Green Britain Premier -
West Indian Center - Coventry.
Blind panic set in at
approximately 7.30pm, no projector, no speakers, no helpers, no screen, no
early comers!
Began to wonder whether
all this was worth it? Would people find the venue? Would they enjoy the show?
Would we end up getting busted? Would I get the room set up on time, and if I
did would it be empty?
My phone rings, and its
uncle Alun from the Legalise Cannabis Alliance, expecting to give him directions to
the venue, I ask where he is....He is Here!!!
We go up to look at the
room I have hired for the event, the room I haven't seen for 5 years, but
remember being big and toker friendly..........its a dream, not only do we have
a room the size of your average school assembly hall, we have a bar, enough
chairs to sort out any weary bottoms, and the projector....is already here??
Something weird happens
when you think it is all about to go wrong, it all goes right!!
By 8pm, we have a few
trusted customers from our toker/grow shop, all eager to help out, pulling out
chairs and tables, setting up the screens,stalls, getting stoned and building
makeshift coffee shops..................
By 8.30pm we are almost
ready, I am flapping in case people arrive as we finish setting up, but no one
comes, I try NOT to think this means no one will come!!
By 9pm people start to
arrive, I had told Paul and Jemima from Green Britain, I knew of a definite 70 people coming, they looked surprised but
pleased!
By 9.25pm there are more
than 105 people, I can't count any more, there is a steady movement, and a
sweet sickly smokey smell seeping through the door, I begin to relax, although
I still feel there is something I have forgotten.....
By 9.40pm I realise what
it is I haven't remembered to do....to put the bloody film on!!!!!
9.40pm Film is on...room
is smokey....The Buddies Coffee Shop crew have arrived with two Volcano
vapourisers, now the fun begins..............................
10pm I can relax, but
spend the rest of the night talking to coffee shop owners from all sides of the
UK, a few hands on campaigners, my mum and dad, my LCA work mates, and a few
complete strangers who have walked up to me and shook my hand and given me a
genuine thankyou.
Paul from Green Britain
does a little speech and drags me up to take some credit (he tells me later it
wasn't just that, he was crapping it, because he had never had so many viewers
to his video!)
With visitors from
Norwich, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Halifax, Bournmouth, Kidderminster, London,
Worthing and Bradford, it was a good range of different areas meeting up for
the event, a lot of those who were definites, didn't show, so it meant that
approximately 45 people arrived "on the Door".
We finished off for
12.30ish and had a bit of a chill with those who travelled for hours to get
here. The guys who run the West Indian Centre were happy for us to have a
chill, as long as they could join us...
the bar girl told me:
"When you want this room again,I will book it in, and then I will book the
night off so I can join in, instead of watching everyone else having
fun!!!"
So the room is available
in the future, it just depends how many people that read this, would like to
experience the fun we did last night......let me know it will happen!!
We get home for 2am, Paul
and Jemima are completely impressed with the event, they sold 15 videos, we
paid the hire of the room at £150 and made a good £70 for the LCA funds.....we
hit the sack by three am, work at nine.
Wake up to phone calls
from all sorts of people in all sorts of places, as far as I know, everyone who
travelled got home safe, stoned...but safe!
So after the initial fear
of no one caring, the people of Coventry do care for cannabis, they care a lot,
and I know that this event would have been twice as large if I had more than a
week to arrange it, we only got confirmation of the room five days before the
event, so it is pretty impressive to see that turnout on short notice!
Please get in touch if
you would like to travel to Coventry for an event in the summer, its a central
spot, so more people from more places who care for cannabis can come to
Coventry and know it will be a good well organised and friendly event....the
only police we saw, was when we left the building, and they didn't have a clue
that 105+ tokers had been sitting in the upstairs room, watching a video, that
they would have to pretend they didn't agree with.
Love Elsie Haze