Roadshow 18 July 2009 - Bandstand, Falkirk - July 19, 2009

July 18th dawned bright and clear on what promised to be a great day for the first Radio Royal roadshow of 2009. Although we only had a few weeks notice since the confirmation of the date we were all looking forward to having a long and successful day playing to the assembled crowds around the Bandstand and having our collecting cans filled with to bursting with coin of the realm. It always pays to be an optimist.

However, when we arrived we were met with the organisers of another event that the Council had very thoughtfully booked into the Bandstand at the same time as our roadshow. We could tell that from this point it was certainly not going to be an ordinary roadshow by any means. The other group were in fact providing an opportunity for new local bands to perform in public for the first time so at least we had a common theme of music. Soon we had reached an agreement on sharing the bandstand time and the roadshow got off to roaring start. Almost from the start of the very first record, money started to be heard rattling around the various collecting cans in locations around the bandstand and up into the High Street itself.

Thus the scene was set for the rest of the morning, the unsuspecting folk of Falkirk being assailed by the twin "pincer movement" that is a Radio Royal roadshow - loud music on one hand and begging bowls out in the other. We were also very kindly supported by the Piercing Studio, next to Greggs in the High Street and also by Rymans the stationer who both very kindly donated prizes for competitions that we had planned for later in the day.

All was going well until about 2pm when previously fine weather turned into something like a tropical monsoon. A sudden and very sustained period of heavy rain sent both our collectors and the public running for cover and after about an hour of the downpour we decided that enough was finally enough and we called it a day. The by now sodden remnants of the Radio Royal team packed up the roadshow, gathered together all the collecting cans and retired swiftly back to the studio to count the booty of the day and start to plan the next assault on both the ears and wallets of the good folk of Falkirk.

The good news is that we raised just over £175, which is very welcome addition to our bank balance. For this we would like to thank the generous people of Falkirk who kindly raided their pockets and purses for us. As ever, we had a number of people come over to us and say that they had listened to Radio Royal during a stay in hospital and that they appreciated the good work that we were doing - it's wonderful to get such great feedback so thank you to all who gave such comments.

But what of the competition prizes? Well, one was given away as a prize but the rain spoilt our chance to give the other way, so we shall keep it for the next roadshow.