So off we went to Ely with the Hellingly Hospital Railway in the back of the car. First stop was the Castle Lodge Hotel, our lodgings for the night. The car was backed up to a wall in the car park in an effort to keep any local ner-do-wells out of it.
We found it easily enough and booked in. It’s very handy for the town centre, with the Cathedral only about 10 minutes walk away. After a stroll around taking in the waterfront, excellent model shop, station (watching the sparrows nesting in the electrical trunking was fun) and the most amazing newsagent with the largest magazine supply I’ve ever seen, we ate a good meal in a pub next to the cathedral.
Back at the hotel a drink in the bar made us long for the immanent smoking ban – 10 people in there and only us two non-smokers. I’ve been in lots of pubs but haven’t had to fight my way through the atmosphere like that for a while. Pity really as the bar itself would put many pubs to shame.
The room was spacious but the beds were hard and the metal frames made a hell of a noise every time you moved. Not conducive to a nights sleep ! Worst of all (OK, this a hobby horse of mine), there were no showers. Anywhere. A very generous en-suite with bath and even free shower caps but no actual showers.
Breakfast was pretty good. Quite why it isn’t a legal requirement to supply fried bread with a full English is beyond me, but these guys did the job. We could even have had black pudding if we’d taken leave of our senses.
We got to the show before nine and promptly bumped into old friends from Stowmarket club. Having found our space we set up quickly, dumped the car in long stay parking 2 minutes from the venue (free !!!) and wandered around the show.
I really can’t fault the layout quality. The exhibition manager has a good eye. The biggest argument would be over the clubs own layout which was OK, and won the public vote, but didn’t meet (in my opinion) the same very high standards as the rest of the show. I’m certainly not bitter about the vote – a roundy-roundy will always win general approval and from what I saw this one ran well unlike so many other examples of the genre.
Trade wasn’t so good but I understand that at least one stand dropped out at the last minute. It was replaced a top quality 16mm scale layout – even the last minute fillers were good – but if you wanted specialist bits you might have been disappointed. My purchases totalled £2.50 for a screwdriver as I’d forgotten to bring two for setting up.
The crowds were plentiful through the day. Too good in the morning, as they had to turn people away which probably affected the overall numbers in the door. The FA Cup might have made a difference, we noticed a higher than normal percentage of mums and children after lunch.
Lots of people played the spotting game and we had enough chat (thanks to all those who stopped to say hello) to keep us amused. The layout ran well enough. The only faults were the Velcro strips that hold a couple of display panels on the fiddle yard getting lost in transit leaving the boards denuded. Even the overhead was OK despite the model getting very cold overnight in the car.
The best bit about the show was the location. The Maltings is next to the river so during the day we were able to nip out and wander around looking at boats. It really is a beautiful place – possibly the nicest place we have ever exhibited. Unfortunately this is the last year for this location due to refurbishment work at the venue. The new home will have more space, better parking and be cheaper. I’m really glad we got in before the move though.
Having closed at 5pm we were back home 104 miles down the A10 and A14 by 7:30pm
A good day.
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