Gratuitous 2021 Scale Model World Telford Post

[thierry laurent]

Brexit had alas a MAJOR impact. There was a local modelling exhibition in Belgium occuring at the same dates. It was the first time I saw there the owner of an afv model company essentially specialized in Brit topics. He used to go before to Telford each year as obviously he sold a lot. This is not anymore possible because of the weight of the red tape process and VAT issue. In the opposite direction most of the book resellers attending our Belgian modelling exhibitions were Brit. I'm writing that in the past form as this is now impossible for them to come for the same reasons. And not very far from where I live you have twice a year the largest militaria event of the European continent. Guess what? There was not anymore a single British reseller out of the 600 ones who where there! This has nothing to do with Covid. This is just the consequence of that mess.

[Confusionreigns178]

2 hours ago, Phartycr0c said:

In an effort to recoup some costs, the organisers have avoided putting ticket prices up, or in fact increasing the charges for traders stands instead choosing to apply a charge to table space. 

A friend of mine has traded at Telford for years and I can assure you that the charges for traders are always VERY high, as it stands. He was not too happy that it was obviously going to be a MUCH smaller show this year, but the trader charges were identical to the 2019 show. As much as I appreciate the huge costs of running a Telford show, sometimes a little understanding can go a very long way. 

 

Chris.  

 

PS: The noted charges for "extra" Club tables seem very reasonablea and justifiable. I don't think anyone would have any major issues with paying a few quid for one more table. 

Edited November 15, 2021 by Confusionreigns178
Correcting a typo.

[thierry laurent]

For such types of events in UK, you can need to invest 500£ for three meters of table. The organisation is close to always excellent but you need to sell a lot to cover that price plus all the costs linked to the journey. Actually, as quite a lot of resellers are also modellers, they do not look for a very high profitability because there are many side benefits. However, the new administrative burden and decrease of visitors (because of Brexit and Covid) modified totally that equilibrium for foreign resellers. I'm afraid Telford as well as some major continental modelling exhibitions will have difficulties to go over that in the future.

[dmp]

Having been lucky enough to attend Telford on the Saturday I felt it was an enjoyable show. Smaller than in the past for sure but that somehow gave it a friendlier, more cosy atmosphere.

The continental contributors were  missed as their stands are always chock full of beautiful models but most of the home grown clubs and SIGs had pulled out all of the stops. 

With fewer visitors it was easier to see everything and chat to folk. The more compact footprint made getting around all of the exhibitors possible, something than can be quite a challenge over one day and four+ halls.

The event had a relaxed and happy atmosphere as far as I could tell and I'm glad I could attend.

Cheers IPMS.

 

dmp

Edited November 16, 2021 by dmp
spelling

[MikeMaben]

Hey dmp ,

[dmp]

3 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

Hey dmp ,

Hi Mike , thanks. 

[Royboy]

5 hours ago, thierry laurent said:

For such types of events in UK, you can need to invest 500£ for three meters of table. The organisation is close to always excellent but you need to sell a lot to cover that price plus all the costs linked to the journey. Actually, as quite a lot of resellers are also modellers, they do not look for a very high profitability because there are many side benefits. However, the new administrative burden and decrease of visitors (because of Brexit and Covid) modified totally that equilibrium for foreign resellers. I'm afraid Telford as well as some major continental modelling exhibitions will have difficulties to go over that in the future.

By most accounts after chatting to a few traders this year it seemed that they were mostly very happy with their returns at this years Telford. One trader was VERY happy with his sales and even said it far exceeded his expectations. Sunday was quieter but still active albeit in 'waves' on the day. Generally I think the feeling was more positive than negative and yes we did really miss our European friends but I'm confident as things settle down we will see more people attending from there. The show will be back to full size next year and as I understand it more than 40 traders who did not attend the 2021 show have confirmed their commitment to attend for 2022. Three non U.K clubs attended this year and said that the journey and entry was relatively trouble free. Let's hope that continues into the future. Incidentally, lovely to see so many friends again after two years of isolation. Keep the models coming, the tables were loaded down with some fantastic projects and they just blew me away. Happy days.