It was the last weekend in July and Sunderland International Airshow was with us once again. All week long, in virtually perfect conditions, a myriad of planes had practiced their stunts over the shifting sands of Seaburn. Saturday morning blew in with the ferocity of a jet's afterburner and so began the battle of the flying tents!

The strong northern winds gusted over the showfield as ORCA volunteers struggled to erect their charity stall and brand new tent. Tombola prizes took to the air in all directions and bounced across the grass with laughing volunteers chasing after them. If nothing else they provided entertainment for those hardy visitors already cruising the stalls at the crack of dawn. After securing the errant prizes, things settled down and the team swung into action, great merriment being caused by prizes winners trying to claim their wondrous wins from the clutches of the gaffer tape!

Sunderland Council had decided to make this year’s show as carbon neutral as possible and chose to instigate several offsetting projects across the city. Their ‘Green Village’ section of the showfield was very popular with visitors and ORCA was delighted have been offered a section in this special area.

ORCA is relatively new to this area and this is the best attended show in the region. We attracted a great deal of interest in both the work ORCA does and were able to showcase the local involvement of its volunteers. One of our supporting partners in our data collection programme, DFDS Seaways, the ferry company who sail locally out of Newcastle also provided us with some advertising literature. This literature proved invaluable to us in explaining our projects, essentially being invited aboard vessels of all sizes to carry out data collection for analysis. DFDS are also working in collaboration with ORCA in their joint project of short wildlife cruises in September and October. For further information please visit their site at http://www.dfds.co.uk/DSW/EN

The blustery weather didn’t discourage the thousands of visitors to the show and several expressed interest in becoming an ORCA volunteer. Our staff were only too pleased to tell them about their work, and in some cases adventures, while travelling with us. ORCA welcomes all levels of volunteers to our ranks, from those who are inexperienced or academically unqualified in the conservation or marine fields to those who already work in the field professionally. Some of these professionals donate their time and offer their skills to both help in ORCA data collection programmes, research projects and training new volunteers in surveying methods and cetacean identification. There are always other opportunities for volunteers to help ORCA: administration, data analysis, fund-raising, recycling and working on the stall on education and awareness information days. ORCA appreciates all the time and skills our volunteers bring to us.

The Airshow also provided a great opportunity for our volunteers who regularly travel this regional route to Bergen to meet up and take time out to make new friends and renew old friendships. As team leaders and volunteer observers, they travel several times a year but it’s always nice to be able to meet up with others you may not have travelled with so far, but whom you share a special interest in both conservation and wildlife.

Our Sunderland Air Show weekend drew to a close late on Sunday afternoon and whilst packing up and heading for home it was agreed that it had been a very successful day, eventful weekend and everyone was going home tired but happy. We shall certainly roll out the ORCA bandwagon again next year and invite anyone and everyone to visit us. All are welcome.

Finally, we must thank all our volunteers who helped out on the stall both Saturday and Sunday, Simon Laing, Sarah Madder, Andy Tait, Mary Whowell, Hannah Bradford, Peter McCutcheon, Colin Tetley and Nicola Everitt. It was great to see you all having such a good time and ORCA appreciated all your efforts. Thanks also to Sunderland Council for inviting us to take part in this prestigious event. We’ll see you all again next year.