10th Anniversary UK Mega Event - Yorkshire 2018

Well it's hard to believe that the 10th Anniversary UK Mega Event has been and gone.

Back in September 2016 we attended the 'Yorkshire 2018 - The Venue is Revealed' Event.  We met up with a bunch of other cachers on The Stray in Harrogate and took part in a long 'treasure hunt' which eventually led us to Newby Hall, the venue for the 2018 UK Mega Event.

The Stray - 2016

Newby Hall - 2016

A year later in September 2017 we attended the Push the Button Event at  Newby Hall where the Mega Event was published.

Push the Button Event, Newby Hall - 2017

Those two years just flew by.

We'd originally planned to camp at the Mega Event for the whole week and attend all the side events but unfortunately we weren't both able to get that week off from work so we attended from Friday to Sunday.

Friday

10 Free Brews in the welcome pack, perfect!

42 Ribblehead Mews - Our address for the weekend

We arrived on Friday and were shown to our pitch which we thought was very professional.  The camp site was really well organised, there were plenty of toilets and hot showers and considering the site had been occupied for five days already we were amazed how spotless it was.

Hot showers

As soon as we'd set up camp, which doesn't take long in our camper van to be fair, we had a quick bite to eat and headed to the event which was an 80s themed disco.  It was a great night, we chatted to lots of friends, some we only see at the Mega Event every year.  We were so busy chatting I've realised I didn't take any video or photos of the evening ... doh.

Camp View by Antony Christian

Saturday - Mega Day!

Up bright and early and off to sign into the main event.

We started off by doing the lab caches, these were all situated around the same area on the mega site, so they were easy to get to and fun to do, and as always a great way of chatting to others as you mill around doing them.

Looking for a lab cache answer

'Ask a Reviewer'

Last year in Devon we missed out on the Lock Pick Village so it was great to see that it was here again.

We spent ages working our way through the different locks and the grand finale was picking a lock to get a lab cache answer.

In our welcome packs we were given a ticket for free entry into Newby Hall so we enjoyed a quick look around the gardens before heading back to the site for an early tea as we hadn't eaten since breakfast.

At the end of every UK mega event, there is a hand over slot, where the current Committee hand over the golden ammo can to the new committee, we arrived back at the marquee just in time to see the ceremony.

The Handover

After the ceremony we started on the YM18 puzzle series.  We'd originally intended to do them on our bikes but we ended up teaming up with some other cachers to complete the series, this was great fun.

We rounded the day off by heading over to the marquee where the band Mr Jones were playing, it was another great night, enjoying a drink and chatting to friends.

Sunday

Breakfast View

After breakfast we popped out on our bikes to find a few local caches as it was such a lovely morning.

At 9:00 we headed to the marquee again to attend A Touch of Tartan event. This event was hosted by the Aberdeenshire Mega Committee and a chance for everyone to sample some Scottish grub, meet the committee and play a few games.

Irn Bru

Scottish nosh

We are one of 17 caching teams that have attended all the UK Mega events from 2008 to 2018 which are as follows.

The UK's First Mega Event
The UK's Second Mega Event
Mega Scotland: The UK's 3rd Mega event
Mega Wales 2011 (The UK's 4th Mega Event)
North West England 2012 - The 5th Annual UK Mega
UK Mega 2013 - West Midlands Region
UK Mega Event 2014 - Ayrshire and Arran
UK Mega Essex 2015 - The 8th Annual UK Mega
NORTH WALES 2016 UK MEGA EVENT
Devon UK Mega 2017
and this year's 10th Anniversary UK Mega Event - Yorkshire 2018

All 17 caching teams have been awarded a special TB by Richlay, the chairman of the Yorkshire Committee.

It was a lovely surprise to be given this.  We have thoroughly enjoyed all of the Mega Events, well let's face it if we didn't enjoy them then we wouldn't go to so many would we? 😀

Heading home

Around midday we decided to head towards home, stopping off for a few caches along the way.

