Setup at the Min

A great deal of work goes into transforming a huge empty room into the magical land of all that is best in miniature.  From early in the morning various contractors are at work putting in electrical sockets to the display area and setting out tables and chairs.  The first exhibitors are allowed in after lunch and thereafter in staggered phases for the rest of the day until the evening.  I got there at four at which time the hall looked like this:

Most of the stands are the inventions of their owners, many are designed to fit into a family car, some, that arrive by aeroplane, designed to fit into a suitcase!  Having got the fixings into the hall and unpacked them it’s always a matter of interest to see who can remember how to put their stand together.  Here Karen and Peter, the longest running exhibitors, put Stokesay Ware together.

 www.stokesayware.co.uk if you want to see what they’re going to put on the stand.

Christiane and crew at the Dolls House Magazine have some new posters to put up and, by the looks of it, a fab free offer for new subscribers at the show.

Laurence and Angela St Leger are very clever people who make the best miniature automata in the business, though you wouldn’t necessarily guess this from watching them set up their brilliant stand, which is designed to get the customers noses as close to the toys as

possible, so they can play with them.

  When the building is finished, all over the hall, stocking the stands will begin, with every miniature item, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, put out by hand, individually.  Although I’m sitting in front of a nice warm computer writing this at 9 in the evening there are still exhibitors working in the hall and from 7.30 in the morning we’ll all be back to get it ready for the first visitors at 10.

There’s no doubt about it, it’s the effort that makes the excellence, tomorrow I’ll show you round the show and if you’d like to come and see for yourself, though the pre-booked tickets for Saturday have long been sold out, the show is open to pay-at-the-door visitors on Sunday, October 4th, £7-00 for adults, with free, yes that’s free parking.  Full details at www.miniatura.co.uk.  See you there!