RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted July 2, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 2, 2014 At James Hornsby School, Leinster Road/Nicholas Lane Laindon SS15 5NX Adults £5.00 Senior£3.00 Child £2.00 Family (2+2) £12.00 18+ Layouts. More details www.basildon-mrc.org.uk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium mezzoman253 Posted July 3, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 3, 2014 At James Hornsby School, Leinster Road/Nicholas Lane Laindon SS15 5NX Adults £5.00 Senior£3.00 Child £2.00 Family (2+2) £12.00 18+ Layouts. More details www.basildon-mrc.org.uk What's the criteria for a Senior please? It seems to vary from exhibition to exhibition and just saying senior doesn't help. Thanks, Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted July 3, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 3, 2014 What's the criteria for a Senior please? It seems to vary from exhibition to exhibition and just saying senior doesn't help. Thanks, Rob I'm not really sure, but you will not be asked to show your birth certificate. Best to check on the website. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
harrydenford Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Looking forward to this one, is it easy free parking around the school Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium mezzoman253 Posted July 4, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 4, 2014 I'm not really sure, but you will not be asked to show your birth certificate. Best to check on the website. The website doesn't give the show admission charges anywhere, well anywhere I can find. Everything else is there but not that. I'm going anyway, as I do each year. I'm not a member, but like to support the local club. I've asked at several shows and I get in reply "60", "65", "have you got a bus pass?" and that "he doesn't look a senior" look. I'm 64 BTW. £2 either way doesn't really matter, but it would be nice to have some consistency and to display it. Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted July 4, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 4, 2014 Looking forward to this one, is it easy free parking around the school There is another 'do' going on at the site on Saturday. We have not had many problems in the past but this year is new school management resulting in many changes behind the scenes but hopefully there will be no change, however we have our own 'yellow peril' to assist with parking. The website doesn't give the show admission charges anywhere, well anywhere I can find. Everything else is there but not that. I'm going anyway, as I do each year. I'm not a member, but like to support the local club. I've asked at several shows and I get in reply "60", "65", "have you got a bus pass?" and that "he doesn't look a senior" look. I'm 64 BTW. £2 either way doesn't really matter, but it would be nice to have some consistency and to display it. Rob Since my 60th birthday I've always asked for 'senior citizen' rate and have never been challenged. Just flash your 'twirley' that should do it. I will be 'guarding' one of the exits for much of the day, just ask anyone in a club shirt to point me out and come over and say hello. EDIT It has just been confirmed that 'seniors' start at 60. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenrithBeacon Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 I think the club needs to look again at the design of its website. I find it very confusing. http://www.basildon-mrc.org.uk/ Regards Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium mezzoman253 Posted July 4, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 4, 2014 I think the club needs to look again at the design of its website. I find it very confusing. http://www.basildon-mrc.org.uk/ Regards I agree, however a good web site takes time to design and maintain. It only needs a few tweaks really. Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Portpatrick Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 I have never been refused, since I started drawing a pension. I am 61 and became a Young Aged Pensioner when I took voluntary severance 3 yrs ago. As a 1953 birth year I don't get a bus pass until 2016, assuming a new Government does not change the rules!. But I do now have an Old Fogey's Railcard (60+). So I carry that wherever some proof might be needed. I am still on a paper driving license until 2023. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
clivemedic Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 The number of traders seemed to match the number of exhibits, but where there was a cross section of layouts and scales, the trade stand were all very same same with most selling secondhand stock. Once again a lack of trade stands selling things we need like paints, important now that paints are hard to have sent by post and unless near a model shop, hard to source. Also it must dilute the sales if all the stands are selling the same sort of things. Please address this for next year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-er Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 Got to agree with Clivemedic there re traders, other than that a very pleasant afternoon, cheap food and tea,, interesting variety of layouts. Good to see a fair few families with youngsters too. Shame the Club has a waiting list for membership though how is that going to get newbies into the hobby ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted July 5, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 5, 2014 The number of traders seemed to match the number of exhibits, but where there was a cross section of layouts and scales, the trade stand were all very same same with most selling secondhand stock. Once again a lack of trade stands selling things we need like paints, important now that paints are hard to have sent by post and unless near a model