andykwilkinson Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Just a reminder. Hope to see some of you there! Ely & District Model Railway Club MODEL RAILWAY EXHIBITION Saturday 7th May 2011 10.30 a.m. – 5.00 p.m. City of Ely Community College Downham Road, Ely, CB6 2SH • Following the resounding success of our previous shows at The City of Ely Community College, with its large free car parks, this will be the 33rd year we’ve held a Model Railway Exhibition in Ely! • Featuring (in two large halls) model layouts with British and North American themes in a variety of scales and gauges, specialist model railway traders and also live steam train rides outside for the children. There will also be a café selling modest priced snacks and you can even vote for whichever layout you think is the best. Look on our club website for more information but we have Chris Turnbull's excellent Cromer in O, Geoff Kent's equally excellent Blakeney in EM and the wonderfull Crumley & Little Wickhill from the Hull group in 009. • The venue is located on the north-west side of Ely, close to the A10 Ely bypass approximately 1.5 miles from Ely Railway Station there is a free and frequent Park and Ride minibus service from Ely City Centre (Market Street) to the exhibition venue (minibuses clearly marked). The centre of Ely is a pleasant 10-15 minute walk from the railway station - just head for the river side area then the Cathedral! Entrance fees: • Adults £4.00 • Concessionary Pass Holders £3.50 • Children (5-18) £2.50 • Under 5s free. More information is on Ely Model Railway Club’s web site, http://www.app-ltd.com/elymrc Derek Buck (Club Secretary) 01480 454857 crofters@ntlworld.com Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMal Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 I was about to start a thread on Ely having not seen one anywhere else. Great friendly show last time I was there. Keep the runway clear - I,ll be piloting the "Stealth Bomber" in on Friday afternoon Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andykwilkinson Posted May 1, 2011 Author Share Posted May 1, 2011 Yep, we will all look forward to seeing the "Stealth Bomber" at Ely this coming weekend along with a few other gems. Just hope the radar at Mildenhall Air Base (only 9 miles away from Ely) doesn't pick it up... or we'll have some explaining to do ;-) Derek and I were out and about putting our yellow road side notices up at all the main junctions around Ely today (yes we do have permission - takes a lot of work to get approval and one year the Highways Department still took them down due to lack of communication within their ranks!) Hopefully that won't ever happen again. Later this week I'll be putting all our "AA style" yellow direction signs up too. Not long to go now! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilM Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 On the map it looks walkable from the station. Is it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 On the map it looks walkable from the station. Is it? It is if you're a keen walker... I wouldn't like to guess how long it would take. 10 minutes to the city centre and then a free bus sounds a better bet to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andykwilkinson Posted May 3, 2011 Author Share Posted May 3, 2011 It is about 1.5 miles to the City of Ely Community College from the excellently served Ely Railway Station. In total about 25-30 minutes walk if you are of "normal" mobility. I do it often as I actually live fairly near to the College - I'm pretty fit! However, as my mate Jonathan points out, if you take the pleasant 10-15 minute walk into the centre of Ely you can then hop on the FREE (and Frequent) Park & Ride Shuttle Bus Service from Market Street (the stop is near Montaz Indian Restaurant/The Old Stage Coach). Just ask if needed as the natives are mostly friendly round here! By the way, there are several nice walking routes from the Station to the centre including along the river (past The Cutter...good beer, then The Maltings - our old Exhibition venue for many years - before it became very badly managed...it's facing permanent closure the rumour on the street tells me) then up Fore Hill to the Market Square etc. Alternatively, the most dramatically scenic walking route is along the river then up through Jubilee Gardens, cross Broad Street and up the footpath through Cherry Hill (spectacular views of the Cathedral) then turn right once you are through the main arch of The Porta and walk along The Gallery, past the Cathedral's west door and into the centre of Ely that way. This is less direct - just look on Google Maps/Satellite view and print off the route you like most! Anyway, when you get to Market Street, this good bus service (typically modern 20 seater type buses) takes you directly to the City of Ely Community College Park & Ride car park, near the end of Downham Road. Then just walk round the school block on the path near the road/inside the new fence and you'll then see the huge main car park and (hopefully - if this good weather continues!) the excellent live steam track and engines (5 & 1/4 inch) and the working scale Traction Engine from the Peterborough Model Engineers and the entrance to the show! If you are coming by car just follow all my yellow direction signs round the A10 bypass and then into Ely via the Downham Road roundabout very soon after, straight over the next roundabout and you're basically there! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andykwilkinson Posted May 4, 2011 Author Share Posted May 4, 2011 OK, all of the direction signs are now up on the A10 Bypass around Ely and I'll be doing the last few (those close to the College) on Friday afternoon... when we get back from collecting all the Barriers and Tables etc. from the CMRA store in Welwyn. Busy times! