Disability Awareness Day Sunday 12th July 2009

2007 Sunday 8th July

This years preparations started in the rain and the break down ended in the rain. So much so that the DAD team decided to rename DAD as "Ducks And Disability" as we had ducks swimming in the large pools of water in the marquees and all around the park. The launch event was held on Saturday in a very wet Golden Square Shopping Centre with live music from a wide range of disabled artists, friends of Warrington Disability Partnership and Bollywood dancers from India making the day and evening events a mixture of cultural diversity. Thousands of shoppers were joined by visitors from across the North West and the inclusion of the dancers also attracted local religious leaders of the Gurdwara Centre.

Workshops on confidence building and skills development held on Saturday and Sunday at the Internationally acclaimed Peace Centre attracted young wheelchair users from across the region. Monday morning saw the start of the setting-up of the event site with a team of 26 volunteers including men and women who had taken annual leave from the day jobs to help the preparations. But none of us expected that the rain soaked park would create so much hard work both physically and mentally. Pumping out thousands of gallons of water off the areas where the huge marquees would be erected hours later seemed to be a never-ending task.

In an attempt to protect the surface areas we were forced to make day to day changes to the lay out of the event site, restricting movement of the large supplies vehicles to the hard standing roads and paths in fear that they would sink or badly cut up the ground if they drove onto the soaked grass. Local businesses helped in a variety of ways including builders William Tarr who supplied 50 sheets of 8ft x 4ft ply board to put down on the edges of the road and paths, and Karen, Keith and Sid from the Butty Shop on Chester Road keeping the team going with free bacon and sausage sandwiches each morning.

Tuesday's events were held in the hall with over 100 young people attending the mornings Positive Action Awareness event and around 50 employers attending the afternoons Stress at Work Workshop. On Wednesday afternoon the Arts Marquee attracted dozens of local carers to the International Pride event and the evening Party in the Park attracted over eighty young disabled people with activities including sports, arts, and music, I must mention special thanks to Everton Football Club. And the rain continued to fall.

The rain was creating problems by the hour. Our anxiety was raised to the limits when we were told that the park managers would need to consider closing the overflow car park for Sunday's event. With over 800 spaces this would prove disastrous and wreck our transport plans. Late Friday afternoon we reviewed this position and were given the green light to use the area. Phew! Thursday afternoon and early evening saw local NHS, local authority and voluntary organisations working together to promote Positive Mental Health and Well-being. With over 100 people attending the complimentary therapies (including yours truly who had a much needed back and neck massage). The art, music and a laughter workshops were also well attended. The evening events included the "Festival of Life" attracting over 100 people with learning disabilities to an interactive evening of music, craft, chill-out, sport and worship. Special thanks to Liverpool Football Club. And the rain continued to fall.

Late Thursday afternoon we were joined by 2 new members to the site team, John and Lynn McCormick arrived from Fife in Scotland. My wife Pam and I had met them whilst on holiday in Menorca last year, one night in the bar we got chatting, the conversation got round to DAD and they said they would be interested in helping out next year! They kept their promise to come down to support us, which goes to show how infectious DAD really is. Throughout the week Pam and Lynn kept the team going with hot drinks, burgers and toasties. The site storage unit became better known as Pam's Café.

Friday saw the site team trying hard to dry out the marquees and outside walkways by putting down dozens of bales of hay and tons of tree bark. But as the large exhibitions started to arrive we realised that the ground was much softer than expected. One by one they arrived and transformed the exhibition areas into ploughed fields, which is bad enough for the organisers of county shows, but DAD is an event aimed at disabled people. We were getting more worried as the day went on, and the rain showers got heavier. The evening started dry which helped as over 180 guests attended the Mega Quiz Night and Barbeque, raising over £2000.

With less than 24 hours to go to DAD 2007 the sun shone and over sixty volunteers, many from the local Lions Clubs, completed the final work ready for the big day. But we were really concerned about the main walkways around the event site and agreed that we would need more hay in an attempt to provide a firmer surface to the mud. We also purchased 24 rubber grass protectors but with an event site the size of DAD they didn't go far.

