A colourful return
Last Saturday saw the welcome return of Colours to the wargames show circuit. The show didn’t take place in 2014 to various issue, but the show is now back at its regular slot in the middle of September and is still held at Newbury Racecourse. Naturally, I was curious and so went along to report for the Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy Facebook page. There have been several changes at the Newbury and Reading wargames club; I spoke briefly to the new chairman who explained that Colours was back for good and the challenges they’d had in the past had been sorted out. The show itself was pretty busy! I always remember Colours as a packed show and this year was no exception. The show is usually two days, but this year it was cut to a single day.
There was an excellent selection of good games covering a variety of scales. Most of these were posted to our Facebook page (which you can peruse even if you don’t have a Facebook account), so I won’t repeat them here, except to say they were enthusistically run by the wargamers and all the people I spoke to were open and friendly about their games.
I also had the good fortune to bump into some old friends, such as Glyn, the guys from the Penarth and District club, and Warren G from the SAD wargamers. I even bumped into my South African friend Henk P. I’ve not seen Henk in about five years and last thing I knew he was in Australia! Imagine my shock and delight at bumping into him at Colours! I asked him why he’d returned to the UK and he quipped “I’ve missed the weathah!”. He’s a fountain of knowlege on the Anglo Boer wars, from the Boer perspective, naturally! 🙂
There were a few absences from the usual traders - I understand there were a few issues, but these are being sorted out. Clearly the new committee are still finding their feet. The traders I did speak to were very happy as business was good and everyone I spoke to agreed that cutting the show to a single day was a very good idea. The Sunday tends to be quiet and a single day limits the costs and the need for overnight accommodation.
Everyone I spoke to was happy at the show’s return. Long may Colours continue!
