The Leamington & Warwick 43rd annual Model Railway Exhibition - Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th March 2018 - CANCELLED

[Geoff Endacott]

I think you have made the right decision to go ahead. I hope the following observations from five years ago when the Calne show (in January) was affected by bad weather, will be helpful.

 

We went ahead, despite snow lying on the ground. The main problem then, as seems to be the case now, was access to the main road network from the smaller roads. That meant some of the layouts could not travel because they could not be removed from the premises where they were stored. The trunk network remained clear.

 

All of the traders still came.

 

One third of the layouts did not, but most of the visitors were very understandng, accepted the gaps, and praised us for going ahead.

 

Attendance was down by 65% compared the the previous year.

 

But - we still more than covered our costs.

 

My analysis after the show revealed that, had we cancelled, we would have lost money. This was due to the up front costs such as publicity which could not have been recouped.

 

One important lesson we learned was the need for widespread publicity, especially through the local media, that the show is going ahead. You will also need to ensure that someone is available to answer the main contact telephone because people will ring up and, if they do not receive an answer (an answering machine will not do) they will assume that the show has been cancelled.

 

Good luck!

 

Geoff Endacott

 

P.S. Except, of course, it has now obviously got a lot worse and without access to the venue you had no choice.

Edited March 1, 2018 by Geoff Endacott

[Tim V]

Regrettably, Clutton will not be able to come. The main road looks especially nasty.

[LWMRSNews]

 

EXHIBITION WEATHER WATCH - EXHIBITION NOW CANCELLED

Thursday 1st March 2018 20:45

With regret we have to confirm the CANCELLATION the 2018 Exhibition.

The weather has deteriorated significantly in south Warwickshire this evening and the forecast has now changed with the Amber warning zone extending in our direction.

Just after 20:15 this evening I was informed by the College Estates team that the Leamington site would be closed tomorrow and therefore it would not be possible to build the show.

We will be in touch with all Exhibitors shortly.

BBC Summary Weather forecast for Royal Leamington Spa

 

We will continue to update here and on Facebook - /LWMRS and Twitter - @LWMRSNews

 

[johnb]

Sorry to here the news. It might well be worth editing the header of this thread to indicate CANCELLED.

 

regards

John

[caradoc]

That's a great pity, but no doubt the right decision.I wouldn't have been able to attend anyway, as there have been no local trains into Glasgow, or from Glasgow to Carlisle, for the last two days, and none so far today either. I will make a special effort to attend next year !

[Pete the Elaner]

Sorry that you've had to cancel.

I enjoy this show & was looking forward to it but not looking forward to driving there in this weather. I don't have an issue with driving in challenging conditions either.

 

I feel sorry for the club to have lost their show & the exhibition manager who has put a lot of effort into organising it.

It has been a very long time since we have had weather this bad in March, so it is extremely bad luck that we have it for this weekend.

[gwrrob]

The irony being that the show was moved from a January date a few years back to stop the possibility of cancellations due to bad weather. Try again in 2019 then...

[Trainshed Terry]

I have a had a battle with the hotel that I was going to stay at wanted me to pay the full cost of the room that was booked, BUT since it was out side of my control they have had accept, that the situation was out side my control.

 

Terry.

[owentherail]

I remember when show was at stoneleigh, the car park was cleared and masses of snow piled every where

[Ravenser]

Sorry to hear this, but given the conditions I don't see how you could have staged the event. The roads locally to me are looking bad tonight, the M62 is shut indefinitely over the Pennines etc etc, and I don't know how exhibitors would have made it in tonight to set up

[Crantock]

Very sorry and I hope the cost is not too painful.

 

Was planning on visiting by train but the walk was increasingly moving from "good exercise" to "not pleasant".  

 

Hope you can make it work next year.

[lmsforever]

Sorry to read but the weather is horrible enjoyed my visit last year will attend next year good luck on finances.

[LWMRSNews]

Apologies to anyone arriving at Warwickshire College for the 10am start of our exhibition. Unfortunately we were forced to cancel the exhibition because the college site is closed until Monday due to weather conditions which also stopped exhibitors reaching Leamington Spa safely.

[LWMRSNews]

The open day at the club house that follows 2 weeks after the exhibition will continue - weather permitting on Saturday 17th March 2018 from 11am.  

[Andy Y]

Apologies to anyone arriving at Warwickshire College for the 10am start of our exhibition. Unfortunately we were forced to cancel the exhibition because the college site is closed until Monday due to weather conditions which also stopped exhibitors reaching Leamington Spa safely.

Who's been lumbered with standing at the door to turn folk away? I do sympathise.

[PenrithBeacon]

Who's been lumbered with standing at the door to turn folk away? I do sympathise.

Me too, especially as it's thawing very quickly here in Harrow

[LWMRSNews]

Who's been lumbered with standing at the door to turn folk away? I do sympathise.

