28-09-2018

Screwfix Live.

On Friday the 28th September seven members of Fareham Men's Shed visited the Screwfix Live exhibition at the Farnborough Exhibition Centre. Following the instructions of the satnav we travelled north up the A3 and were then guided through quiet little villages which seemed to take us forever with speed limits at times reduced to just 20mph!

The extended journey took its toll on some members resulting in the convoy of 2 cars splitting up to find a garage that could offer more than just fuel!

We were amazed at the size of the exhibition centre and were taken by bus from the car park. We had all pre-registered so had no trouble in getting our voucher for a free goody bag reportedly worth £30!!

After exchanging mobile numbers we split up as we all had different reason for attending. It was agreed we would all do our own thing and meet up at 13.00 at the area B refreshment stand.

The next 2 hours was spent being impressed with the way technology had moved on. There was everything on show from special carbide blades that would cut anything and allow you to handle even steel after it had been cut (it was only warm not hot as you would expect) to little door bells with cameras, super-efficient boilers and lots and lots of fixings!

With 10% off everything some of us picked up the odd bargain, well you can never have enough screws can you?

The refreshment stand in B area did not have a lot to offer, so again we split up with some taking advantage of the sunny day they went outside to get ripped off while others moved to area A to share the same experience but inside!

By about 14.00 we thought we would collect our goody bag and venture home without the use of the sat nav.

The impressive goody bag contained a 4 pack of AA batteries, a paint brush, a roller, a 2 metre tape rule, a pen and a pen with a screwdriver bit in the other end if you could get the top off without breaking it, a pair of sticky gloves (I think the rubber had just perished) a very good dust mask but sadly no book of stamps or cuddly toys as Brucey would have said and best of all a leather football but no valve to inflate it.

So all in all it was a good day with the seven members doing a bit of bonding (nothing to do with the sticky gloves!) but now wondering what to do with 7 leather footballs!