Cancelled due to vandalism- Stamford show 18th May

[Flying Fox 34F]

I haven't been on here for along time?  I came across the BBC news story and was Gutted.  I'm waiting for the Just Giving site to catch up, to make my donation!  Its currently hanging, though I did notice that the amount required is 1300% over the requested target.  Looks like our Community has dug deep.

 

Paul M

[polybear]

5pm and now standing at £8821

[Brinkly]

So sad, I feel for everyone involved. It must be heartbreaking to see your creation, or business, destroyed. I do not understand why 'people' do this sort of thing. It is completely pointless. 

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

[Rowsley17D]

Just given to help the lads and lasses out nearly at £10,000 now.

 

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/market-deeping-mrc?fbclid=IwAR1lDPUp1CdSN8PeyDkkNrn2HQMsgSAvj4o2ekfqVvbnCJSHsxRFBcNhqsc

Edited May 19, 2019 by Rowsley17D

[GreenGiraffe22]

I am heart broken by this story. The thought of anyone doing this to my collection makes me feel sick. I am so sorry this happened to you.

[Chamby]

11 minutes ago, polybear said:

5pm and now standing at £8821

 

Thirteen minutes later and it is over £10,000.  Hopefully that will be an emotional encouragement to them as well as financial help!

[Martin S-C]

37 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

 

Insurance is a different matter to security. CMRA and Magnet both run insurance schemes for exhibitions. I believe many traders have their own insurance anyway.

 

However, as noted, financial recompense can't bring back the hours/years of work involved in creating the models, or any sentimental value attached to them by their owners, hence the discussion of security.

You are quite correct. I apologise. I saw the word "security" and simply thought it said "insurance" My error.

However the sentiment I posted is still valid - an overall group security arrangement supported by every club and exhibition manager across the board would go some way to both spreading the costs and increasing community strength.

And yes, by this stage of the thread it goes without saying that personal, sentimental, time and effort values can never be replaced, but we need to discuss those elements of the situation that can be addressed and those are financial and preventional (which is a word I may have just created).

[Ryde-on-time]

I notice it”s the number 1 most read item on the BBC news website. Perhaps that is helping spread the word and with the donations

[OhOh]

Sympathies and best wishes to all affected.

 

For some, there is going to be a probably very profound sense of loss and a period of grief, somewhat akin to that surrounding a death. I hope that everyone has someone able to keep a watchful and caring eye on them, not just now, but for the coming months.

[robertcwp]

1 hour ago, Tony Teague said:

 

Who is Steve Follows, and if genuine, shouldn't he sensibly merge his appeal with the official one?

Tony

I hope he does. I saw the link on Facebook and donated.

 

[Winter123]

What this appalling crime highlights is the absolute importance to fortify layouts, collections and clubs as much as is humanly possible. When I started out, I was studying different home insurance options and the company I opted with asked if I had any valuable collections. I mentioned my model railway and they advised that I took copious photos with dates, kept all receipts, boxes etc and create an inventory which I now use as a 'bible', not only to document stuff but also as a budgeting tool. Short of building gun turrets on my house manned by armed guards I have done everything I can to protect my property within the law (which is an ass). 

 

I'm sure the exhibitors will have such records (even if it was stored in their heads) but,as has already been mentioned, the financial cost is almost secondary to the hours of skill and application used to create the fantastic layouts and products we see today. My thoughts are with all affected and hope they are able to regroup and rebuild/restock.

[Edge]

Best and the worst of people here - the unthinking and moronic actions of the vandals have inspired generosity and care beyond measure in our community. Whilst money cannot repay, it certainly shows that we all close ranks when the situation calls for it.

[cromptonnut]

55 minutes ago, Chamby said:

 

Thirteen minutes later and it is over £10,000.  Hopefully that will be an emotional encouragement to them as well as financial help!

 

Another hour passes and it's just under £16k now!

[TEAMYAKIMA]

1 hour ago, dibber25 said:

Like everyone on here, I'm horrified by what happened just a few minutes up the road from here on Friday night. I've also noticed the expressions of concern about future willingness to exhibit, risk and cost of insurances etc. May I suggest a step back from these concerns for a moment? In 56 years of professional involvement in the hobby, I cannot recall another instance of this type or magnitude. Yes, the odd clubhouse break-in and theft or vandalism, the odd theft from a show, but not a pre-show overnight break-in and gratuitous destruction on this scale. 

 

Chris

 

I hope you are correct - my main concern here is the expression 'copy-cat crime'.

 

This is certainly a wake-up call for the whole hobby. I have always tried to keep insurance values to a minimum when going to a show. I know that most insurance forms say 'replacement cost' but I would normally just quote cost of parts, components, materials etc on the assumption that if an odd wagon or coach needed replacement it would not be too big a deal to replace it.

 

But if destruction on this scale took place I would need to resort to professional help to tackle the problem and that costs money and I might have to factor that in when I look into insurance values in future.

[87023Velocity]

Been thinking about my suggestion earlier regards funding security. Does it need to be a security firm, could something not be set up via someone like CMRA were members from other clubs say 3-4 people are paid expenses to actually sit in the hall overnight, lights on cars outside, not acting as doormen. Its a visible deterant. First sign of issue, ring 999 and do not attempt to apprehend. They would really be working a night shift at the show.

This would need to be checked for legalities at the venue etc.

