AV News Magazine | Seite 23

AV News 195 - February 2014 Goodnight and Thank You Howard & Suzanne Gregory We were nearing the end of the Great Northern Festival. It was the last one we would be organizing and we were pleased that it had attracted our largest audience ever. We were feeling a bit emotional, but had no idea how emotional things were about to become. We're not quite sure of the details, it was all a bit of a blur, but we wish to thank everyone for the warm wishes, the beautiful crystal glass bowl and the book of photographs and kind messages. We didn't realize that people cared so much. What a wonderful reminder of 14 enjoyable festivals. But it wasn't quite over yet. A mysterious package, presented by Henk, our visitor from the Netherlands who has attended most of the festivals, contained a ‘his and hers’ pair of wooden clogs. We debated whether to do a kind of three-legged race up the hall, but decided against it - so, sorry to all the photographers present! The presentation finished with an AV sequence based around a poem written by Ian and Elaine Bateman. Howard Bagshaw had produced the sequence with a cast of seemingly thousands taking part. We had no idea that all this had been going on in the background of several recent AV events. Sincere thanks to all involved. We have really enjoyed our time organizing the Great Northern, developing it into the 3 day event which seems to be a successful format. Yes, there have been problems and frustrations, but we could always count on AV colleagues to help, both from WGAVG and the wider AV community, and to rally round when needed. However,