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Exhibition cancellations (not much to do with that anymore!)


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6 minutes ago, PenrithBeacon said:

It might be for clubs who depend on the annual show to pay the bills for the clubroom. If we see fewer shows we might also see a reduction in the number of clubs

 

That's a very valid point, which I had not considered.

 

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33 minutes ago, PenrithBeacon said:

It might be for clubs who depend on the annual show to pay the bills for the clubroom. If we see fewer shows we might also see a reduction in the number of clubs

Clubs that hold their shows in the second quarter of the year lost out in 2020 and will probably do so in 2021, so that process may, unfortunately, already be on the starting blocks.

 

I'm sure that clubs which are heavily dependent on exhibition income to cover their running costs will have been busy working out alternatives since the first cancellation hit.

 

However, in my (admittedly limited) experience, the preferred aim nowadays is to cover fixed expenses from subscriptions as far as possible. The less-predictable show revenue primarily gets used for improving premises and building new layouts, both of which can be deferred or rescheduled over longer timescales if times become hard.

 

John

 

 

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48 minutes ago, mudmagnet said:

It certainly seems to me that the likelihood of model railway exhibitions anytime before Easter are very slim for many of the reasons stated by many others, which I won't repeat.

 

What does seem clear though is that when we get back to having regular exhibitions (next spring / summer?), then there will be far fewer exhibitions. I know that a number of you would disagree, but I have felt that for a number of years that there are far too many exhibitions, so would a 30% reduction really be an issue?

 

 

Of the 7 nearest shows to here,  3 have closed in the last 3 years.. and this was before covid struck. Club memberships are in general getting older.  Those of us with railway connections are reducing in number.

Sadly railway modelling is on a downward trend,  as the next generation coming through are not interested in anything that doesn't use thumbs on a phone. 

There will be a reduction in shows,  and unfortunately a reduction in modellers prepared to exhibit .  Whether or not we can keep the public coming to shows to fund clubs is another question. 

Edited by TheQ
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2 hours ago, TheQ said:

Of the 7 nearest shows to here,  3 have closed in the last 3 years.. and this was before covid struck. Club memberships are in general getting older.  Those of us with railway connections are reducing in number.

Sadly railway modelling is on a downward trend,  as the next generation coming through are not interested in anything that doesn't use thumbs on a phone. 

There will be a reduction in shows,  and unfortunately a reduction in modellers prepared to exhibit .  Whether or not we can keep the public coming to shows to fund clubs is another question.

Our local club gave up our clubrooms last year and moved into the town's Men's Shed as we are almost all retired and now able to meet during the day.  Before covid struck we discussed our annual show and decided to organise "one final show" in 2020 as we are coming of an age where setting up, manning and dismantling a show and moving layouts back and forward to clubrooms and  members' homes was becoming too much hard physical work.    Like almost every other show, we had to cancel this year.  Whether we will do that one last show sometime in the future or never again remains to be seen.    I would normally also attend three shows per year but have not been to one since Model Rail Scotland in Glasgow in February, and at my age would not be keen to attend another show until we have a safe vaccine.

Edited by cessna152towser
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The question regarding are there too many shows for me is a split one. With regard to the large shows I can see why the various commercial promotors want to get involved, however, as a Society with promo’ stands we can’t afford to cover them all. There are, I concur, now becoming too many of those and even as a general pay on the door punter too many to get to.

 

Local shows though are not the same beast, many of the layouts are average I agree although they often still give ideas, but going to them, meeting local modellers for a chat, maybe picking up something second hand, a stop for a cuppa and a snack are a different ambience altogether. If a few of the biggies were dropped from the calendar I wouldn’t miss them, but these local shows are under threat as so many of us who were hooked on railways in the steam age become to old to heft layouts about. The layouts on show are rarely world  beaters but it Is these small local shows in scout huts and village halls etc, that I will really miss, not the biggies. These are also the ones that show a Mum and Dad who might still be thinking their kid would like a train set something they can build along with him/her - an exquisitely built P4 example won’t do that, arguably they make it look too hard to do which thereby creates a deterrent to getting started.

 

Edited by john new
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10 hours ago, Geoff Endacott said:

It looks as though a toy fair will be going ahead next month.

 

https://www.bulldogfairs.com/shepton-mallet/

 

Geoff Endacott

I noticed that, too. The venue has high ceilings and is fairly draughty so almost qualifies as outdoors.....

 

Think I might give it a go.

 

John

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On 24/09/2020 at 18:43, TheQ said:

Sadly railway modelling is on a downward trend,  as the next generation coming through are not interested in anything that doesn't use thumbs on a phone. 

