NEC - November 2019

[richardw]

OK, I understand Angus.

I hope that passses have been/can be made available for Mike Kimberley and Oliver Winterbottom who are keen to come along on the Friday to support the Club. Practical Classics and Classic & Sports Car want to have the opportunity to interview them at the show, and it would be good publicity for the Club for this to happen on our stand.

Richard

[Hawaiis0]

...

I hope that passes have been/can be made available for Mike Kimberley and Oliver Winterbottom who are keen to come along on the Friday to support the Club. Practical Classics and Classic & Sports Car want to have the opportunity to interview them at the show, and it would be good publicity for the Club for this to happen on our stand.

Richard

Me too, but I hopefully anticipate their attendance is the reason for no spare passes.

[amarshall]

Just to clarify something - the only reason we've been able to accommodate visitors in the past has been because

a) my car was on the stand so we got 2 passes for that + 2 organiser passes - leaving me with 3 spares, OR
b) I managed to win some extra tickets in online competitions.

Neither of those has happened this year.

[richardw]

In that case, I shall obtain passes for Oliver and Mike and put them on the Elite 45 account.

Richard

[amarshall]

Right fine. If someone wants to collect the passes and all the other stuff for the show, you know my address. Clearly I'm not doing a good enough job for you.

[Johnwindwood]

People who have never organised a stand at the NEC might not be aware that the show organisers are EXTREMELY miserly with the distribution of free passes.
Only 2 are issued per car per day and not everyone displaying wants to help out on the stand, which often leaves stand organisers trying to hold everything together
with very few people on the stand to help. I completely understand Angus' reasoning. Obviously if money can be found to help Oliver and Mike that would be great, but
given that we are not a subscription club, that may not be possible.

[richardw]

I completely understand John. Now we know the availability of passes, the situation has been dealt with. It was the not knowing that was difficult.

Cheers, Richard

[richardw]

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

Angus has asked me to take over coordination for the NEC show this year. Sadly, I don't believe he will be attending.

For those bringing cars, there will be no change in the arrangements Angus has already put in place. I have asked him to send me the show passes, wristbands etc so that I can distribute them as appropriate at setup on Thursday and throughout the show.

If you have been accepted as a stand volunteer by Angus, please let me know so that I can ensure you have a pass for the relevant day(s). I already know about Stu.

It look as as though we have an excellent selection of cars this year - so thanks to those exhibiting and to Angus for making this happen.

On Friday, Mike Kimberley and Oliver Winterbottom will join us on the stand. There will be at least one and possibly three press interviews that day involving Mike and Oliver, and of course the owners and cars on the stand, so do apply plenty of polish!

If you have any questions, please post them here or contact me directly and I'll answer as best I can. Please use the email rather than the pm option as I am always busting the limit of 100 messages and I don't want to miss anything!

Best wishes, Richard

[Tanz]

A few pictures

[richardw]

What a busy, fun, exhausting show!

I think it was a real success, with quite a bit of press interest, a runner up place in the C&SC Club of the Year, a number of potential new members, and of course Oliver and Mike with us on Friday.

On the club's behalf, I'd first of all like to thank Angus without whose preparation and hard work we wouldn't have been there or entered for the award.

Thanks also to Mike Kimberley and Oliver Winterbottom for having the commitment and enthusiasm to travel halfway across England to spend Friday with us. We are very fortunate to have the engineer and designer responsible for our cars prepared to invest their time in this way and be so supportive.

I'd also like to thank those who kindly brought their cars and gave up their time to help on the stand. We had a really interesting selection this year - including Colin Pears' immaculate yellow S1 Elite, Pete Poulton and his grandson Jamie's no. 1 Eclat Sprint, Ian Hissey's lovely white Elite restoration project with all the hard work done, and Gill Windwood's pre-SE Excel which is a great example of a successful rolling restoration.

Stu Bagshaw (Hawaiis0) spent the setup day and all three show days on the stand, working hard despite a bad back. Thanks Stu, and we all hope you get properly fixed up soon.

Thanks to all those who visited the stand - both members and those who wanted to learn more about the cars, or tell stories about the cars they have or have had.

Thanks to the show organisers for creating such an impressive event and providing the stand space and their support.

Last, and by no means least, thanks to the other Lotus clubs who were there - particularly Club Lotus who were always on hand to help out if needed, and are a great bunch of people with lovely cars of course! Also Lotus Drivers Club who commented how much they valued the work our club does helping people restore, maintain and improve the Elite, Eclat and Excel - thank you! Finally, Historic Lotus Register were just down the gangway and always there for a friendly chat.

It was altogether a great advertisement for the club, and the enthusiasm and dedication of members.

A few pictures will follow on the picture thread - stay tuned, they will be there later today.

Cheers, Richard

[Pete Boole]

I really enjoyed my visit to the stand . Good "spread" of examples on the stand as well. Great to have another chat with the guy who designed my car ~ 47 yrs ago!! - nice to see Oliver there again.

Pete

[wrxseeker]

People who have never organised a stand at the NEC might not be aware that the show organisers are EXTREMELY miserly with the distribution of free passes.
Only 2 are issued per car per day and not everyone displaying wants to help out on the stand, which often leaves stand organisers trying to hold everything together
with very few people on the stand to help. I completely understand Angus' reasoning. Obviously if money can be found to help Oliver and Mike that would be great, but
given that we are not a subscription club, that may not be possible.

It's a shame I didn't stumble across this thread before as I may have been able to supply a couple of spare tickets via a contact of mine !

Remind me of this next year if the club needs a couple and I will see what I can do.

[richardw]

People who have never organised a stand at the NEC might not be aware that the show organisers are EXTREMELY miserly with the distribution of free passes.
Only 2 are issued per car per day and not everyone displaying wants to help out on the stand, which often leaves stand organisers trying to hold everything together
with very few people on the stand to help. I completely understand Angus' reasoning. Obviously if money can be found to help Oliver and Mike that would be great, but
given that we are not a subscription club, that may not be possible.

It's a shame I didn't stumble across this thread before as I may have been able to supply a couple of spare tickets via a contact of mine !

Remind me of this next year if the club needs a couple and I will see what I can do.

Many thanks Darren - we did manage this year but will certainly bear your kind offer in mind next year!

Cheers, Richard

[igg-hiss]

This years NEC was once again a wonderful event. A great deal of hard work went in to the event, so I would like to offer my thanks to those who facilitated our entry: Angus for all his hard work, Richard for his leadership over the four days and Alison at the NEC who over sees the car clubs.

I did not stray far from the bar.... I mean the stand as the best thing about the show was the people we had either on our stand or nearby.

Thank you all.

[barker_001]

Well done and thank you to all who arranged and manned (and womanned, Gill!) the stand. As always a pleasure to meet up with faces old and new.