The return of exhibitions - a further poll

[Barry O]

With new instructions from our venue this week we have  replanned our Foyer floor plan.  A one way route into the refectory is now in place as is the entry/exit to/from the Sports Hall. 

 

Extra sanitiser has been procured and large signs are being printed for information to all visitors. The Grammar School at Leeds have been very positive in helping us to hold our 70th show.

 

Baz

Hon Secretary, Leeds MRS CIO

 

[railroadbill]

21 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

If Ally Pally is anything like previous shows there there should be plenty of space for social distancing. (Except for certain trade stands).

A big hall in a building with a very high roof, so ought to be reasonably ok for ventilation.

[Bomag]

On 07/10/2021 at 07:22, Barry O said:

With new instructions from our venue this week we have  replanned our Foyer floor plan.  A one way route into the refectory is now in place as is the entry/exit to/from the Sports Hall. 

 

Extra sanitiser has been procured and large signs are being printed for information to all visitors. The Grammar School at Leeds have been very positive in helping us to hold our 70th show.

 

Baz

Hon Secretary, Leeds MRS CIO

 

 

With all the changes in the floor plan I have had to change the exhibition guide yet again, no rest for the wicked, except for a full grammar school breakfast!

[bradfordbuffer]

2 hours ago, Bomag said:

 

With all the changes in the floor plan I have had to change the exhibition guide yet again, no rest for the wicked, except for a full grammar school breakfast!

Should just print details of each layout and trade stands and have a tick box next to each on guide..... exhibition bingo....get 4 corners or a line you get a cup of tea...full house ...time for home!....

Hope all goes well for show

G

[Neil]

I think for the foreseeable future I'll be giving exhibitions a swerve.

 

I've been a couple of times to my local cinema over the last month but it's not really comparable. They've taken out every other row of seats, you book in advance and others on your row are more than 2M away. You have to remain masked at your seat until the staff have come to see what you would like to eat or drink and delivered the order.; then the mask can come off. If you want to move round the auditorium (to visit the loo) then the mask has to go back on; as it does when the film finishes and you leave.

 

I can't see how an exhibition could replicate this level of distancing and mask wearing given that at the cinema you stay seated and at an exhibition you move around.

[PhilJ W]

I will be going to an exhibition on Sunday https://www.earm.co.uk/small-trains-day/ This is usually held in the old goods shed and locomotive shed, so no problems with ventilation.  

[Jol Wilkinson]

Locally it seems that the majority of people have taken Freedom Monday to heart and now ignore the Hands-Face-Space request in restaurants, shops, etc. It is therefore not unreasonable to expect that shows with a sizeable percentage of general public or family visitors will be the same.

 

The UK has become the European hot spot for Covid cases and related deaths , whereas those countries that have taken a more cautious approach to easing restrictions such as wearing masks and social distancing are considerably less affected. At the current rate of infection about 13M people will get Covid each year. As a friend put it last week, that probably means we'll all catch it sometime

 

The Society shows I normally attend (S4um, EMGS) and several other "finescale" shows and which have little general public attendance have mainly been cancelled so far. There is a small local general modelling show held in a sports hall that I will visit next week, but shan't  stay long if I consider the environment unsafe.

 

 

 

[Joseph_Pestell]

I visited the show at Gaydon yesterday.

 

Plenty of visitors and the traders seemed busy.

 

It's a "difficult" venue with lots of small rooms but I think the Exhibition Manager could have managed to be more Covid aware with larger aisles and a one-way system. Space to stand and watch the excellent Ellesmere layout was lacking.

 

No lift between the two floors of the exhibition and, apparently, no stairs, although there must be. Difficult for someone like me who can not do down escalators at present.

 

Very few mask wearers, as indeed at my hotel in Coventry.

Edited October 31, 2021 by Joseph_Pestell
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[john new]

As @Joseph_Pestell mentions it is the general lack of mask wearing by most people (In England at any rate) that is still putting me off. I could have gone to the local club's open day yesterday as I would previously have done but decided prudence was the wiser option.

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by john new

[PhilJ W]

I went to the Uckfield show a couple of weeks ago and likewise it was a bit cramped. I now have to use a walker and it was difficult sometimes getting around. A few people were masked and it was quite crowded.

[Kris]

I went to the O gauge groups exhibition in Cornwall this morning with my sons. There were lot of signs up about mask wearing and about 1/2 the people there were doing so. There were not hoards of people and there were nice wide isles so it felt safe. 

[Barry O]

Our show last weekend made use of 10feet wide aisles..we sanitised the barriers regularly and a lit of people wore masks. The cafeteria was a one way system as was the way into the Sports Hall.

Hopefully the visitors to the show were happy.

Baz

[Legend]

Went to the Cathcart Show (which is now actually in Pollokshaws, Glasgow)  . After a bit of trepidation decided to go and I’m glad I did . With it being Scotland most people were wearing a mask and I felt relatively safe(just aware it was the biggest group of people I’d been in ) . It was nice to be back . Great talking to the guys from Helensburgh with their Hornby Dublo layout , nice chat with the guy from Leven Valley Trains and of course more retail therapy from Douglas Blades books . 
 

Well done the organisers for putting on the show and the exhibitors for being there all day . I dare say there were some tricky decisions that had to be made .

