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Wigan Model Railway Exhibition 2021


SP Steve
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  • 5 months later...

Unfortunately Wigan FRM have announced that their 2021 exhibition has had to be cancelled due to circumstances outside of their control.

 

The venue used to host the show, Robin Park Sports Centre, is currently being used as a Covid vaccination centre and this use has now been extended until late autumn / early winter presumably to cater for people receiving booster jabs.

 

Wigan FRM are obviously disappointed with this situation but there is little they can do other than plan for the 2022 exhibition.

 

I suspect that this state of affairs may be replicated at other venues around the country so may affect other shows in the same way.

 

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I can confirm that the previous post is indeed correct and for the reasons stated. We were delaying the announcement until Steve Roberts, our Exhibition Manager had contacted all those concerned which he informs me has now been completed.

To say this cancelation  is a disappointment is something of an understatement but also something of a relief. Even in good times we needed all our ducks to be in a line to ensure that our event was successful. Ours is a rather precarious position as we do not have the support of a large Model Railway Society behind us, we are simply a group of friends who took it upon themselves to continue to host this event when the old Wigan & District Model Railway Society disbanded in 2006. As a consequence a financial loss would be catastrophic. If we had been given the opportunity we would certainly have gone ahead with Wigan 2021 but it would have been with some trepidation and more than a little reservation. Preparing a Budget was going to be a nightmare for our Exhibition Manager due in main to all the present uncertainties. The practicalities brought about by social distancing and the impact that this would have upon the Exhibition would be quite profound. It was almost bound to result in fewer layouts as greater space would have to be created to aid visitor circulation and the said social distancing. There would need to be a small army of staff to control the movement of visitors and the toilet arrangements would require some creative thinking to say nothing of the catering arrangements. We would anticipate a small riot if would couldn't provide a cup of tea for our exhibitors. We would on reflection not wish to hold an event that was substantially different from our previous exhibitions and it was looking that this was indeed going to be the case.

We are now putting our energies into returning in October 2022 when hopefully a clearer picture will have emerged, fingers crossed that is. 

  

Edited by Eaton
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  • 1 month later...

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