We've seen this transmitter from a distance a few times recently and have wondered what it is, we got much closer on Sunday, it's Emley Moor transmitting station and at 330.4 m it's the tallest freestanding structure in the United Kingdom - fun facts 😀

the 1964 Denby Dale Pie Dish

Another interesting find - The Denby Dale Pie is a huge communal meat and vegetable pie baked to commemorate special occasions.  Each pie has to be larger than the last.  There have been ten communal pies:

1788 - To celebrate King George III's recovery from madness. A game pie baked at the White Hart pub.
1815 - Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. The pie, contained "two sheep, twenty fowls and a half a peck of flour".
1846 - The Repeal of the Corn Laws.
1887 - Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The 1 ½ ton pie proved to be rotten, possibly through poorly-handled game, including what appeared to be a skinned fox. It was paraded through the streets in funeral style and buried in quick lime.
September 1887: The 'Resurrection Pie' baked (without game) to replace the failed Jubilee pie.
1896 - Fiftieth Anniversary of the Repeal of the Corn Laws. 2000 portions supplied.
1928 - To raise funds for Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. 16ft. long, 5ft. wide.
1964 - Celebration of Four Royal Births.
1988 - Bicentenary of the First Denby Dale Pie.
2000 - The Millennium Pie, in a dish designed by The University of Huddersfield School of Engineering, measured 40ft by 8 ft, held 5 tons of beef, 2 tons of potato, a ton of onions and nearly 200 pints of John Smith's Bitter.

Denby Dale Viaduct

Longwood Nab End Tower

To sum it up, we had an absolutely fantastic weekend.  The Mega Event was brilliant fun and the Committee and Mega Makers have worked tirelessly over the last couple of years and it really shows, they put on a truly professional event and we've taken away with us some very happy memories of a top weekend.

Christmas Fayre with the Yorkshire 2018 Committee

We'd offered to help out at the Yorkshire 2018 Christmas Fayre today so we made our way across the Pennines to Halifax.  It's only about an hour away from where we live so we were soon there.

M62 summit in glorious sunshine

Arriving in the fog

We arrived at 9.30am and got stuck in straight away helping to set up.  I got the children’s craft corner ready and we were given the task of blowing up nearly 200 balloons.  I’m pretty hopeless at balloon blowing, Mark used to play the trumpet in his youth so has the technique just right and along with Big Fish they blew up all the balloons between them, along with some really keen little 'helpers' .  I’m better suited to tying the balloons so that was my job..... I never want to see another balloon!

The room was soon starting to take shape and before we knew it 11.00 came round and the doors were opened.

To paraphrase Meat Loaf...
I'll buy anything purple but I won't buy that!

This is more like it!

I then moved into the kitchen to help prepare bacon butties with the rest of the kitchen team.

Who was responsible??!

The bacon butties were a massive hit and went down really well, it was lovely when people came back to say how much they’d enjoyed them, well worth the effort and a good fundraiser too.

Also another great success was that you could by a mega mug for £6 and have free refills of tea or coffee all day – this was hugely popular.

Santa put in an appearance later on but it would seem I was on the naughty list so didn't get to sit on his knee!

Regional hampers

The best one (Lancashire)

Another good idea for a fundraiser was the hamper raffle.  Cachers from different counties could contribute to a hamper to raffle off at the fayre.  A few of us got together in Lancashire and put together a fab hamper – it was hard coming up with original ideas but I contributed some Uncle Joe’s treacle caramels, Lancashire Sauce and a book of Lancashire recipes.  There were hampers from Scotland, Essex, Warwickshire … oh and Yorkshire of course

Purple is my favourite colour so I didn’t take much persuading to buy lots of mega merch.

On Friday evening I got in from work about 7pm and just about had time to decorate the cakes ready for the buffet.  There was a lovely spread of food that cachers had generously donated.

The event was so much fun, we enjoyed every minute of it, we made lots of new friends and it was great to catch up with some old friends too.

As much as I don’t want 2018 to roll around too fast I really can’t wait for the 2018 Mega event.

SUNDAY

We stayed overnight in our camper van and on our way home from Halifax we’d planned to take a detour to do Soldier’s Lump virtual.  On the way we stopped off to do Xanthic Rock in Beaumont Park an earthcache in an amazing Victorian Park.

Beaumont Park was Huddersfield's first public park and was opened in 1879, this was such an amazing place and great to explore.

Now

Then

Unfortunately all the old buildings have been demolished.  The council decided that due to the cost of renovating the buildings it was best to demolish them.

This was definitely another one of those ‘if it weren’t for caching’ places.

Then next stop, Soldier's Lump Virtual.

Thoroughly enjoyed the walk to Soldiers Lump virtual across the moors.  The route took you along a short section of the Pennine Way and was paved most of the way but the flagstones were quite slippery in places.   There were large patches of snow on the route which were left over from a downfall earlier in the week.

Another fun weekend in the campervan….. we’re hoping next week to get back up to the lakes weather permitting.