shop, hard to source. Also it must dilute the sales if all the stands are selling the same sort of things. Please address this for next year. Your comments will be passed on to the management. However it is a difficult balancing act as without the income from trade stands there would be no exhibition. The door prices alone sometimes will barely cover the costs of the hall hire let alone the exhibitors expenses so the extra income has to be generated somehow and trade stands are often the only means of doing so. The club does try to get a good cross section of traders, however what they choose to put on their stands the club has very little control over. Also being a 'small' exhibition in terms of venue size it is increasingly difficult to attract the more 'specialist' traders, for example we no longer have a book trader because he found that there was insufficient sales to cover his costs. We do try to achieve a 50/50 balance between trade stands and layouts and for the most part we do succeed in this objective which can sometimes be very difficult if we wish to offer a variety of different and never before seen layouts. Got to agree with Clivemedic there re traders, other than that a very pleasant afternoon, cheap food and tea,, interesting variety of layouts. Good to see a fair few families with youngsters too. Shame the Club has a waiting list for membership though how is that going to get newbies into the hobby ? Its a matter of clubhouse capacity, if all of the members turned up on the same evening it would be difficult even now to fit them all in and you can add to that fire regulations and insurance. We do have plans to extend the club room, a model of the proposed alterations which will virtually double the area available was on the club stand. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted July 5, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 5, 2014 I enjoyed my visit. The car park was quite full but the marshalling was excellent telling me exactly where to find a space. I'm retired but don't consider myself to be an OAP (and don't get a bus pass until next year!) so declined the offered discount. Good mix of layouts. Didn't sample the refreshments or inspect the loos and I was able to buy what I had intended to from one of the trade stands. Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted July 6, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 6, 2014 Bump Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnb Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Went yesterday a first visit to this show, and found it a very pleasant couple of hours. A good selection of layouts that ran well, trade, well that was OK, yes maybe a bit samey, but a passable selection of items on offer at reasonable prices. I picked up a couple of buses (Railway Emergency Service ones!!!!). Catering was very reasonable and well done. Well worth a visit today. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium mezzoman253 Posted July 6, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 6, 2014 I enjoyed my visit. The car park was quite full but the marshalling was excellent telling me exactly where to find a space. I'm retired but don't consider myself to be an OAP (and don't get a bus pass until next year!) so declined the offered discount. Good mix of layouts. Didn't sample the refreshments or inspect the loos and I was able to buy what I had intended to from one of the trade stands. Tony Whilst I enjoyed the show itself. I found the opposite. I arrived at about 10:45. The 1st marshall said that the car park was full and use the overflow. Pointing me in the direction of a man with a yellow high-viz vest further down the road. I stopped(blocking the road) and asked for the overflow parking. He said it was through these gates and no dropped curb. I managed to navigate that and find the overflow parking, but no signage or anyone to direct me to the venue. On leaving there was no control of the single lane track to stop two cars being in the same place. On reaching the entrance where I normally find the desk, there were loads of people queueing, but for something else, and it wasn't obvious whether the normal hall was being used. I did eventually get to the desk and enjoyed the show. Usual suspects for traders, Bedford Road impressed me most. Whilst it may be beyond the control of the club, having multiple events on the same day caused some problems. Further to my posts above. I asked at the desk what was the criteria for Senior, and got a strange look. So I said "what age is the Senior". "Oh, 60" "Ok I'll have one please" Another strange look. On another tack, last year I asked at the club desk if they would like a lot of magazines I have, to sell for club funds. The guy on the desk said yes but please email the club so details could be arranged. I did so and am still awaiting a reply! I still have the mag's, if anyone's interested please PM me for details. Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted July 6, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 6, 2014 Just a little thanks to everyone for their mostly favourable responses, and the unfavourable ones as well as constructive criticism can help us to make our exhibition better. I apologise for the parking problems although as most people realise there is not much that the club can do about it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnb Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 The main carpark was pretty well organised when I got there about midday, it was full and I was redirected to the overflow. However the organisation was a bit lacking there, being simply told, "Down there." As mentioned it was a single width access with pedestrians wandering about, supervision at either end would have been a good idea for safety purposes as would some indication of where to park when one got to the other end. I just parked on some roughish ground where some others were. There were no signs to the show entrance but I asked the bod on the overflow gate and was given concise directions. