Page 7 - March April 2002

CARS...
(All items by the Editor unless otherwise credited)
cost in the purchase price plus duty, compared to prices quoted in the Continental Modeller, I saved over £40 on this shipment alone.
I am certain that if had come by sea mail I would have stood a good chance of not paying any duty at all as it appears to me that about one in six or seven parcels get stopped for examination.
Let’s put a stop to this sort if bickering once and for all.”
From Steve Park...
“There has been much misinformation and some nonsense written, about the position of “Traders” within the Region. This has related in particular to the recent meet at Ross on Wye. Perhaps I can shed some light on how things actually are arranged ?
The annual Region meetings (including the Convention) are organised by individuals or groups, who offer to arrange a meeting for others. They are not organised by the Board of Directors, but the BOD collectively does keep a close watch on arrangements, and has one Officer specifically designated as the Meets Officer. The meetings are offered for consideration at either Half Yearly or Annual General Meetings, and accepted by those present on behalf of all the membership as being an arrangement most likely to please those eventually attending. In a volunteer-run organisation such as ours the policy has always been not to interfere in any plans, but to let the organiser put on the meeting he feels best satisfies the conditions. These may include the location, the time of year, the help he has available and other limitations imposed on him from sources which may not be obvious, for instance the owner/operator of the hall may impose conditions not generally known to the membership. Local knowledge is best, and the organiser will strive to put on a viable event; we are not in the business of losing money.
Our Region Meets Organisers and Convention Guides are very comprehensive and have worked well for some years, and are frequently reviewed and updated. A well balanced meeting will have a mix of activities to suit a variety of tastes. Yes, we need “traders”, but equally there are members who do not want or need to buy anything, they want to see layouts, and particularly in scales other than N and HO. However, we organise Members Meetings, we do not organise “trade shows”. And “traders” is a catch-all phrase that covers a variety of people. There are shop owners who sell models 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Others are mail-order specialists. Several deal exclusively in second-hand goods. Booksellers, video retailers, specialist
component suppliers, and others, all have a part to play in the unique relationship that exists between themselves and the Region. Part of the current problem may be that many of them enjoy verbal, long-standing, arrangements with Division meeting organisers and others, where they just turn up routinely and without any recurring formal invitation. But that cannot happen at Region level, there have to be greater levels of planning. Layout owners do not expect an automatic invitation to any meeting, and there are some retailers in the hobby here who still have never been invited to any meeting at all. In short, choices have to be made.
The membership is very quick to respond to the BOD when they feel their needs are not being satisfied. Usually they are capable of suggesting improvements for future meetings in a discreet manner. Any reshaping of meeting format is then managed in a low-key way, such that the changes are relatively painless for all concerned. So, when a meeting is top-heavy with “traders”, at the expense of layouts, you can be sure that we are told about it very soon. When we are told that you want more than just “traders and layouts” we start looking at bring and buy tables, contests, clinics, the Library, video presentations, involvement of others outside the NMRA, and other novel ideas.
We are told when “traders” are cherry- picking sale items before the general membership is admitted. We also know of traders who only choose to attend certain venues, and Organisers do tell us about “traders” who decline to attend long-arranged meetings in their own area. Members who have travelled a long distance are quick to voice their displeasure when they find “traders” have arbitrarily decided to pack up and go home early. Privileges come with responsibility, but being a trader confers no seniority or automatic attendance rights at any Region meeting.”
John Hey...
...sent me details of other members, such Geoffrey Fitt, Richard New and Tony Rogers expressing dissatisfaction that Big John’s Trains would not be at the Ross Meet, the general feeling amongst these (and several other members) being
that the more variety of traders and goods on offer, the better. Amongst the several communications from John Hey, he remarked “Read my advert again from December. Now tell me where in it does it say according to Geoff Meek ‘I should be entitled to a stand’ - already I have had several calls regarding this. My advert said ‘I would like to have been invited’ and that is all, the rest is about discrimination North/South divide, and nothing else.....”
John Shrimpton...
(who attended the Ross meet) says...
“The hall would not take 200 tables - where MGS got that from is anyone’s guess. I don’t think Rod would claim any Divine Right but it sounds as if MGS does! It is just as well the whole membership does not claim a “right” to a table - we’d have to book the Albert Hall. No-one should expect organisers to make all that effort and then take a load of flak. I wonder, do any traders organise any meets or shows? If not, why not?”
Keith Webb...
sent a very long and obviously deeply felt opinion on the Advert matter.
“I’m disgusted, why are we allowing bitchy statements instead of useful information in our magazine, a magazine that gets handed out to members of the public to promote how good we are and how friendly! This type of comment only draws attention to our organisation for all the wrong reasons. What’s more they are very unprofessional. Charging for trading space is the fairest way for all. It is financial suicide to expect the entrance fee to cover all expenses these days, unless you get your hall for £50 or less! I, for one, do not want to see a ‘North - South’ divide in the NMRA (BR). The B.O.D. do a very hard and thankless job, and sometimes have to make very hard decisions - that’s what we elect them to do! If you think you can do better give it a go! I appeal to everybody, lets get our
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APRIL 2002 7
John & Mary Hey at Convention Pete Woodland