Ally Pally Exhibition

Avril, Chris and the staff have done their best ! A day or two to prepare for the show,3 or 4 days at the show and then the time to get back to normal and catch up, costs a great deal in time and money. If you buy on the internet consider your small part in the sad decline of OUR show. I always enjoy the show but the falling numbers of stall holders and missing attractions ie,flying models, gas turbines Etc is a pity ! Will this be the last one ? Or will the emmisions charge kill off this longstanding London show ? Noel

PS which part of modelling requires a super Chammy ?

Edit : this is reply to the bit about location.

Not quite. The following might not be 100% but:

The Model Engineer magazine show did Seymour Hall, Horticultural hall? Wembley, Olympia, Ally pally about 1988, Epsom, Ascot, Epsom again, Brooklands.

The Engineering in Miniature magazine started a show at Pickets lock (which became the Olympic stadium) then moved to Ally Pally.

It is the joint use of Ally Pally that confuses everyone. In the process there have been several different exhibition organiser companies owning the rights or putting on the shows to add to the confusion and of course the shows outside London have connections with these companies too as that is their business.

Edited By Bazyle on 19/01/2020 18:26:34

Bazyle, wrong race course, it was at Sandown not Epsom.

Hi Noel, the part that helps pay for the venue and helps keep the show on the road and the entrance fee down, and by the number of people that I saw who bought them, must have helped a bit. They've been coming to that show for a number of years now, I bought some of them last year, and they work just as well as they were demonstrated.

Regards Nick.

I find that any show is no longer worth attending. After the hassle of getting to many and the costs is one reason that puts me off as well as the fact that traders no longer have those show specials which use to be offered. By not going all the costs that I can save will go to buying another piece of tooling.

The only upside to them is seeing some of the wonderful models being shown and the meeting of like-minded people.

As for costing money nobody seems to balance what it's going to cost them against what they may save. With the likes of College Eng charging just over £10 delivery for a 12" length of 1" dia steel you only need to buy one item from them and you have recovered the entry fee, do the same for a few bits from a few more traders and you are well on the way to recovering travel costs or even saving money.

As for no " specials" I bought 4 ARNO carbide cutters from JB Cutting tools and handed over my £20, Jenny said help yourself to another, Noggin end rounded down the cost of some metals bought from them and obviously no postage to pay from them. Neither know who I am and my links to the mag and forum

Even if you don't buy anything treat it as a trip out just like going to the cinema or a football match you don't really come back with anything but hopefully enjoy the time spent

Super Chammy didn't feature at any of the shows I went to but there were things like Fhrei drill bits, Zyliss vice sets, Clersite spectacle cleaner (brilliant!)., Tridon plastic clamping ties (still made and invaluable for awkward jobs), sets of combined clamps, jeweller's saw table and hold-downs - some still doing useful service. They weren't easily available anywhere else at that time (pre on-line!). Presumably, the cost/reward basis has changed over the last 20 years or so and makes less sense.

rgds

Bill

Banging head on bench. Of course (course get it 
A few years ago I wanted a big lump of metal - about a foot of 3in dia. Phoned up Noggin in advance and he brought it along for pickup. Goodness knows how much postage would have been.

Our club still has a stand at the show and recruited a new member on Friday, maybe more will join as a result of the contact. We mange to get enough members to attend and man the stand but years ago we stopped having a stand at MEx because people were saying it wasn't worth their time even though they were retired. I guess some people, like me, just like exhibitions.

I must agree its a day out with friends and meet others etc but yesterday I was on one stall awaiting my turn whilst the stall owner was talking to another member of the public who asked if the stall owner had had a good weekend, his response was that by the end of the day, Saturday, he would hopefully break even and Sunday he might make a profit. I think that says it all why stall holders are dropping out, the stall I was on was a small one so ramp his costs up to Warco etc except the likes of Warco dont necessarily sell anything to make money because they use exhibitions as show casing their products so the customer can touch and feel their products but there still comes a point when throwing money at exhibitions to increase sales has to stop as the money spent will outway their profits.

Martin P

Bazyle,

You left out Corah Hotel, in July one year, I think. Sweltering hot, pavements burned feet and xbn held in the "Winter Garden". Not amused, hot house greenhouse affair, nearly fainted with the heat. Think it might have been in the 60s and on going in, on left was that Duke of Edinburgh Trophy winning large (green?) 5"G Atlantic part on its side (?) with long narrow mirror underneath to show off works 'tween the frames.

John

Hi, just a bit of history for those who are interested. The Ally Pally, or to give its correct name The London Model Engineering Exhibition, started in in January 24th - 26th 1997 at Lee Valley Leisure Centre (Picketts Lock Lane) and was called, The London Model Engineer Gathering.

January 23rd - 25th 1998, same venue but was called, The London Model Engineering & Modelling Exhibition.

