Show Report -
Harrogate -
Edinburgh Society of Model Engineers organised a coach trip to the exhibition and kindly extended an invitation to members of the model boating fraternity to join them. The trip cost £30 and included exhibition entry fees.
It proved to be a very successful and comfortable way to do things with an excellent coach (including toilet!) from Rennies of Dumfermline and a pair of very good drivers.
Sadly not many model boaters took up the offer and all I can say is 'you missed a very good day out in excellent company'. You'll know better next time I'm sure!
We had a break for brekky on the way down, arriving at 10:30 and with the faultless organisational skills of Robert Mcluckie, we were inside within minutes! I certainly didn't sit down until around 4:15 when I collapsed with a cup of coffee and a Danish.
We left at 5pm and were home by 10:30pm with a meal break en route.
The exhibition itself was very well laid out with over 60 trade stands in 2 halls, 9 model boat clubs and 36 model engineering, railway and flying clubs displaying their stuff. In addition there was an inside pond about 20 feet square and it was well populated with models during the day.
There were some really first class model boats on display, many of them well up to museum standard despite being working boats. The club stands were, without exception, manned by friendly, helpful guys and galls who, despite the fact that it all went on for 3 days, managed to maintain their friendly demeanour
Sadly there were only four trade stands catering for model boaters in particular and hopefully this will get better in future years. Mind you, Proops had a huge trade stand absolutely overflowing with all sorts of goodies to empty the pocket! I confess I simply couldn't resist the temptation and came away with a bag full of wee geared electric motors and a bundle of other stuff! Now all I have to do is come up with a model to make use of them. lol
Notable stands were Kirklees MBC and Tynemouth MBC, the latter having a superb display of tugs.
The Surface Warships Assoc. had a large stand displaying some really beautiful models, many of which had been displaying on the water on Friday. I think they must have run out of steam (electricity!) and/or ammunition by Saturday morning so sadly I didn't see them performing.
Many of the Model Engineering clubs were also displaying boats, some of which were real crackers.
The Historic Steam Models stand had some exceedingly high standard models on display as had Live Steam Models.
All in all it was a great day out. I'm glad I went and look forward to the next visit.
Talking with the event participants I gather that plans are well afoot to further improve and extend the exhibition.
However I must say that the catering facilities left a bit to be desired and their pricing was quite astronomical, exceeding even motorway food costs. Next time I shall definitely take my own sannies !! It seems a shame that caterers simply can't resist the urge to screw a captive clientele and what is rather worrying is that event organisers let them get away with it.
I came away with over 300 photographs, so clearly there is no way you'll get to see them all at one go! However I have posted a selection for your delectation in Gallery 7.
Should anyone want a high resolution copy of any of them, please drop me an email. Do remember that the image files can be large, so broadband is a must.
For those of you who delight in hindsight and are into self criticism, it is still possible to see what you missed by going to http://www.nmeme.theeventsoffice.co.uk/whats_on.htm
Thanks again to Robert Mcluckie & the Edinburgh Soc. of ME.
Iain Moffatt
The Ellesmere Port Model Boat Trade Show 2007
Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th March
Our intrepid Reporter ventured into the deep south to bring you this ... (OK Peter, only kidding)
Peter Sneddon and colleagues visited the show again this year and I thank him for his comments:
Most of the Traders who did attend had a reasonable spread of wares, appropriate to there specific area, and all were extremely helpful when approached. However, the visit could have been completed in about one hour.
For me the problem is what will happen with the August Boat Show, the main one for clubs attending. As the two rival shows, that at the EPIC Centre, and the original Convention, at it's new venue at Birchwood, are to be held over the same weekend, i.e. the August Bank Holiday.
I attended both last year, as the one at the EPIC Centre was in August, and the one at Birchwood was in September.
In my view the Birchwood venue is the best, in every way, but if the majority are tied to the EPIC Centre, then I think that the modelling public will lose out. Any division of support can only lead to ultimate failure of both events, in my view.
One of our ‘local’ model shop (Scoonies of Kirkcaldy) have decided that they can only afford to attend a limited number of major shows in any year and it looks like Birchwood has won out. This supports what Peter has said. Sad, but these days, economics rule!