Memorabilia - NEC

The Spring Memorabilia event at the NEC was a busy old affair. Saturday was very busy but very tiring. Getting up at 4 a.m. is not everyone's cup of tea certainly not ours. But Memorabilia is one of those shows that makes it worth it. Plenty to see and plenty of buyers. After a slow first hour, which is normal, our collectable toys flew off the shelves, though the Fantasy figures didn't do so well, the Gothic jewellery did. We eventually had the best day yet at the NEC, pity the evening meal at our local Indian Restaurant with family didn't go quite so well. Three hours for two courses is well just tto much, though they were apologetic and gave us a couple of bottles as an apology. Sunday though was a different story, like a football match it was a weekend of two halves. Pity the half -time whistle came, since Sunday only produced a quarter of what we did on Saturday. No gothic jewellery went, very few fantasy figures and it was only the toys that kept us going. Still overall it was a very good weekend, but very tiring, Sunday night was a time for sleep.

Doncaster Toyfair Again

The last toyfair of the winter saw Time Was... back at Doncaster Racecourse for a toyfair organised by MB Toyfairs. Pity it wasn't spring as the folks who turned up kept their hands in their pockets to keep warm!!!

After nearly two hours those hands must have been burning as we had only done £3.99 and were looking at a Total Wipeout, though not the Richard Hammond version and that's bad enough. But we persisted with sitting there smiling politely to the window shoppers and even managing to chat to those who didn't have laryngitis. It paid off a wee bit as we did manage to sell a few more things. Not enough to make a profit but you can't win them all, we normally do very well at Doncaster.

Never downhearted Time Was... will be back there on May 29th.

But this weekend, 26th and 27th March we are at Memorabilia at the NEC. So we're closing the shop on the Saturday and hopefully be pulling in the shoppers at the NEC instead. And it will be spring by then, so warmer hands already.

Hope to see you there.

Hammerhead 2011

Kelham Hall, Newark was the venue for Hammerhead 2011 organised by the Gaming Club Network. A popular event with plenty of folks partaking in the wide variety of games that were being showcased, from War of the Worlds to WWI, from Cowboys and injuns to American Civil War. Quite a sprawling venue in what is an impressive building, if you get a chance to visit it then take a look. It is the Council Buildings for Newark, but you can arrange to have a look around.

Also present was the 'Tenth' Doctor and a couple of Daleks, 'real ones' as the Doctor said, not these new versions dreamt up for the Eleventh Doctor. As we had quite a bit of Doctor Who products we were situated near them, which allowed us to spread out quite a bit. And when the lights were finally put on people could actually see what we had.

The show itself was a big success with the games being well used, unfortunately as is the way of the world at the moment people were very cagey with their hard earned money. Plenty of folks looking but not so many buying. So not quite the success for us this time as in the previous Hammerhead, but we still did make a profit, albeit a wee one.

All said and done we look forward to the next Hammerhead in 2012.

Was it an omen?

Last Sunday saw the re-emergence of the Kettering Toyfair and as it used to be a good one we had booked our space.

The day didn't start well. Or more accurately the car wouldn't start so we had to upgrade the AA membership and have Homestart added to it. It took the AA just about 20 minutes to get round and a further 20 minutes to get the car going and ensure that nothing was wrong. Very good service from the AA.

So we made our way to the Village in Kettering, a quite pleasant journey, some nice views and villages to go through on the A43.

When we arrived we found that one of the two tables we had booked was missing, but that was soon sorted out. We had about an hour left to set up, which we managed to do. And then it went downhill quite soon. Despite two early sales, and then just four more, yes that was six in total!!! This meant that every sale cost us £10.00 each, needless to say we lost money.

What with the AA upgrade, the petrol and the loss in sales, perhaps we should have taken the car as not starting as a sign that we should have stayed at home.

New Year Hangover?? No VAT Increase!!

It's been a couple of hectic weeks for the folks of Time Was... what with Christmas and the New Year. After having been away at Christmas being entertained by Arthur and Co. we came back to a very disappointing Lincoln Toyfair on the 28th.

There were plenty of folks through the door, but they obviously didn't get much in the way of Christmas money as presents as all the traders suffered from hidden wallets. But then on New Years Eve it was the Doncaster Toyfair, and what a difference a couple of days can make.

Thanks to the new Doctor Who figures we had a very good day. Pity there can't be a Christmas Doctor Who special every week, but then we'd tire of it quickly wouldn't we?? So Bah Humbug to that idea. But it made a big difference as at the previous two fairs we had done there was not so much as a sniff at the good Doctor, but at Doncaster they couldn't get enough. Perhaps there's a shortage of Time Lords in Yorkshire.

We must be getting old but we only just managed to see the New Year in before settling in for the night. Or was it the wine?? Non of the 8% stuff we had at Christmas, but then again not too much of the good stuff either.

This weekend the 9th sees the return of the Kettering Toyfair, organised by Barry Potter. It's good to see it back after it was unceremoniously dumped by the venue last year.

There are also new opening times in the shop in the Buttermarket in Newark, it will now be open on Wednesday, Friday and Saturdays only.

And because we are nice folks at Time Was... we won't be increasing our prices due to the VAT rise that comes into effect today, we'll be absorbing it instead so we'll be even better value than before.

The Grand reopening

Today is the reopening of the Shop in the Buttermarket in Newark Town Centre. After the Great Flood of the 6th we have finally got the shop back on its feet.

Noah has disembarked all the fairies and dragons two by two. The Daleks though just barged their way off, exterminating anything that got in their way. Merlin though with just a twinkle in his eye emerged to keep an eye on Arthur and Morgana. James Bond was shaken but not stirred by the flood. Well you get the picture!!

Mentioning the picture reminds me that we will have a new picture gallery in place with images from the world of TV and Film and fantasy.

Why not get down there and grab yourself a Christmas gift while you can. Don't rely on the Royal Mail because of the snow and ice. So don't forget Time Was... The Buttermarket, Newark-On-Trent, Notts, Santa's favourite place!!

A Cold Time Was Had By All

Yesterday, Sunday the 19th, saw Time Was... up before dawn and on the road to Wood Green Animal Centre at Huntingdon for the last toyfair before Christmas. Despite there being no snow, yes NO SNOW!!! between ourselves and Huntingdon it was still an extremely cold day. A severe frost had carpeted the fields and it all still looked like a winter wonderland.

Inside the hall wasn't that much warmer. Most of the dealers left their coats and hats on and there would have been much more rubbing of hands if more people had managed to get through the door. But with many dealers vehicles arriving at Huntingdon covered in snow we had already thought that attendance might be down, and it was.

Despite this we actually managed to have one of our best fairs there. Maybe not selling a lot of stuff but what we did was a good price because it was of course Quality!!!

Just a pity that we didn't get warm all day and had to wait until we got home to break of the icicles.