 

Odd than that the trade are reporting record sales and exhibition attendance went up when the GMRC was on. How does that say a hobby "on a downward trend"?

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On 24/09/2020 at 18:43, TheQ said:

Sadly railway modelling is on a downward trend,  as the next generation coming through are not interested in anything that doesn't use thumbs on a phone.

 

Present them with an oval of track and a Roco Z21! (Other systems controlled by smartphones or tablets are available!)

 

I can understand the pessimism about the downward spiral. Having visited several exhibitions in Holland, Germany and France, their whole attitude to railway modelling differs from ours. Over there, you see not only fathers and sons, but also mothers and daughters involved in the show and there are many clubs which encourage this. In the UK, railway modelling, per se, seems to be a somewhat closet activity and, as such, a taboo subject, at best involving the fathers with, occasionally, their sons but rarely the mothers and daughters.

 

My apologies if I have strayed :offtopic:, reign me in if necessary! IIRC, this thread is, IMHO, now so far off topic (I'm cancelled, I'm cancelled too, hey so am I) that I'm not sure where it's going!

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3 hours ago, BokStein said:

 

at best involving the fathers with, occasionally, their sons but rarely the mothers and daughters.

My daughter is10, is mad about trains.

She’ll educate you a thing or two for sure.

About 2 years back she disassembled a Bachmann 03, including the axles... and fully reassembled it, including 1/4ing.

She’ll drag me out if something is running local that shes interested to see, and moved my railway collection era forwards a few decades, She has cleared nearly all her 377’s, 455’s, all the 456’s.

 

Tonight just before bed told me a class 40 is stabled all weekend at Wembley...(imagine my surprise at hearing that)... but she added, shes seen all the preserved ones, cabbed 40106 and ridden behind 40012/13/106/135 & 145.
 

shes not bad with a camera too.., this being a recent shot..

7DC60E36-E760-4AFD-9E18-615910A62A52.jpeg.44b9dac20a62eb35d54ad9b075ae44f4.jpeg

and this.. (and the ED was properly tanking it, just as the light faded)..
567BCE49-2206-40D4-BF56-8A7D3F9038A7.jpeg.681a54de55e344a1f7e8333886f9e249.jpeg

 

When I was 10.. I was producing this...

D91BC487-051E-4996-9771-B7C422D016CE.jpeg.ffcd6439aa42b18f8d03cc95a5bce99d.jpeg


 

I will add shes not the only girl out there.. theres more than you think. I can see she also takes inspiration from seeing female footplate crew, and mainline drivers and at preserved railways. It might be a predominantly male hobby, but its not exclusively by any means.

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3 hours ago, BokStein said:

Over there, you see not only fathers and sons, but also mothers and daughters involved in the show and there are many clubs which encourage this. In the UK, railway modelling, per se, seems to be a somewhat closet activity and, as such, a taboo subject,

Only because of the stereotypes and I’ve talked to plenty of Mum’s at shows with my Swiss and Camberwick layouts because they are a bit brighter and remind them of holidays and memories. I’m not that surprised they are generally less interested in industrial grot and scale speed shunting as I doubt most non enthusiast bloke are either ;) 


GMR has certainly done its bit to include families too so shows that cater for them with some more colourful and fun layouts will attract more general enthusiasts and families. Worlds End certainly impressed at Warley and several families were entranced by the town and civil war scenes :) 

As ever we need a broad range of shows to appeal and not every show has to cater for everyone, just to their target audience. Many local shows need the public too while people will travel much further for specialist ones. 

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11 hours ago, adb968008 said:

My daughter is10, is mad about trains.

She’ll educate you a thing or two for sure.

About 2 years back she disassembled a Bachmann 03, including the axles... and fully reassembled it, including 1/4ing.

She’ll drag me out if something is running local that shes interested to see, and moved my railway collection era forwards a few decades, She has cleared nearly all her 377’s, 455’s, all the 456’s.

 

There are exceptions!

 

11 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

Only because of the stereotypes and I’ve talked to plenty of Mum’s at shows with my Swiss and Camberwick layouts because they are a bit brighter and remind them of holidays and memories. I’m not that surprised they are generally less interested in industrial grot and scale speed shunting as I doubt most non enthusiast bloke are either ;)

 

As spectators, yes mums and daughters do turn up to shows. I was more thinking them spending the weekend assisting in the operation of layouts.

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24 minutes ago, BokStein said:

 

There are exceptions!

 

 

As spectators, yes mums and daughters do turn up to shows. I was more thinking them spending the weekend assisting in the operation 

 

 

I think we should worry less about who to involve and just encourage anyone who’s interested! ;) 

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There are still a lot of women and girls who do crafting, possibly even a higher percentage than men who do DIY/model making. A lot of what they do though gets ignored as just routine.
 

