It's throwback Thursday and we're taking a moment to reflect on The Game Fair 2021, a much anticipated country event made all the sweeter following a year off as a result of the Covid pandemic.

The Game Fair experienced the busiest ever opening day in its 62-year history, bringing a total of 119,378 people across all three days back together safely to enjoy the festival of the Great British countryside once again.

Months of preparation went into the planning of the Viking Arms' weekend at The Game Fair. From touching up the stand, choosing stock to showcase, organising a charity fundraiser and partnering with a retailer (Hadfield Guns) for the first time, the team made sure they had everything they needed for a weekend of camping come rain or shine!

Here's a quick round-up of the show as seen through the eyes of our sporting sales lead Tom: 

We also ran an exclusive charity prize draw to win a K5 Arabesque luxury rifle from the premium brand Merkel. With a deluxe grade 8 stock and an RRP of £6300 plus a bit of help from a lifesized cut out of Deer Bob we raised thousands of pounds for military veteran, Simon Cooper.

Deer Bob came to life to talk us through the Merkel range:

Across the weekend the Viking Arms sporting team met up with retailers, brand ambassadors, industry movers and shakers plus sporting shooters and their families.

Sam MacArthur, Managing Director, Viking Arms; 'It was a delight to be out and about again meeting and  talking to people who are truly passionate about the countryside. It was also a welcome return to events for the Viking Arms team who have, in the majority, been working remotely for the last 18 months. Seeing them in their element discussing sporting guns with other shooting enthusiasts was fantastic'.

As well as networking, there were also some good opportunities for celebrity spotting in the vicinity of the Game Fair Theatre where Lord Ian Botham and BBC Countryfile's Adam Henson were guests.

Organisers of the event say many exhibitors reported record sales, particularly across art, sporting guns, clothing and accessories with in excess of £60 million spent over the weekend. 

The competition culminated on the glorious 12th with a live Facebook draw where Thomas Green was drawn as the lucky winner. Congratulations Thomas! 

A huge thank you to the Game Fair event organisers for a great weekend and to the whole Viking Arms team who worked around the clock to get the stand ready, running and manned across the entire weekend. Bring on 2022!

The 2022 Game Fair will be held once again at Ragley Hall, 29-31 July.