AGA Ladies Series steps up a gear at Barbury Castle, both on and off the course!

The venue for the second AGA Ladies Open of the season is Barbury Castle and there was a real sense of deja-vu for AGA CEO William McGrath because for the second season running he was heard to say - "is this well hidden or is the satnav on the blink?"

The wind had played havoc with our attempts to show off the new AGA Home Business set up at Cottenham, but Derek bagged a prime spot upon arriving at the course (just after dawn), and we soon had everything in place ... and it looked good!

People were soon flocking to our AGA tent to find out what this new AGA Home Business idea is all about, including PPA board member Heather Kemp and her husband Tony. Heather, newly retired from the saddle, was also clutching a handful of notes which were swiftly exchanged for 6 of our limited edition AGA Pointing mugs!

Pastures new for one of our AGA Pointing boys as Chris takes on a new challenge

If you have been to an AGA qualifier during the past two years you will most probably have met Chris. Cheeky grin, Barbour cap perched on his head at a jaunty angle and looks a bit like he could be in a boy band! Well, after nearly 4 years with AGA he has found a new challenge and I thought it would be nice to take a look back at his "pointing career" in words and pictures.

This one is from Dalton Park and was taken towards the end of our first season as national sponsor in 2011 ... what's in the box Chris?

AGA Championship gets off to a windy start at Cottenham but ends on a warm note thanks to new friends

The opening day of the 2012/13 point-to-point season had arrived so it was time for the talking to stop and the action to begin - Cottenham here we come. An early start was preceded by an AGA tweet or two ... and an early phone call from owner (and PPA board member) Steven Astaire in which the words "wind" and "strong" were mentioned more than once.

We didn't get much of the new AGA gazebo erected and this was all that we dared to put up, otherwise we feared it may have taken off and ended up somewhere in Cambridgeshire! This presented another problem as the lavish AGA spread - courtesy of Mrs S, had to be relocated to one of the old horse boxes, along with the tables and chairs ... not a great first outing for our new set-up.

As this was not only the opening fixture of the season, but also the only surviving race meeting anywhere in Britain, we had a feeling that a lot of attention would be on the start ... so we targeted the starters rostrum for a bit of creative AGA branding.