Lions Club member John Dobson brought his kite pals out to Churchlands, and basically organised the whole shebang himself, to the delight of the Lions who were amazed that one person could do so much.
As Margaret Stonehouse had opined at the outset, one thing you can say for Churchlands is that the wind hardly ever stops, and so it transpired on the weekend. Soon dozens of kites were flying from the high fellside, and traffic queued to get onto the site and enjoy the aerial spectacle. The real kite flyers hunkered down, once their kites were in the air, and enjoyed a cup of tea, as I recall.
Perhaps a burger in a wholesome bap, and even a visit to the beer tent catered by Allendale Brewery; nobody seemed too bothered about the possibility of kite flyers under the influence of alcohol!
It was a great event, everyone agreed, with proceeds after covering the professional kite flyers’ expenses, going into the Lions Club charity account for later distribution to good causes. I’m pretty sure that we sent up a teddy bear or two ourselves, who then parachuted down safely. What great, simple fun!
I don’t know if we all sang that famous Mary Poppins song, Let’s Go Fly a Kite, but we surely should have. Afterwards, I recall the Lions were falling over themselves (and it wasn’t the beer, honest!) to thank John for the brilliant idea and the great weekend.