King & Country
Captain
- Joined
- May 23, 2005
- Messages
- 5,103
Hi Guys,
A big thankyou, to our friend Chris for ‘posting’ photos of the event at the Singapore Cricket Club this past Saturday.
We had a full turnout for the get together with K&C collectors coming from as far away as Jakarta ... Manila ... Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) ... Malaysia and ... even Australia.
PLUS of course our many K&C collectors from the ‘Lion City’ itself.
Yours truly, Helen, our Managing Director and Tammi, Kristy, Elsa, Kin and Halo made up the King & Country Team for the show.
Prior to the event we had airlifted 12 boxes of dioramas, display figures, vehicles and aircraft as well as the very latest Christmas edition of “COLLECTOR” and other promotional material directly down to the Singapore Cricket Club prior to our arrival.
In the afternoon we checked all of our boxes had arrived safely and then went on to the famous “Raffles Hotel” and its Long Bar for a ‘Singapore Sling’. Dinner that evening was traditional Singapore fare at “Newton Circus,” an amazing outdoor food market with outstanding “Hawker” dishes and cold, cold Tiger Beer.
By 11:30 the room was packed and myself and the team took the opportunity to talk ‘one-on-one’ with as many people as possible before our official welcome.
Lots of familiar faces and many new ones too. Actually, if all of our ‘regulars’ had been in town or able to attend we would have needed a room twice as large! As it was we still managed to squeeze in a couple of extra people who had inadvertently missed the booking deadline.
After our welcome and as guests enjoyed their buffet lunch we began our presentation and “Q&A” session. As usual there were plenty of questions, comments and requests ... Some of which I am delighted to say will be put into the 2017 Production Schedule.
After that it was time for all kinds of lucky draws and special prizes ... There were more than a few extra happy faces by the time that section finished ... As the afternoon drew to a close I once more could sit down and talk with individual K&C collectors about their own collections and what they would like to see in the future ... These kinds of conversations are vitally important to all of us at King & Country, myself in particular.
Although I may not always agree with your idea or suggestion. I will always listen to it and share with you my own thoughts and those of my colleagues .... So many great K&C products have come directly from our collectors – It’s a huge bonus for myself and our K&C team.
After the last guests had left the whole K&C team began the least pleasurable part of putting on special events and taking part in overseas shows ... PACKING UP!!!
A couple of hours later .... everything packed – up, labelled and ready to be picked up all of us headed back to our hotel to freshen up and put our feet up for half an hour.
For decades after the war it lay neglected and abandoned until the Singapore Government, in its wisdom, decided to renovate it and reopen it to the public to help tell the history of those dark days of 1941 / 42 when the Japanese captured Malaya and Singapore.
Visitors can only enter on paid guided tours which are excellent. Many of the original rooms have been returned to how they would have looked at the time Singapore fought for its life against the Japanese onslaught.
Maprooms, telephone exchanges, offices and planning areas are staffed by life size (and life like) figures showing some of the main personalities such as Malayan CiC General A.E. Percival ... Australian General Gordon Bennett ... and many more. You move from room to room, seeing short videos and actual relics of the battle ... guided by an expert. You can feel and touch history all around you. This great 75minute tour is highly recommended! Back on the surface after emerging from the underground Battlebox we took a walk around Fort Canning Park to see some of the old Victorian defenses.
Next the whole team met up again back at our hotel with an old friend and colleague, “Patrick” who many of our American collectors will well remember from Chicago Show days.
Now married with a newly-born son Patrick and his wife Valerie just moved to Singapore where they are enjoying themselves mightily ... and working hard too.
After lunch together , we parted company and K&C and Co. headed back to Changi Airport and the Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong and home!
Thankyou Singapore for another whirlwind visit and Special Event. Thankyou also to all those who came and took part and, I hope, went away happy
Already looking forward to next year ... All the very best and happy collecting!
Andy, Helen & The whole K&C Team
A big thankyou, to our friend Chris for ‘posting’ photos of the event at the Singapore Cricket Club this past Saturday.
We had a full turnout for the get together with K&C collectors coming from as far away as Jakarta ... Manila ... Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) ... Malaysia and ... even Australia.
PLUS of course our many K&C collectors from the ‘Lion City’ itself.
Yours truly, Helen, our Managing Director and Tammi, Kristy, Elsa, Kin and Halo made up the King & Country Team for the show.