Cheers

 

Simon

[Liam]

I am absolutely disgusted and angered by this, and my full sympathies go to Market Deeping MRC for the damage they have to put up with, sadly a lot of which is irreparable. 

 

I’d like to make a comment here as a teenager only a few years older than the culprits. Whilst railway modelling sadly isn’t the favourite hobby amongst teenagers, with XBOXs etc. taking much more prominence, that is absolutely no reason for destroying the work of people whose preference of hobby is different (or considered differently) to your own. For example, last summer, at a campsite we know near Rugby, a few people brought along remote controlled aeroplanes. Admittedly I’ve never been that into aviation of any kind, but I was happy to watch the planes for a while and ask the owners questions. I certainly did not interfere by any means with anything, as that is their business. Just because you may not like someone else’s hobby, doesn’t give you the right to destroy their work. There are at least SOME of us teenagers who wouldn’t ever dream of what these four mindless people have done.

 

Turning my attention to the school, if it was insured would they be able to make a claim for the damage? Even if the payout only extends to the school it would at least be a step in the right direction. 

[RJS1977]

Of course it would very much depend on the nature of the show. A one-day show with setting up on the day only will obviously have a much lower risk of something like this happening (as the hall would never be left unattended) than a multi-day show with setting up the night before. Though of course there will still be some risk of total destruction in the event of fire and/or structural failure of the building.

[Harlequin]

18:26 PM

 

The fund is over £17,000 and still rising! Well done to the railway modelling community at large for coming together and supporting Market Deeping Model Railway Club.

 

[cromptonnut]

Just now, Harlequin said:

18:26 PM

 

The fund is over £17,000 and still rising! Well done to the railway modelling community at large for coming together and supporting Market Deeping Model Railway Club.

 

 

Especially when you consider that many people, especially outside of the UK, are thinking "where the heck is Market Deeping?"!

[dibber25]

23 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

 

Chris

 

I hope you are correct - my main concern here is the expression 'copy-cat crime'.

 

This is certainly a wake-up call for the whole hobby. I have always tried to keep insurance values to a minimum when going to a show. I know that most insurance forms say 'replacement cost' but I would normally just quote cost of parts, components, materials etc on the assumption that if an odd wagon or coach needed replacement it would not be too big a deal to replace it.

 

But if destruction on this scale took place I would need to resort to professional help to tackle the problem and that costs money and I might have to factor that in when I look into insurance values in future.

I'm afraid I don't place a monetary value on my modelling work. If it is lost or destroyed, so be it. At 72 I don't have enough years of my life left to build a large project again and once I've built something once, I wouldn't want to repeat it anyway. Nor would I pay a professional to build me a replica - what would be the point? Back around 10 years ago, while I was away at Model Rail Scotland, my house was burgled and my late wife's jewellery was stolen. It was insured and there was a payout but one of the options was to have replicas made. I couldn't see the point. The value of the originals was that Diane had worn them. The replicas would be 'so what?' The same applies to my models - the value to me is that they are my work. A replica made by someone else would simply be salt in the wound.

I do think that both preservation and model shows need, perhaps, to step up security but in this case it was a school, schools have security to protect their electronic equipment etc and in this case the security seems to have worked as the caretaker and Police were alerted and arrests were made. Sadly it didn't happen in time to prevent an o--y of destruction. The finicky system here won't allow me to use the four-letter word starting in o and ending in y that I wanted to use. As far as I'm aware it's not either a swear word or in any other way unacceptable. (CJL)

Edited May 19, 2019 by dibber25

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

 

Who is Steve Follows, and if genuine, shouldn't he sensibly merge his appeal with the official one?

Tony

 

Whilst I have donated via the "official" M.D. MRC page, it would be good to know that the other page raising money will also correctly benefit the club.  I'm not suggesting in any way that it isn't, but £1600 has been donated to the other fundraising page.  Is the originator a club member, or a member of RMWeb perhaps?

[AY Mod]

7 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

Well done to the railway modelling community at large for coming together and supporting Market Deeping Model Railway Club.

 

Probably most of the donors are non-hobbyists, just normal folk who will be appalled at what they have seen and wishing to support those affected; that's actually more gratifying than if it were just us enthusiasts.

[SR71]

Like all reading this I am deeply saddened to see this happen. I will add my support to the fund even if it won't get back someone's years of time and involvement. I would add (and sorry if this point has been made, I tried to read every post) for those local to those effected please keep a eye on your fellow modellers in the coming months. Many of us are not able to express ourselves as well as we should and modelling is a form of escape from the problems of the 'real' world. To have that interrupted and many years of work lost could lead to wider issues and so it is important that people look out for each other.

[AY Mod]

1 minute ago, polybear said:

 

Whilst I have donated via the "official" M.D. MRC page, it would be good to know that the other page raising money will also correctly benefit the club.  I'm not suggesting in any way that it isn't, but £1600 has been donated to the other fundraising page.  Is the originator a club member, or a member of RMWeb perhaps?

 

I'd hope it's a well intentioned supporter but a downside could be that JustGiving take higher costs out of the fund than the options being used by the club.

[robertcwp]

3 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

I'd hope it's a well intentioned supporter but a downside could be that JustGiving take higher costs out of the fund than the options being used by the club.

I hope it is too. I have sent an enquiry to JustGiving.