Sunday morning started with some of the 80 stewards shepherding the ducks out of the marquees and marshalling hundreds of exhibitors who had booked over 570 exhibition spaces. Miraculously only four exhibitors failed to attend and as 10am came so did the crowds. I'd like to express my special thanks to the teams from T.S Obdurate Warrington Sea Cadets and Thorn Cross Young Offenders Institute. The cloud and occasional rain didn't deter around 18,000 to 20,000 disabled people and their families who had travelled from as far a field as London, Coventry, Birmingham, Newcastle, Bristol, Cardiff, Barrow and across the North West. Some of the highlights included the arrival of our first international exhibitor with ACTS Accessible Holidays from Turkey, the UK's first wheelchair accessible limo, the new DAD bus and visitors taking away over 5500 free copies of the A3 Blue Badge Atlas. One big bonus was the success of the new Park & Ride site, which operated from Greenalls Park off Wilderspool Causeway. Our local Dial a Ride Service reported that nearly 900 visitors used this service.

The fun-packed programme in the Centre Arena kept the crowds entertained, with the Batala Samba Band entering the spirit of the day by playing through 20 minutes of torrential rain. The Arts Marquee saw new artists and the end of an era as the Heroes gave their last performance at DAD before they disband at the end of the year. The Slice of Life Film Festival was busy throughout the day and the Sports Area was fantastic with the national cricket and football associations getting involved.

We were pleased to promote the IMPACT Employment Project at the DAD VIP Reception where we were also joined by Jan and John Ellis from the Mathew Ellis Trust. This year's event was dedicated to the memory of their son Mathew who sadly died earlier this year.

At 4.30 I presented the best exhibitor awards to three worthy winners. Arthritis Care won the Best Voluntary Sector section, BT Age and Disability winning Best Business and Warrington Borough Council Community Services Team winning the Best Statutory section. At 6.30pm the heavy rain came down, which made the clear up harder than expected and at 8pm we called it a day, hoping for finer weather on Monday, but heavy overnight rain created more problems with over a dozen of our larger exhibition vehicles sinking on the wet ground.

Monday morning saw the largest clear up team we have ever mustered. Wayne and his team from Thorne Cross were supported by a crew from the local Fire Service, with park grounds man using their tractors to pull the vehicles clear of the grassed areas. At around 5pm the site was virtually clear of the marquees, generators, fencing, tables, toilets, exhibition vehicles, 59 bales of hay and 5 tons of tree bark, which was picked up by hand off the mud and water, but the normally immaculate lawns resembled ploughed fields.

Throughout the day vanloads of equipment, banners, signs, gazeboes, wheelchairs and over 30 electric scooters were returned to our services where dozens of staff and volunteers cleaned and dried it all before putting it back into service or storage. But the damage was so bad that we needed to deploy an extra team on Tuesday who spent hours filling in the tracks and holes, a job that was done by walking across the ground, yes inch by inch.

Overall DAD 2007 was another great success, this was thanks to our sponsors, exhibitors and visitors but most of all the DAD Team including the admin team, site team, stewards, car park marshals, security, park & ride team, St Johns, all the staff at Walton Gardens and Hall. It was a great "team" effort. A team I'm proud to part of. On a lighter note, it was great to read the feedback our visitors left on the "Graffiti Wall". Various words that will be synonymous with DAD 2007, rain, hay, ducks and great effort. One person summed it up "Muddy, but good".

Finally, I must say that I have always been impressed by the spirit and commitment shown by everyone involved in DAD, but this year the team really did earn the honour of the "Queens Award for Voluntary Services".

PS. As we left the park I never imagined that only 3 days later we would be planning next years event, but as Phil and I were driving home on Friday evening we did. We all look forward to seeing you there on Sunday 6th July 2008.

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