April 21st was my birthday so, armed with my birthday money, Paul Ireland, Ken Thompson and myself set off to Salute at Olympia 2, London. When we arrived at Earls Court underground station we found the line to Olympia was closed however there was a replacement bus service running.
When we got to Olympia there were a couple of quite large queues and we thought this is going to take ages to get in. When the doors opened the queues went down quite quickly so that was one improvement from last year. Martin Game, who had a Que Buster badge told me later that he had got through the door almost immediately it was opened. On my past visits to Salute I’ve always brought a Que Buster badge because it was cheaper, this year they were no cheaper so I didn’t bother getting one. I suppose that if we had arrived later it might have been a different story, but once our que started to move it only took us five minutes to get in so I didn’t miss the badge.
Inside we found there was plenty of space and not the usual crush like the pre 2000 Salute days. However there were still plenty of punters packed in around the more popular stands and the Bring & Buy was a bit of a scrum, (but then again there are not many show where this is not the case.)
The standard of the demonstration games was quite good and having staged the Battle of Shiloh at our open day the week before, I was particularly interested in Eastbourne Wargames Societies Battle of Corinth game. It was also nice to see so many trade stands at one venue making it very easy to part with your hard-earned cash. I spent the morning checking out the various stands to see what I was going to buy and of course I had lists from other people who couldn’t make it. One list was for Ian Ransome and as Henry also had a list for Ian as well Thomo came up with the theory that Mr. Ransome disguises how much he spends by giving small list to lots of people.
At lunchtime we headed up to the restaurant for lunch where we meet up with various other Tring Wargames Club members including Henry and Jon Scrivens, Ian and Steven Thompson, Ian Willer and Tony Swift and son. My one gripe, (and this is beyond the control of the South London Warlords who organised the show,) was the ridiculous cost of the refreshments. This year I was prepared and took my own sandwiches and drink. Henry almost got covered in beer again as Paul, while moving his bag off the table, manage to knock a can over but a reaction save by Thomo sent the offending can flying away from Henry and over Ken instead.
After lunch I set out to spend my money. Among my purchases I brought eight 15mm ACW batteries and the USS Tyler in 1/600th from Peter Pig, Some WWII Soviet airborne troops from FAA and some WW US airborne from SHQ. Ken ordered a 25mm American Revolution army from Front Rank. Ken’s other achievement for the day was that he actually got to see part of the Bring & Buy table.
Last year at the very first Salute to be held at Olympia there was a draw, the first prize being a very nicely painted chariot which was used on all the publicity for the event. Our very own Squiggs Scrivens, who also got two free tickets for this years show, won this. As they drew out the first prize for this years draw I was surprised to hear another familiar name called out, Steven Thompson, again another Tring member. We are wondering if they should include a category for Non-Tring members next year.
Once again Salute 2001 was an improvement over last year. The queues went down quicker and there was more space inside although there was still a bit of a crush around a lot of the trade stands. Altogether though I think The South London Warlords must be congratulated on job well done.
RWY