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.
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Monday, 10 January 2011
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.
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.
Monday, 3 January 2011
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.
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.
Monday, 20 December 2010
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!!
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.
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.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Where's Noah??
After a reasonable toyfair at Spalding last Sunday, the 5th of December, and a very good posting of internet sales at our local Post Office in Cranwell we were feeling a wee bit chipper as to how Christmas was progressing. But then we received a phone call that took the wind out of our sails, or should that be sales? And it has set us back somewhat.
Our shop in the Buttermarket in Newark, directly below some of the offices in the Town Hall, was shipping water, not just a trickle but a flood. Rushing down to the shop for 5 O'clock we were met with water cascading from the ceiling and onto our stock. With the help of Gess we managed to move all of the soaked stock into another unit in the following two hours.
Soggy soft toys, drenched Daleks and dripping dragons all made their way upstairs. Apparently an air conditioning unit had broke down due to the weather and deposited its water onto us.
Hopefully we will be up and running in another downstairs unit within the Buttermarket in the next few days as a temporary home whilst the Council repair our shop.
But there will now be another deluge, this time of paperwork!!
So Time Was... is closed for the next few days, but like Arnie said, 'We'll be back', fingers crossed.
Our shop in the Buttermarket in Newark, directly below some of the offices in the Town Hall, was shipping water, not just a trickle but a flood. Rushing down to the shop for 5 O'clock we were met with water cascading from the ceiling and onto our stock. With the help of Gess we managed to move all of the soaked stock into another unit in the following two hours.
Soggy soft toys, drenched Daleks and dripping dragons all made their way upstairs. Apparently an air conditioning unit had broke down due to the weather and deposited its water onto us.
Hopefully we will be up and running in another downstairs unit within the Buttermarket in the next few days as a temporary home whilst the Council repair our shop.
But there will now be another deluge, this time of paperwork!!
So Time Was... is closed for the next few days, but like Arnie said, 'We'll be back', fingers crossed.
Monday, 22 November 2010
Long time no hear
It's been a hectic time for the folks of Time Was... Full weekends on top of the shop and online at www.timewasshop.co.uk but it's all in a good cause. Like his elves we've been helping Santa with getting people ready for Christmas.
This month we've been to Stars Of Time at Weston-Super-Mare, Norwich Sci-Fi show surprisingly at Norwich, then back to Norwich for a toyfair by JJ Webb and this weekend just gone Memorabilia at the NEC.
Well apart from a wee bit of misorganisation at the start of both days by the organisers, and the usual traffic regulations at the NEC it was a terrific weekend. We decided to take our Fantasy figures range and Alchemy Jewellery which went down a storm. Busy didn't describe it, though not busy enough stop a wee bit of wandering, looking for those all important bargains. On the Sci-Fi side we sold well and sold one of the Captured in Space Star Trek collectables, which was excellent to say the least.
The celebrities at the show were shall we say B or C list, either that or we don't keep up to date with what's on TV. But there were celebrities from our era, Kenneth Cope - Marty Hopkirk if you didn't know, Derek Fowlds, Katy Manning, Jess Conrad, Derren Nesbitt to mention a few.
But on the distinct down side the wrestling and Robot Wars did seem to drown everything else out. Especially the wrestling and if you're not a fan, well it can be annoying when chatting to customers.
There were the usual folks in costume wandering around which attracted a lot of attention, especially one who kept wandering by, if you were there you'd know who she was.
But all-in-all a very good show, despite the niggles, taking a lot of sales does help of course.
Next stop a local event, the Sleaford Christmas Market on the 28th. It's that time of year already.
This month we've been to Stars Of Time at Weston-Super-Mare, Norwich Sci-Fi show surprisingly at Norwich, then back to Norwich for a toyfair by JJ Webb and this weekend just gone Memorabilia at the NEC.
Well apart from a wee bit of misorganisation at the start of both days by the organisers, and the usual traffic regulations at the NEC it was a terrific weekend. We decided to take our Fantasy figures range and Alchemy Jewellery which went down a storm. Busy didn't describe it, though not busy enough stop a wee bit of wandering, looking for those all important bargains. On the Sci-Fi side we sold well and sold one of the Captured in Space Star Trek collectables, which was excellent to say the least.
The celebrities at the show were shall we say B or C list, either that or we don't keep up to date with what's on TV. But there were celebrities from our era, Kenneth Cope - Marty Hopkirk if you didn't know, Derek Fowlds, Katy Manning, Jess Conrad, Derren Nesbitt to mention a few.
But on the distinct down side the wrestling and Robot Wars did seem to drown everything else out. Especially the wrestling and if you're not a fan, well it can be annoying when chatting to customers.
There were the usual folks in costume wandering around which attracted a lot of attention, especially one who kept wandering by, if you were there you'd know who she was.
But all-in-all a very good show, despite the niggles, taking a lot of sales does help of course.
Next stop a local event, the Sleaford Christmas Market on the 28th. It's that time of year already.
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