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andykwilkinson Posted May 4, 2011 Author Share Posted May 4, 2011 Oh dear...by mid-afternoon all of our direction signs had dissappeared. I suspect it's the Council Highways mob again....We've been doing this for over 30 years (actually this is our 33rd show in Ely) and I think doing it VERY professionally, unlike many who fly post signage all over the place - but it seems we are yet again tarred with the same brush. It just seems to get harder and harder to get this right and this has really p$££ed me off. Anyway, it's simple, please just peruse the map on our website or use Google, print it off if needed and/or use your SatNavs to get to CB6 2SH or just follow the existing signs to the City of Ely Community College... because it's looking unlikely that you'll have ANY of our yellow road direction signs to guide you. So, to the typically 1000 of you that come to the Ely show, please accept my apologies that you won't have our normal truly excellent direction signage to guide you directly to the venue - but we still hope to see you there on Saturday as we have some stonking layouts and stuff to see!!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMal Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Sympathise with you Andy. We have had similar problems in Hull over the years with road signs (full story at the weekend if your interested along with some colourful language about Councils!!), and I know Nottingham faced the same problem one year when one department of their local Council didn't know what another department was doing. The soultion we have for the York Show is to employ a registered organisation to place road signs (in this case Traffic Management Services), but this is certainly beyond the financial capabilities of the Hull Show and I suspect your Exhibition as well. Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andykwilkinson Posted May 4, 2011 Author Share Posted May 4, 2011 Yeah, Thanks. I'll definitely be up for many beers sometime Friday night while we swap exhibition and council stories - after you guys have successfully parked the Stealth Bomber on the Stage in the main hall.... but I'm sure we'll find more interesting things to talk about too! Just been told our show has been listed on the 'What's On' page of an American model railroad website...well I guess all publicity is good publicity! Just hope they are n't expecting yellow road direction signs all the way from Heathrow to Ely for when a 777 full of train mad Yanks lands first thing Saturday and they all head for Ely Show and our North American themed hall (the Gym) which my mate and joint Exhibition Manager Martin Spence has organised! ...after all, with the Playstation network still down they'll be looking for something to do! Oh and by the way, apparently Google maps mixes up the postcode of the City of Ely Community College CB6 2SH with Ely Rugby Club (which is the immediately opposite side of the A10 Bypass/Downham Road roundabout). So, everyone, when you're at this roundabout make sure you head INTO Ely. Then within 100 yards there is another roundabout (which you go straight over) and after about another 100 yards is the venue, where the speed bumps are, with its large free car park (and the free park & ride car park after another 100 yards, just in case it gets full). You can't miss it but, of course, if you had had some nice yellow direction signs to help it would be all be a lot easier..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andykwilkinson Posted May 6, 2011 Author Share Posted May 6, 2011 Crumley & Little Wickhill and Blakeney have arrived safely and set up so we're all off down the pub to sink some ale. Hope to see some of you tomorrow! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fire.up.the.aero Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Oh and by the way, apparently Google maps mixes up the postcode of the City of Ely Community College CB6 2SH with Ely Rugby Club (which is the immediately opposite side of the A10 Bypass/Downham Road roundabout). Thanks Andy - despite falling foul of precisely that on my visit last year, I'm sure I would have done so again without your reminder! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord-Claud-Hamilton Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 An enjoyable exhibition as usual. Thank you to all those who helped make it happen. Crumley & Little Wickhill was excellent. I really liked the perspective of looking down the valley......great idea. Looks like I'll be joining the GERS again after a few years away, thanks to the society exhibition stand. Helped my self to a few Ales on the way home to top off an enjoyable afternoon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilM Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Really enjoyed it. Crumley and Blakeney were great. But it was the north american room that really made it worth the trip - something very different for a "provincial" exhibition. Great layouts and the chance to buy a few bits. Well done - more next year please. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andykwilkinson Posted May 10, 2011 Author Share Posted May 10, 2011 Thanks for the favourable comments guys. We've a Club meeting tonight where we'll do the post-mortem but I'm very pleased to say we had our highest ever attendance at that City of Ely Community College. It's grown year on year since we moved there from the troubled Maltings. This was our 4th year at this much larger venue. Next year's show is confirmed for 12th May 2012. We already have a number of excellent layouts booked including Rolands Castle. If I get time I'll try and post some selected pictures of the 2011 Ely show so that those of you who have never been think about coming next year too! One more thing, I am now a RETIRED Exhibition Manager - but still the Club Chairman. Yippee!!!!!!! After my second extended stint in the role I had a willing volunteer to give me a well deserved rest in the very capable and gifted modeller Malcolm Hine. Malcolm has also been a previous Exhibition Manager with us at Ely so he's well used to the role. Malcolm will work with Martin Spence (our other Exhibition Manager - who did the North American hall this year) to make sure next years show continues the success both financially and enjoyment wise for all who attend, exhibitors and punters alike! Next year's show has a theme, "Railways of the World"...I gather they are inviting layouts that DEPICT all corners of the globe rather than inviting layouts FROM all corners of the globe. This is in order to prevent Michael, our Club's Treasurer from having a heart attack when the travel expenses come in! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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