My wife likes trains, helps with the layout and the SLS trade stand and also enjoys craft work, sometimes involving some railway modelling but more often making theatre props. 50% success rate with my daughters regarding trains/model railways, the other prefers other craft activities. As for the grand children, one is heavily into model trains and (coincidence?) has the mother who is also into trains. 

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Back to the original purpose of this thread. I have just been notified that the Gauge O Guild's Spring show in March 2021 has been cancelled. See below

 

Hello to all,
Following the Government announcement on 22nd September that includes the following quote:

"The spread of the virus is also affecting our ability to reopen business conferences, exhibition halls and large sporting events, so we will not be able to do this from 1 October.
The government’s expectation is the measures described above will need to remain in place until March”.
(Link to document below)

The Gauge O Guild Events Committee and the Management Committee have decided that it is sensible to cancel the Kettering Spring Show, due to take place on 6th March 2021

The safety of our organisers, exhibitors and visitors has to be our first priority and I cannot see exhibitors or visitors wishing to attend when the Government expect the latest restrictions to be in place until March.
It is a great shame but I think we have to be realistic and proactive by making the decision sooner rather than later.
Please note that we have not paid anything to the venue or to hotels and traders and societies have not made any payments yet.

If our virtual show on 31st October 2020 proves successful, we may plan another for Spring 2021
Fingers crossed for our Summer Show in Doncaster on 5th June 2021

Thank you

Jackie Kneeshaw
Gauge O Guild.
Chairman of Events & Trade Manager

 

This means that the next large scale show will be ALSRM Reading in May Fingers crossed.

 

Marc
 

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From Stu Vowles on Facebook:

 

BULLDOG FAIRS,TOY AND TRAIN COLLECTORS FAIRS, CANCELLATIONS

 

After much deliberation and consideration following the recent change in Government directive and the guidelines issued by Local Authorities and Public Health England we have taken the sad decision to cancel the rest of this year’s toy fairs.

 

I am sure you will all understand that as organisers we are responsible for your safety. We feel we would be unable to maintain the current “rule of 6” at entry points in the halls etc. In addition, we are aware that we would be encouraging you lovely people to travel from all over the country, which considering the impact of Covid-19 does not seem a sensible approach.

 

It is an unfortunate situation, but it is felt that this is the right decision. The team here at Bulldog Fairs appreciate and fully share your disappointment but hope for your understanding and support. Please be assured that as soon as we can arrange Fairs for next year without compromising anyone’s health or safety, we will let you know. Next year’s dates will be published as soon as they are all confirmed.

 

This has been an exceedingly difficult year so far and the next few months are not looking any easier. The whole situation is changing daily, who knows what restrictions will be in place by the time a Fair date is reached.

 

Geoff Endacott

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On 26/09/2020 at 11:21, Giles said:

My wife Diane does very much so.... she's definitely integral to the team!

 

I'm very lucky!

 

Wholly agree.

 

Try keeping my wife Sue away from the shows.  She loves the atmosphere, Friday setup, operating, talking to the public.  Absolute stickler for keeping the trains moving.  There are a good number that are staunch team members.

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3 hours ago, woodenhead said:

This is exactly the problem we have right now and why people don't follow the guidance:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8779373/Parliaments-bars-NOT-subject-10pm-curfew.html

 

One rule for us and no rules for them.

 

From BBC live feed

 

12:00

Parliament scraps alcohol sale exemption

Alcohol will no longer be sold in Parliament after 22:00, officials have announced, amid a row over the revelation that bars and restaurants used by MPs and Lords were exempt from the coronavirus restrictions.

Earlier the Times reported that venues in the parliamentary estate were not subject to the early closing time rule brought in this month because they were designated a "workplace canteen".

Labour's Dawn Butler described the situation as "outrageous... one rule for MPs one rule for everyone else", while Care Minister Helen Whately said "Parliament shouldn't be sitting round late at night drinking".

Within hours of the story emerging, a Parliament spokesperson issued a statement saying: "Alcohol will not be sold after 10pm anywhere on the parliamentary estate."

In line with the government’s guidance, catering facilities will remain open later than 22:00 when the house is sitting, to serve food for MPs and staff still working.

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Good that they have fixed it, but only because they've been found out really isn't it - surely it was staring them in the face the pomposity of them being able to drink when they wanted whilst telling us we have to all go home at 10pm.

 

Of course as I suggested when this early closing was announced, it just means the people will shift their behaviour and all many people are now doing is continuing drinking on the streets or at home with the supermarkets are making a mint from late night alcohol sales (and probably snacks).

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