 

Volunteers were called for and some of the local members came forward (including one you know well - not needed!). I believe we had 26 hardy souls turn up during the morning and apologies were offered along with an invitation to come to the club open day on Saturday 17th March 2018.

 

We will have representatives back there in the morning.

[LWMRSNews]

A Winter’s Tale from a Warwickshire Exhibition Manager

Weather forecasts early in the week suggested that the south midlands would miss the worst of the snow and we were confident that the show would be able to go ahead. We carefully monitored the local forecasts throughout Thursday and they changed frequently. A Weather Watch bulletin was posted on our website.

We started to collect information from exhibitors’ and traders about journey prospects. Very rapidly it was obvious that those travelling from the south and west were unlikely to be able to make the trip safely with red and amber alerts posted for that area. Heavy snow was now forecast to fall in south Warwickshire throughout the day on Friday. Withdrawals started to come in and were immediately posted on the web site.

It starting snowing heavily approximately 15:30 Thursday afternoon. Road conditions deteriorated rapidly. We started to receive phone calls and more withdrawals. At about 18:00 the amber alert area extended north to include the south and west midlands and the red zone moved in our direction. A conference call was booked with the key exhibition organisers for 19:30. Heavy snow continued, the list of withdrawals was also growing. The consensus view of exhibition team was that if would be unsafe to continue, but the insurance cover should be checked and senior Board members involved in the final decision. A further conference call involving Board members was booked for 20:30. The Exhibition Manager received notification at 20:15 from the College Estates team that the site would be closed on Friday which confirmed that the decision, already taken to cancel the show. was the right one. The 20:30 conference call was now just a formality to advise the Society Management Board.

The website was immediately updated, e-mail cancellation notices were sent out by 21:45, phone calls were made and text messages sent to ensure all exhibitors were aware of the situation by 22:45.

While all of the above was going on members trying to get to the club on Thursday evening failed and those at the club preparing Kimble for transport the following morning reported severe difficulties with their journeys home. On Friday morning we received a report of 6 foot deep snow drifts blocking all roads around the club. The decision taken purely on safety grounds to cancel the exhibition was clearly the right one.

It's never easy to take such a decision and the safety of all involved over-rules everything else, after all it's only a model railway exhibition! We want to be able to welcome everybody again in 2019.

[PenrithBeacon]

I think most RMwebbers would support the decision to call off the show, but is there a chance that it might be put on later in the year?

[Geoff Endacott]

I think most RMwebbers would support the decision to call off the show, but is there a chance that it might be put on later in the year?

 

Having continued with the Calne show during a snowy weekend in January 2013, we ran an extra show in July. It turned out to be the hottest weekend of the year and attracted even fewer visitors. We therefore achieved the distinction of running shows at the same venue over the coldest and hottest weekends of the same year.

 

Whatever you do, you can't win.

 

Geoff Endacott

[Chris M]

LWMRS acted most professionally and correctly in the circumstances. You did all you could do and made the right decisions at the right time. It’s a shame but these things happen. Good to hear you have insurance. All the best for the future.

 

It could have been worse. Does anyone remember the Quinborne show affected by snow back in the nineties? We set up our layout along with all the other exhibitors on Friday evening and the weather was ok - cool but dry. While chatting over a pint later that evening somebody said they had heard it was going to snow In the night. Next morning I woke up to some of the deepest snow I have ever seen in Birmingham. Nothing was moving and nobody could get anywhere by car. The layouts sat in an empty exhibition until Sunday afternoon by which time things had just about started moving and we had found somebody with a Range Rover who could get the layout back to base.

[LWMRSNews]

I think most RMwebbers would support the decision to call off the show, but is there a chance that it might be put on later in the year?

 

Sorry cancelled not postponed! The 43rd exhibition is lost to the world.

 

We will be back in 2019.

[Geoff Endacott]

Sorry cancelled not postponed! The 43rd exhibition is lost to the world.

 

We will be back in 2019.

 

Doesn't that mean next year's show will now be the 43rd exhibition?

 

Geoff Endacott

[LWMRSNews]

It occurred to me as I wrote that somebody might make that observation.

 

We did all the work but had to bin the lot at the eleventh hour so the public just didn't get to see our efforts.

 

It was a finished product so I think we can justifiably claim it as the 43rd exhibition. 

 

Anybody want one of the thousands of left over show guides before they go in the bin? They will be a rarity for the auction sites in the future! 

Edited March 3, 2018 by LWMRSNews

[Geoff Endacott]

Anybody want one of the thousands of left over show guides before they go in the bin? They will a rarity for the auction sites in the future! 

 

You could put them on eBay.

 

We had a few guides left over at Calne so were giving them away to visitors on the Sunday afternoon. Someone asked why we didn't keep them for next year. They were actually being serious and didn't understand when we tried to explain why that might not work.

 

Geoff Endacott