Telford 2020

[hobbyhorse]

Just been informed the next years dates have moved to 29th/ 30th August. 

 

Simon

[MarcD]

We got an email as we have a Layout in the small layout competition but from a traders point of view still waiting to be informed. Luckily we haven't booked any accommodation yet but I know a lot of people who have both traders and visitors.  It might back fire on the guild.

 

Marc    

[sir douglas]

just had a look on the guild forum and yes the show has been moved to the bank holiday, from what i can understand, the venue has offered a 3 year deal for that weekend which is cheaper than current. this may just sound like inconvinience to some but there has huge loss made on the guildex for many years and either the show is cut, drastically changed or the guild goes into debt trying to keep it the same which is they way it was going

 

copied from October committee meeting summary

 

Guildex 2020
The 2020 event is part of a three year rolling contract that the Guild has had with the TIC (Telford International Centre). If the event were to be run on the planned dates in 2020 it would run at a predicted deficit greater than that posted in 2019.
The unavoidable penalty for completely cancelling the 2020 event is in excess of £34,000. Complete cancellation was therefore not considered to be a sensible option.

Guildex 2020
The Treasurer has been able to negotiate alternative arrangements with the TIC that would reduce costs for an event in 2020. This involves using an alternative date for Guildex suggested by the TIC. The negotiation of this alternative date provides a reduction in the cost of £15000. This is a very significant saving.
On this basis we have agreed a new date for Guildex 2020 which is 29th / 30th August. The Committee is aware that these dates will not be convenient for everybody and that such a date change will need careful managing, but we cannot afford to ignore the £15000 saving that has been negotiated.
Further reductions in costs will be made by each team. These will primarily be accommodation costs. The Management Committee will critically review all of the costs of Guildex 2020 as planning progresses.
In 2020 there will be NO increase in admission charges nor in the terms or chargers for traders.

Guildex 2021
Venue and other costs have made it almost certain that Telford is unaffordable from 2021 onwards.
The Events Team have been asked to visit and assess alternative venues and to revisit the entire format of the event. It is therefore likely that our annual event will be held at a new location and with a new and revised format.

 

of course this my understanding having only just found out and read into it 2 minutes ago

[Barry O]

Sad news. Shame that the Telford event no longer breaks even/makes a profit as it used to.

Sounds like a major review is long overdue.

Baz

[F-UnitMad]

I'd seen that Guildex made a big loss this year. What's the cause? Declining attendance? Declining membership?

I'd have thought one way to cut costs would be to make it a One Day Show, but maybe hiring the TIC doesn't work like that.

I often only get chance for a 'flying visit' of a few hours or so; even if I had all the time in the world free, I wouldn't go to Guildex for two whole days - it's not that big a Show!!

 

Dons tin hat, takes cover.... 

[Dava]

58 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

I'd seen that Guildex made a big loss this year. What's the cause? Declining attendance? Declining membership?

I'd have thought one way to cut costs would be to make it a One Day Show, but maybe hiring the TIC doesn't work like that.

I often only get chance for a 'flying visit' of a few hours or so; even if I had all the time in the world free, I wouldn't go to Guildex for two whole days - it's not that big a Show!!

 

Dons tin hat, takes cover.... 

 

Add in fast increasing costs and big hotel bills. Not sustainable and lost about 34k in 2018. We dont know the loss for 2019 yet. Cannot go on like that. 

 

It is an opportunity to do something different, maybe better, before it's too late. Whether a 2 day event is viable we will see.

 

Dava

[MarcD]

Having spoken to a senior guild official a few weeks ago the lost for this year's event was close to £49k as a surprise £13k bill came in from TIC after the event.

Marc

[Barry O]

If the loss was that large I would expect to see major changes in ythe Guild management. The fact that losses have increasedover the years looks like poor management has been allowed to continue to arrange an unaffordable show.

 

Baz

[Dava]

33 minutes ago, Furness Wagon said:

Having spoken to a senior guild official a few weeks ago the lost for this year's event was close to £49k as a surprise £13k bill came in from TIC after the event.

Marc

 

As a current GOG member I think it is absolutely unacceptable for 'a senior guild official' to be blabbing this to traders when the information has not been made public to Guild members, who have been told the final accounts not available, stonewall etc.

 

[MarcD]

He was inquiring how the trade would feel about the show dropping to a 1 day in respect to the £37K loss that was in the public domain. The main source of income for paying for a show isn't visitors coming through the door it the traders paying for their stand. The trade has been loosing money on the Sunday for years, for every £10 spent on the Saturday about 75p is spent on the Sunday. The numbers of traders is reducing year on year. in the early 2000's there was just over 170 traders all paying £150+ for their stand space. Now there is about 100 paying £170+ In the process of our conversation he stated that there had been another bill of £13K at some point in September. This doesn't that there hasn't been another bill since delaying the publishing the full figures.  

 

Marc    

[John K]

I am afraid that there is a bit of misinformation being circulated here.

All Guild members have recently been circulated with information about Guild Events and other matters.

I note that Sir Douglas has correctly put some of that in his thread. 

Any information not contained in the summary that went to members, or that is not available to members on the Guild website, is extremely likely to be incorrect.

John K

Edited October 25, 2019 by John K
Correction of typos

[Barry O]

I have seen the email John.

 

Not sure what you think is wrong. Furness Wagon is reporting on a conversation so I can't gauge it's full authenticity.

 

How the Guild has got into this financial mess I don't know 

 But it seems have been heading that way for a while but nothing has been done about it 

 

Before I resigned from the Events Committee  (and  the Guild) we had always succeeded in achieving a surplus on all shows..despite the efforts of somega of the Guild.

 

I hope those who are noq helping with the Warley NEC show who were involved in Guildex realise Warley is more focused on delivering a quality show within a fixed budget.

Baz