 

I am currently double vaccinated and hopefully will soon get booster and flu jab . While I’m not going to throw caution to the wind , I think there comes a time that you just have to get out there .  People were saying at the exhibition that Model Rail Scotland at SECC definitely going ahead and I think that’ll be my first big exhibition . I think maybe there is a smallish one in Irvine at end of January 

 

I tell you it did me a lot of good . Been feeling pretty miserable recently for a whole lot of petty reasons , and work . It was nice to see some old faces and return to a bit of normality 

[Michael Hodgson]

I had my booster jab last week, though I've not managed to get one for flu which is expected to be more of an issue than normal this year.  On the other hand, I managed to book a flu jab for my partner as she's younger than me and under 65s get a different vaccine - but she still has to wait for her covid booster.  Her sister who is highly vulnerable was once of the first to be double vaccinated but tests a few months ago showed she no longer has antibodies - so they've finally decided to give her a third primary jab, and her booster will then be six months later.  I can see the whole adult population eventually being told to have a booster every year if not every 6 months.

 

Maybe I'll get to one of the big shows next year, Ally Pally perhaps?

[MarkC]

57 minutes ago, Legend said:

 

 

I am currently double vaccinated and hopefully will soon get booster and flu jab . While I’m not going to throw caution to the wind , I think there comes a time that you just have to get out there .  

 

I tell you it did me a lot of good . Been feeling pretty miserable recently for a whole lot of petty reasons , and work . It was nice to see some old faces and return to a bit of normality 

I think that this is exactly it. Jabs, booster, flu jab, game on. The longer we leave it, the more difficult it will be to get going again.

 

I'm watching various northern European countries opening up again in the course of work. We're certainly not unique in wanting to try and return to something like it was before early 2020.

[Captain Kernow]

On 09/10/2021 at 09:00, Jol Wilkinson said:

Locally it seems that the majority of people have taken Freedom Monday to heart and now ignore the Hands-Face-Space request in restaurants, shops, etc. It is therefore not unreasonable to expect that shows with a sizeable percentage of general public or family visitors will be the same.

I couldn't agree more, Jol.

 

Other news stories, especially COP 26 and climate change are understandably in the headlines at the moment, but it does seem as if a massive part of the population have taken it upon themselves to assume that 'it's all over', whereas the data is saying that it very clearly isn't. But whilst many of us might find that disappointing, are we really surprised?

 

I find that I am still not ready to return to visiting exhibitions, let alone going to more general, crowded locations such as shopping centres, supermarkets and the like. And as for public transport, forget it! (despite being a retired railwayman with free rail travel).

 

The one exception with regard to exhibitions was the local 'mini-Scaleforum' held by our local S4 Area Group near Teignmouth last September, as part of the national S4 Society arrangements following the cancellation of the main Scaleforum event. But that simply felt like an extended meeting of our Area Group, in the same premises and only involved people we already knew (S4 members and guests only and everyone had to pre-register and numbers were limited) and of the same mind set and age group as the rest of us. In other words, people I felt I could trust.

 

I had originally anticipated a personal 'return to normal' (or close to that) following my second jab, but stories quickly started to emerge of double-jabbed people catching Covid and getting quite ill with it. So that was obviously of concern and as time has passed, CTMK and I have been glad of our cautious approach.

 

I am now thinking that once I've had my booster (hopefully not long now), then I might venture out more, but I'm still not so sure.

 

The next firm date in my exhibition diary is the Taunton RMWeb Members Day next April, where I am due to assist on a layout.

 

In the meantime, I am interested to read how people have been finding the various exhibitions that have now started to take place around the country.

 

This has led me to wonder (and I have discussed the posing of this question with Andy Y) whether anyone who has visited a model railway exhibition since the summer, has actually contracted Covid as a direct result of their visit?

 

Edited November 2, 2021 by Captain Kernow

[Nearholmer]

34 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

anyone who has visited a model railway exhibition since the summer, has actually contracted Covid as a direct result of their visit?

I reckon it would be very difficult to know, unless it’s a completely “open and shut” case.
 

Maybe a hermit, who emerges for one day, drives in his own car alone, visits an exhibition, then returns to his hermitage, and goes down with covid three or four days later could say with certainty, but most non-hermits have other social interactions, which will cloud the issue.

 

Im not saying don’t ask, merely that the answers might be uninformative.

 

 

Edited November 2, 2021 by Nearholmer

[PenrithBeacon]

I have, so far, attended three shows, Cotgrave, Farnham and Uckfield. I tried to get to the Exmoor show last weekend but, because of delays, arrived as they were packing up! The fish and chip takeaway resolved any disappointment. 

The experience was a little mixed, the Cotgrave show was so badly attended that social distancing wasn't an issue, Farnham was generally fine and Uckfield wasn't at all enjoyable because of overcrowding. 

Mask wearing was patchy as I think most people share my experience of masks. My glasses steam up and the masks get very wet. Although Uckfield was plastered with signs telling people to wear masks most people, including the restaurant staff, weren't and social  distancing was impossible. 

My next show is Tolworth I'll see how that goes. Ever hopeful.

[Neil]

1 hour ago, Captain Kernow said:

.... I had originally anticipated a personal 'return to normal' (or close to that) following my second jab, but stories quickly started to emerge of double-jabbed people catching Covid and getting quite ill with it. So that was obviously of concern and as time has passed, CTMK and I have been glad of our cautious approach.

 

I am now thinking that once I've had my booster (hopefully not long now), then I might venture out more, but I'm still not so sure. .....

 

That's pretty much how I feel too. 'Normality' for the cautious seems almost within grasp at times, only to canter away into the distance again.

[Michael Hodgson]

2 hours ago, PenrithBeacon said:

 The fish and chip takeaway resolved any disappointment. ... Mask wearing was patchy as I think most people share my experience of masks. My glasses steam up and the masks get very wet.

Are you sure it wasn't the vinegar that made your mask wet ?

[Dava]

I’d commend the NMRA Black Diamonds event at Derby Conference Centre (former railway staff college) last month. Most people weren’t wearing masks all the time but overall it was relaxed & spacious. I went on the public day. No O scale though!

 

Dava