January 22nd - 24th 1999, again same venue, but was called, The London Model Engineering Exhibition and has keep this title to the present. It returned to Picketts Lock lane up 2001 and in 2002 was at Wembley until 2004, in 2005 it moved to Ally Pally and has been there to date. Incidentally, the first free yearly planner (remember them?) was given away in EMI in the January 2002 issue and I think you could get one free at the show the same year.

Regards Nick.

I remember going to an engineering show a good while ago at Olympia, wasn't that the ME exhibition ?

Emgee

Grateful for the pictures of posters of a bygone era - but no pictures of 2020 AP?

Emgee,

I remember that exhibition, they had a large pond in the hall and my Grandfather had his tug on it, I think it was like a boys own show as it wasnt all engineering.

Martin P

Just Photoshop ones from previous years....

Hi Emgee, the Model Engineers Exhibition, i.e. the one that is associated with the Model Engineer magazine was at Olympia each year from January 1993 until December 1998. It had one year back at Ally pally in 1999 and then moved to Sandown Park in 2000.

Regards Nick.

2 shows run by 2 different organisers.

1. Pickets Lock ( Lee Valley Leisure Centre) and then Alexandra Palace. Relative newcomer.

2. The Original Model Engineering show, Various venues over 100+ years including Olympia, Earls Court, Wembley and latterly Sandown Park, Ascot and back to Sandown Park where it stuttered to a halt. One last roll of the dice at Brooklands and then all went quiet.

Still, back to last weekends show. I went on the Saturday and was one of the first into the hall so I was expecting the crowd to build to it's usual crush over the next hour or so. By lunch time I had just about seen everything and it still didn't seem to be that crowded. I usually manage to stay interested untill around 2.30 - 3.00 so there definitely was less to look at. Admittedly I was on my own this year and going with others does tend to pack the day out a little with coffee breaks etc but there just wasn't that much to see. I did chat to one of the chaps on the SMEE stand about an aero engine and spent a pleasent 10 minutes or so talking to a chap about his 71/4"(?) loco built from works drawings. Picked up a few bits from the trade stands including a very affordable set of slip guages and a book about clockmaking in Wales. Overall I was pleased I made the effort but disappointed there was not more to see.

Talking to a few people it seems that the emission zone may move outwards next year to include Ally Pally which will put more people off going. I should be sad to see this particular show fade as it is has probably the most to interest smaller children with the lego, the competitions and the radio control trucks. This is a good introduction to small engineers who soon show an interest in the rail layouts and, as the as they get older, the display models.

As someone who is a very regular show attendee I have to say thank goodness for Doncaster and the Midland Shows which are very well furnished with exhibits and with Doncaster I would say it's hard to get to see everything in a day.

regards Martin

I visited on the Friday which was the first day and was glad that I went. It was well worth the effort, the expense of the train ticket (I only wanted a seat not seemingly to buy the whole train!) and my thought was that the crowd of old boys was the same as the crowd of young boys pushing and shoving at the Seymour Hall back in the nineteen-sixties. Perhaps there was more to see back then; personally I'm sure that there was. I enjoyed the club stands most of all and the chance to talk to some of the members of them. I think that without the effort made by the various societies the show would be a no-no. Some of the trade stands had little relevance to 'our' hobby but I collected some things pre-ordered to collect from the stands that were and almost tore my shoulder out (an exaggeration) carrying a bag of metal back on the train home. Times have obviously changed as the aisles were very wide this time; an indication that many stands from previous years had stayed away. The exhibition that has been the most entertaining (for me) was The Bristol Society one at Thornbury; a real show for model engineers by model engineers. I gather that it is unlikely to restart which is a real pity. I've seen reference to the Doncaster show as excellent (I've never been). Could the NFed and the SFed organise a show reachable from all points of the compass along the lines of the Bristol one? Just a thought.

JasonB, I wish you had come and made yourself known to us. We were justb across fro JB. Would be great to put a face to one so supportive. I used a bit of an advertising strapline a few years ago saying let CuP Alloys pay your entrance fee by buying materials at discounted prices!! Our brazing hearth set for example is £8 cheaper than online. But it's as much about supporting the exhibition and the hobby as selling for us.

There can be no getting away from the fact that this year the show was missing some 'regulars' and the hall was very spacious. However, I got the impression footfall was good. Also noticeable was the large number of pushchairs with young families in tow. Tomorrows engineers we hope?

If next year goes ahead, providing the emission charges are not too high, and God willing, CuP Alloys will definitely be there.

I'm not sure how much the emission zone will affect people, really depends on what you drive. My Scooby is a bit of a gas guzzler doing a little over 20mpg of premium unleaded but is not affected so would imaging most petrol cars to be OK as well as modern diesels, my Mitsubishi 4x4 diesel is getting on a bit now and is not exempt. Easy enough to put your reg number into TFL's site to see if you are OK or not.