Prior to the event we had airlifted 12 boxes of dioramas, display figures, vehicles and aircraft as well as the very latest Christmas edition of “COLLECTOR” and other promotional material directly down to the Singapore Cricket Club prior to our arrival.
FRIDAY
We flew out of HK early on Friday morning and arrived just after 1:00pm at Changi Airport.In the afternoon we checked all of our boxes had arrived safely and then went on to the famous “Raffles Hotel” and its Long Bar for a ‘Singapore Sling’. Dinner that evening was traditional Singapore fare at “Newton Circus,” an amazing outdoor food market with outstanding “Hawker” dishes and cold, cold Tiger Beer.
SATURDAY MORNING & AFTERNOON
Saturday up early, grab breakfast and walk over to the Cricket Club and unpack our boxes, set up our displays, check the sound system and prepare for all our guests to arrive ... which the first did just after 11:00am.By 11:30 the room was packed and myself and the team took the opportunity to talk ‘one-on-one’ with as many people as possible before our official welcome.
Lots of familiar faces and many new ones too. Actually, if all of our ‘regulars’ had been in town or able to attend we would have needed a room twice as large! As it was we still managed to squeeze in a couple of extra people who had inadvertently missed the booking deadline.
After our welcome and as guests enjoyed their buffet lunch we began our presentation and “Q&A” session. As usual there were plenty of questions, comments and requests ... Some of which I am delighted to say will be put into the 2017 Production Schedule.
After that it was time for all kinds of lucky draws and special prizes ... There were more than a few extra happy faces by the time that section finished ... As the afternoon drew to a close I once more could sit down and talk with individual K&C collectors about their own collections and what they would like to see in the future ... These kinds of conversations are vitally important to all of us at King & Country, myself in particular.
Although I may not always agree with your idea or suggestion. I will always listen to it and share with you my own thoughts and those of my colleagues .... So many great K&C products have come directly from our collectors – It’s a huge bonus for myself and our K&C team.
After the last guests had left the whole K&C team began the least pleasurable part of putting on special events and taking part in overseas shows ... PACKING UP!!!
A couple of hours later .... everything packed – up, labelled and ready to be picked up all of us headed back to our hotel to freshen up and put our feet up for half an hour.
SATURDAY EVENING
After last year’s Singapore Event we went for dinner to “DEMPSEY HILL”. This, in the old Colonial Days, was a huge British Army Camp (one of many all over Singapore island). Today it’s the site of an amazing collection of funky shops, terrific restaurants and bars all housed in the old Army barracks and buildings located on Dempsey Hill, just a short drive from the city itself. Again lots of great seafood, plenty of good drinks and some more thirst-quenching ice cold “Tiger”!SUNDAY
After breakfast the team split up – the younger members went off to do some shopping for souvenirs while Helen and myself drove to “The Battlebox” ... This was the underground bunker complex at Fort Canning, the British military headquarters during the battles for Malaya and Singapore in WW2.For decades after the war it lay neglected and abandoned until the Singapore Government, in its wisdom, decided to renovate it and reopen it to the public to help tell the history of those dark days of 1941 / 42 when the Japanese captured Malaya and Singapore.
Visitors can only enter on paid guided tours which are excellent. Many of the original rooms have been returned to how they would have looked at the time Singapore fought for its life against the Japanese onslaught.
Maprooms, telephone exchanges, offices and planning areas are staffed by life size (and life like) figures showing some of the main personalities such as Malayan CiC General A.E. Percival ... Australian General Gordon Bennett ... and many more. You move from room to room, seeing short videos and actual relics of the battle ... guided by an expert. You can feel and touch history all around you. This great 75minute tour is highly recommended! Back on the surface after emerging from the underground Battlebox we took a walk around Fort Canning Park to see some of the old Victorian defenses.
Next the whole team met up again back at our hotel with an old friend and colleague, “Patrick” who many of our American collectors will well remember from Chicago Show days.
Now married with a newly-born son Patrick and his wife Valerie just moved to Singapore where they are enjoying themselves mightily ... and working hard too.
After lunch together , we parted company and K&C and Co. headed back to Changi Airport and the Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong and home!
Thankyou Singapore for another whirlwind visit and Special Event. Thankyou also to all those who came and took part and, I hope, went away happy
Already looking forward to next year ... All the very best and happy collecting!
Andy, Helen & The whole K&C Team
