Prizes, fun and fund raising at PestTech

At events such as PestTech, exhibitors often have competitions, raffles or some sort of amusing challenge on their stands to attract the attention of visitors. It was no exception at PestTech this year…
Word certainly got around that Metex was having a competition on their stand – or maybe it wqs the attraction of the free bottles of their special RatBlocker beer that were the draw. By the time we at Pest got around to them the beer had all gone, despite Daniel Bamford saying he had staggered in on the set-up night with numerous cases! Pest editor, Frances McKim, was commissioned to make the winner’s draw. First prize of a Unikey, 12 beer bottles and T shirt went to Jack Roberts, Bird & Pest Control Specialist from Rugby, second prize of 12 beer bottles and RatBlocker T shirt went to Brett Sanders of Strike Force in Dorset with the third prize of a T shirt going to Julian Frost of Abee Pest Control in Wiltshire.

Pest editor, Frances McKim, drawing the prize winners with Daniel Bamford of Metex

Whilst on the Hockley International stand, the lucky winner of the business card draw of a Christmas hamper was Christian Woodhouse of Spearhead Pest Control based in Uxbridge.

Also very popular was the attraction of downloading and registering for the new Syngenta Pest App on their stand. Maybe the incentive of being given a very useful high capacity PowerPack had something to do with it too! Those who had already downloaded the App, simply had to show it working on their phone to claim their PowerPack.

Money for charity raised
On the fundraising front, as is in previous years, Russell IPM held a raffle with two chances to win a hamper. The raffle garnered £96 that will be added to the Russell charity pot which supports Mind, Cancer Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society and the Arthritis Society. The winners of the hampers were Jim Hopkins of Moles and More based in Carmarthenshire, whilst the second hamper went to Graham Amiss, who runs Mid-Suffolk Pest Control in Ipswich.

Although not within the exhibition itself, mention should go to the annual fund raising activities of Killgerm. For very many years they have had a raffle in aid of Water for Kids during the Pest Control News dinner which immediately follows the exhibition. This year the £3,000 barrier was passed from raffle ticket sales which Killgerm always matches – meaning over £6,000 has gone to this fabulous charity. As an aside, the raffle prizes are always excellent and are donated by Killgerm supporters, so it was a very pleasant surprise when the Pest editor won one of them – a great hamper and a voucher for a birds of prey experience with CJ’s Birds of Prey. Thank you.

Fun and frolics…
On a less serious note, fun was had on both the Killgerm and BASF stands. Golfers could try their hand putting into one of the new Killgerm Fortis rodent boxes whilst hilarity erupted on the BASF stand as visitors were encouraged to ‘Splat the rat’ or subject themselves to the drawing of a cartoon of themselves!