Meet The Show Secretary

Fiona Pattinson

Fiona Pattinson from Bellingham is the newly appointed Slaley Show secretary and is on somewhat familiar territory having been briefly in the role just prior to the covid years. Those ‘covid’ year shows were sadly never realised.Hearing that the role was again ‘up for grabs’ this year Fiona responded quickly and is now back on board and making great strides in forward planning. She has thrown herself into the role and has already done much of the groundwork with the complex admin duties; she has come well prepared and is completely up to date with the increasing intricacies of staging a public event. In the years since covid struck she was appointed trade stand secretary for Bellingham Show, a post she still holds. With just 3 weeks between the shows this summer it must be asked, how is she going to juggle between two different roles? “I am well organised and love preparing events for the public to enjoy” she says speaking from the experience of planning the North Tyne Truck Run with the accompanying Santas Little Helpers who arrange presents and hampers for Christmas for those struggling in the North Tyne area. She also manages to fit in being a Learning Support Assistant at Haydon Bridge High School and is a mum of two. “Women are multi-taskers!” she smiles.She is quick to point out that Slaley and Bellingham, and indeed shows all over the region, are all different in size and unique to their areas, “Slaley may be smaller, but it is known for its friendly character and history. It brings everyone together, rural and urban visitors for the day” she says.Working on two shows at more or less the same time will have advantages she explains “My transferable skills will be fully utilised between the two and will benefit Slaley particularly as I am up to date with any new directives and health and safety concerns. I’ve also built up many positive working relationships especially with traders over the last few years”. “The size difference will of course make it easy for me to differentiate between the two! When I first began at Slaley 2018/19 I wanted to get more experience of running shows and I saw that Slaley had real potential to become even more special. To be invited back by the committee for a second time, now with Bellingham show experience, means that it was noticed I was a positive influence. I’m a people person; a problem solver and I have many new ideas; we’re already making good progress.” “On show day watching others having fun is what makes me happy” she says, “but of course it’s all in the preparation!”