This weekend (September 15-16) sees the Midland Game Fair at Weston Park in Shopshire. This event is always held on the third weekend of September and is traditionally the last major event of the summer country show and fair season. Some years we are blessed with warm sunshine and others it is definitely welly weather, either way it's always a successful event.

This year there is an extra emphasis though, because of the cancellation of the CLA Game Fair, which was to be held at Harewood House near Harrogate on July 27-29. The CLA is undoubtedly the jewel in the crown of the summer season, but with its cancellation the mantle has been passed on to the Midland.

Countryman Fairs are the organisers and following the cancellation of the CLA they had a surge in interest from exhibitors who wanted to be at the Midland. So we can expect to see a few records broken this weekend.

But, more than that, it will give us the chance to catch up with a lot of the people we were unable to meet at the CLA and to make new friends too. These events are so important to our sport, as for one all-too-brief weekend we can all gather in the same place and seriously mix business with pleasure.

Please visit the Shooting Gazette stand while you are there to say hello and take advantage of what will be a great subscription offer and to enter our great competition to win the superb Ian Greensitt sculpture of a snipe. This really is a beautiful piece of work.