Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, June 14th 2014, in the evening; comment in a pub overheard by friends following the conclusion of the Great Knaresborough Bed Race – “…there’s this architect who lives in Knaresborough who spends millions of pounds every year and always wins Best Dressed Bed”.
It’s another, hitherto unheard of, version of the comments heard each year and is sadly untrue for the money part and only nearly true for the other. Other comments have included allegations of buying decorations from professional builders (including film studios and theatre companies), that I am a ‘professional decoration builder’ (I wish) and that I am ‘cheating’… well, really!
No, I don’t spend millions, but I do raid skips and beg for materials and have an unnatural attraction to junkshops and charity shops looking for the hidden repurposing potential in discarded bric-a-brac, fabric, cardboard and wood and store it up waiting for each spring’s announcement of the theme for the coming year.
Do I win Best Dressed Bed every year? Again, no I don’t, but I am pleased to have picked up first place a total of eight times since my first bed in 1997, including a hat-trick in 2008-2010 and a second and a third place along the way.
The sad (and true) fact is that I am hopelessly addicted to the event and the creative delights of designing and building decorations each year that have to be light and demountable, adhere to specified size limits and, ideally, not encroach into the house during the building and decoration phases. That’s good for marriage!
Over the years I have found the lightest and strongest materials and have developed papier-mâché and fabric-mâché into something of speciality; learning about how it shrinks and tightens and how the dried flour and water paste is irresistible to mice. Special mention too for Celotex polyisocyanurate foam boards and hot melt glue guns; which are brilliant at gluing as well as melting off your finger prints - ouch!
So this year I got to sponsor and build Gru’s Car from Despicable Me for the local Scout Group to help them raise funds for the Group. We scooped the prize for Best Dressed Bed. This year I also did a second decoration for my favourite pub’s team; a 3.5 metre long Thunderbird 1; fantastic fun and great to see on the judging field with nearly ninety other entries.
Why do I do it? Because I love to do it; I love the challenge of fitting the building work in around family life and a challenging day job, I love to see the look on people’s faces when they see my creations – this year it was the children who were mad for Despicable Me and Gru and the Scout-crafted Minions – and I love to see what I can achieve with my imagination, a sketchbook, a garage full of materials and my bare hands.
I was at the back of the queue when lightweight running bodies were being handed out (and then some!) so running the race is unlikely to be an option. But I can, and will, continue to contribute to the annual spectacle of Bed Race and the reputation of the town that has been my home for 20 years. And, just like the 500 plus runners who train tirelessly each year for the race, the musicians who practise and play, and the many craftspeople who build decorations and make costumes, I will continue to do my very best.
Bring on 2015 and the 50th Great Knaresborough Bed Race!