Sean Turpin, Tim Benson





Andy Wardley flies two Airbows at the same time!		Airbow jousting

Beer Tent Jenga


Hezz concentrating	Bit of a stretch!	And it all comes crashing down!

Garry Box and Joe Brown	It's Joe's turn, the pressure is on...	... Going, going, gone !

After Hours


Ferret's lady friends kept Team Buk happy for the weekend		The Film Fest keeping everyone's attention (except Mike Shaw!)

Joe Brown and Sean Turpin - Battle of the Kite Traders	Matt Dawson & Zack discover the joy of Sumo

Many people heard and commented on the annoyingly catchy "whistling" tune which was being played on the PA systems throughout the weekend. The track is "Baby Sweet" by Customised Gravel from the Flying Techniques DVD, and is available on aeolian's Music4Kites CD. There is a poll on the Flexifoil Forums about it here. Cast your vote!