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted July 7, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 7, 2014 The car parking is a matter for the venue but hopefully lessons have been learnt. The club simply does not have enough people to supervise car parking and at times the majority of the car park users were not visitors to our exhibition. Despite this we were the only organisation providing car parking supervision. We only use a relatively small part of a large and complicated venue and on previous occasions as often ours was the only event it was relatively easy for people to find the exhibition. Hopefully the school will have no objection to signs being placed within the school grounds directing people to the exhibition from the car parks in future. We did in fact have a sign within the complex directing visitors to the exhibition only for it to be obstructed by stalls set up for the 'fun day' and having to be moved to a less favourable position. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Endacott Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 The club does not have enough people to supervise parking. There is a waiting list for membership. I know - why not ask those on the waiting list to look after the car park in return for promotion up the waiting list? Just a thought... Geoff Endacott Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium mezzoman253 Posted July 7, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 7, 2014 The car parking is a matter for the venue but hopefully lessons have been learnt. The club simply does not have enough people to supervise car parking and at times the majority of the car park users were not visitors to our exhibition. Despite this we were the only organisation providing car parking supervision. We only use a relatively small part of a large and complicated venue and on previous occasions as often ours was the only event it was relatively easy for people to find the exhibition. Hopefully the school will have no objection to signs being placed within the school grounds directing people to the exhibition from the car parks in future. We did in fact have a sign within the complex directing visitors to the exhibition only for it to be obstructed by stalls set up for the 'fun day' and having to be moved to a less favourable position. Will there be a mop up meeting with the venue committee? If so it would be good to let them know that trying to have at least 5 different events going on on the same day is not good planning, unless they are providing adequate supervision/signage of all events. There was the model railway, a fete, some kind of fun run, football event, and something to do with dancing/stage. To expect you to marshal the car park for all that is too much. I expect you don't want to upset the venue decision makers and would like to continue to use their facilities, but they need to know income generation is not just piling loads of events in together. Best of luck with that. Enjoyed the show nonetheless. Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted July 7, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 7, 2014 Will there be a mop up meeting with the venue committee? If so it would be good to let them know that trying to have at least 5 different events going on on the same day is not good planning, unless they are providing adequate supervision/signage of all events. There was the model railway, a fete, some kind of fun run, football event, and something to do with dancing/stage. To expect you to marshal the car park for all that is too much. I expect you don't want to upset the venue decision makers and would like to continue to use their facilities, but they need to know income generation is not just piling loads of events in together. Best of luck with that. Enjoyed the show nonetheless. Rob We have no control over the lettings at the venue and we only rent it for the one weekend a year. In fact it was only a few weeks ago that the club found out about the other events taking place. There are other matters with the venue that need to be addressed but they are not for discussion here. On the whole the effect of the other events was not as drastic as feared and we may have even obtained some small benefit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted July 7, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 7, 2014 The club does not have enough people to supervise parking. There is a waiting list for membership. I know - why not ask those on the waiting list to look after the car park in return for promotion up the waiting list? Just a thought... Geoff Endacott In an ideal world we could do that but its not an ideal world. The Chatham club has the best solution, it puts out a call to other clubs within a reasonable travelling distance for volunteers to man the doors and car parks in exchange for travel expenses, lunch and plenty of free time to view the exhibition. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnb Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 Understand your issues Phil, you did rather well considering the way the site was so busy. On reflection perhaps a sign or two in the overflow area indicating where, and where not, to park would help the newcomer, as would a couple indicating the way to the show. Need be nothing elaborate, just an A4 (perhaps laminated) sign on a short stake. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted July 9, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted July 9, 2014 Thanks for the input and suggestions everybody. The show went quite well despite some issues that will be dealt with at the 'inquest' tonight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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