Sunday 15th July 2012

2005 Sunday 10th July

This year’s Disability Awareness Day took place on Sunday 10th July at Walton Hall Gardens and provided a fitting finale to a week of events promoting social inclusion, independence and fun. Principal Sponsor - The Northwest Regional Development Agency signed up again as our principal sponsors. This not only enabled us to maintain the standard of promotion, advertising and facilities but we were also able to run the Positive Action Awards scheme for a second year .

The Launch - Phil Edwards and Doreen Newey were ably assisted by Steve Kinsey and Terry Snowden. Together they put on a two part showcase with daytime and evening programmes fitting for the launch with live bands, dance, drama and comedy. The Nytya Jyoti Dancers from Manchester provided a touch of culture with their colourful display of Asian dance. The highlight of the evening event was Laurence Clarke direct from his UK tour of the Comedy Stores.

DAD Week - The mentality of the dedicated team that spends up to eighteen hours a day in wet and windy weather at the site preparing for the main event and managing and co-ordinating the weeks activities must be infectious because more people than ever joined us this year taking a weeks holiday to come and help, Graham "Beenie" Horton, Rob Balshaw and Tommy "Geeza" Hammond were three of the new members that joined the Old Guard Dads Army.

Over 8000 people attended the launch and the twelve supporting events which included carers, young people, schools, employers, disabled children, disabled athletes and fun for all. On a personal note this was probably the most stressful week I have ever had because I was required to attend assessment interviews for a new post as Assistant Director of Inclusion and Partnerships at 5 Boroughs Partnership and NHS Trust. On the morning of my main interview I was informed that we had encountered a hydrolic oil spillage on the main event site. I am pleased to say I must have impressed the panel with my ability to manage stress and multi-tasking as I got the job!

DAD - At 6 o'clock on the Sunday morning we had 70 stewards all raring to go and like clockwork people were despatched to their areas of responsibility including car parking, traffic management,assisting exhibitors, information points and refuse collection, yes DAD has grown to the point were we have our own dedicated team of bin-men namely Rob and Mike. During the day around 24,000 people visited the 280+ exhibition stands, which included the launch of Martin Conquest's first mass-produced wheelchair accessible motor cycle. Other highlights included the Slice of Life film festival and a marquee dedicated to integrated play for disabled children.

We were joined at the VIP reception by guests from the regional Crossroads Care support groups. The team from Wire FM broadcast their Sunday afternoon live from DAD, sharing the fun and activities with thousands of people across the region.

By 8pm on the Sunday evening all of the exhibitors were on their journeys home and the stewards and magement team retired to the hall for a debrief and a well earned pint and a butty.

The highlight of DAD 2005 was for me to see the whole event site cleared by 6pm Monday evening 11th July. All marquees, fencing, generators, table and chairs, exhibition vehicles, toilets and every scrap of litter, and all of the directional signs and promotional banners were returned to the lockup ready for next year. All of this was done by the dedicated team of Dads Army

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