who's up for it?

[matthew spooner]

hiya peeps, how are we all this fine evening?
i have been in conversation with the chairman of my club this week and we have decided that we would like to have a crack at organising a show in the south of england, so that us southerners have the luxury of not having to travel as far for a good show. The show is going to be called SEAS (South East Arachnid Show) we're not aiming for it to be as big as the bts expo, cus lets face it, thats something that cannot be topped and ray, angela, mark and kim put in alot of work to make it a success.
the show we are thinking of doing is going to be just a little bit smaller than the bts and we aim for the first one to be in february 2010. i know its a long way away but we have alot of planning to do as the council is being a bit funny about the licence to do it and we need to raise alot of 'upfront' cash to be able to do it. our venue we are aiming for is the market halls in Ashford, Kent. this is just off junction 10 of the m20 so is really easy to find and there is the Ashford international eurostar station down the road so it is a brilliant location for anyone coming as traders from accross the water. what i need to know is if this is something that many people would be interested in as we need to know what sort of scale this is going to turn out to be. so come on, who's interested??

[jason holland]

hell yeah id be interested. i live in the south so less traveling to a Tarantula party!!! lol... the better! yeah id be up for it

[Naython J]

its too close to the bts date also if your going to make it a little smaller than the bts show its probably gonna mean that people who would generally go to the bts show wont go due to size and location, meaning the bts show wont be as good losing the bts money etc.

far play to you wanting to set up a more local show to the southerners but i think oyu need to thing about the bts and implications your show may possibly have...

[Colin D Wilson]

I think Naython raises a fair point about the closeness to the BTS expo, not for the money principle but for the point of visiting two shows so close together, after all within the first half of the year we normally have three to four shows and the lectures to attend.
There are a fair amount of Invert shows scattered throughout the year, but a lot of people have asked whether there could be two BTS expos in each year as we aim more to the arachnid sales and not pinned bugs etc etc, as we all know, due to the amount of organising this takes, it is not a viable proposition at the moment.
Maybe august would be a better month to have it (6 months apart), therefore making the uk have a twice yearly "specific" arachnid show, not too close to interfere with each other and far enough apart for people to save for each event.

I will offer my full support for the SEAS in any case Matt.

[matthew spooner]

thanks for your feedback guys. naython and colin, i see your point and am in agreeance. at the moment we are just tossing ideas about and trying to come up with something, this is why i posted this thread, to get other peoples opinions. we are trying to come up with a date that fits inbetween other shows. the two we are trying to work around are obviously the bts expo and the kempton show, as this is another show we like with lots of cheap tarantulas. we are in talks with ashford council about the licencing for the event so i will let you know when the decided date is, i think it probably will be august.ish as this does sound like a better time of year

[Mandy Willis]

south east show

hi mathew
i would definatley go cos i live in kent and have not been able to go to others due to work and other comitments so would be interested. A few years ago there were some i think it was called the black knight arachnid fair and it was in gillingham and it was a lovelly day out and if i remember correctly it was pretty packed. hope you manage to sort something out mandy

[matthew spooner]

ye i remember that show, it was in the black lion leisure centre if it the one i thinking of. it got shut down by the council becuase they allowed vertebrates to be traded

[Naython J]

Maybe august would be a better month to have it (6 months apart),

sorry colin i a lil confused 6 months apart form what?? if you mean the bts then its more like november time!!

but to me anything over 5 months apart from the bts even four at a maximum push would be generally accepted i feel that i would try to attend a good show later on in the year to be honest.

as colin said ill give my help and support anyway i can to this cause we need to be getting out there and making a stand and showing people what this is all about

[Colin D Wilson]

Yep Naython...i'm a retard...i had the lectures on my mind when i put that, which is a six month gap.

October / november would be a good half way house then.

[Peter Lacey]

I'd definitely be interested in a south eastern show but as others have mentioned it would make sense to make sure it doesnt have a conflict of interests with other shows in the first 2 quarters of the year.
Ashford seems a very sensible choice, assuming our continental folk travel by rail, and has good road links.
Shame the planning requires a 2010 date but if it were pulled back to early Sept 09 it might help with school holidays? Whatever is decided please keep us informed.

[SylviRigden]

Hi, we would be interested in comming along. The yearly date book is busy already with - the Lectures, Essex meet-up, BTS show, Bugfest, Kempton. It would be nice to have a show with a difference - for example the Essex meet-up was lunch and a shop tour, Bugfest sounds good with childrens activities and educational, Kempton is all bugs etc, the Lectures is dinner, lectures and a social. Maybe if held in August it could have a BBQ and a bring and buy table for a charity. A November or December one could have a Christmas theme.

[James Box]

i think this is a great idea, and of course i'd love to support it when it happens
considering you're going to try not to make it clash with other shows, it should be quite a success

[Tracy Sherwood-Farnfield]

Sounds like a great idea to me! Might I add to the 'time of year' debate and suggest October 1/2 term? Later part of the year, not too near Christmas to be watching the pennies and a good distance from May? Ashford would be a good venue, quite central and not bad to get to providing operation stack is not on.... Folkstone is not far away either for 'over the water' traders travelling by car/ferry. Do bear in mind though that I have heard talk of Ashford International being well, shall we say, a little less International at some point in the future.

But count me in - most definatley!

[matthew spooner]

thanks for your feedback everyone. i have made a note of everyones advice and i will keep people up to date as plans are made

[chris carter]

Hi all

The South East Arachnid Show (seas) will be held on the last Sunday in January 2011 and will become an annual event on the same weekend each year.

I note all the recommendations of possible dates and thank you for them all, but we took into account the wishes of I.A.C members. The three shows most of our members attend are the Kempton park AES show in October, the BTS show in May and the Maidstone Reptile show in August, Also June through to September is our Roadshow Season when are fully booked every weekend.( Get a copy of practical reptile keeping and there is a feature on Invicta Aracnids with photo's from the roadshows.) but i digress.

The best slot for our show is midway between the AES and BTS shows hence the January date.
If we held it in the summer there would be no parking because of a very large bootfair.

The show will be from 12pm to 5pm, at the hobbs parker ashford market site, just off the M20 Jtn 10, there is ample parking, the market has it own restaurant and cafe on site, there is child zone for the children to enjoy themselves in the ball pits climbing frames etc, while mum and dad look round. The there are two halls are with ample space side by side.

Across the road is "The French connection" a good food pub that does a n excellent sunday roast, for those of you traveling there is a "Travellodge" onsite. It is a perfect venue and i hope i get to meet some of you at the show.

Chris