East Lancs FilmFair

[Paul Adsett]

Wow Doug has it really been 17 years since Betty and I first had the pleasure of meeting you at that BFCC?!!! What a great convention John and Keith put on that year, with John running a reel from Titanic, pulse sync'd to THX stereo from a DVD source, all on a 30ft scope screen - just amazing stuff. But as you say, the best part of all these conventions is meeting fellow collectors and movie buffs. Like you, I have never forgotten that first BFCC.

[Lee Mannering]

All wonderful memories and even better when we share them with others giving encouragement to have a go at putting a convention on yourselves perhaps, even during a 1918 style pandemic.

I'll end this post on a song seeing as Lancashire staged the first film fair convention for 18 months. Just a bit of fun folks.
God bless and keep safe.

UPDATE:
THE NEXT EAST LANCASHIRE FILM FAIR WILL BE AT THE SAME VENUE ON
SATURDAY 7th MAY 2022

Bit of a special one as it will be the 100th anniversary of 9.5mm film as well.

[Brian Fretwell]

Pity there isn't one more central to all collectors from across the uk, instead of just those up north, maybe more people would be able to attend these events............

North of England, yes - but if you include Scotland (you did say UK) it is actually south of central.

[Paul Browning]

From where i am its north, and i don't think i'm going to travel to scotland to go south to the to make it central on the way back........

[Brian Fretwell]

But it is central as far as the whole of the UK is concerned. The same distance from the North of Scotland as from the South of England.

[Paul Browning]

All i know is that if had gone to the film convention, i would have had to go north from where i am located, whether it is geographically the centre of the uk or not, i know its not on my door step, like those living in the north of where i am, its closer in distance to them than it is to me, next week i'm going south to blackpool........

[Tom Photiou]

cant include Scotland as they seem to wish to be independent from the UK as a whole, so they will be a separate country, perhaps there may be a Scottish convention?

Very nice pictures and i can see it was enjoyed by all.

[Lee McCaffrey]

For me personally it would have been a near 600 mile round trip which I cannot justify (especially while there's a run on fuel). It's a very North (of England) centric hobby, that's simply the truth of it.
To ask again, do the dealers at these fairs only trade locally? It seems to me there are an awful lot of dealers out there who are 'off the grid' so to speak

[Brian Fretwell]

One was giving out Debonair catalogues. One was Lee himself a couple of others I remember from film events only. One was saying they were offered a large film collection for what seemed to be an enormous amount, which had turned out to be 2 containers full so they turned it down (for storage space reasons) so they may be more general traders. Of course some may be mainly Ebay, but who can tell?

By the way the Accrington town centre petrol station had queues fairly early in the morning so it could have been a very long trip by car.

[Lee Mannering]

Smiling Brian.

We must be one of the few small places with a large population places that has several fuel stations.

Being a man of Kent myself it's always tickled me the reluctance of fellow southerners to travel north. As a kid I travelled all over the UK and outside performing and I didn't see any limitation to the distance I would work, or rather the custody of my Dad didn't bless him.

Main thing is socialising is good for you and get away from that armchair ebaying.

You can drag a egg to the frying pan but it might not like the oil you fry it in..
May have got that wrong somewhere.

[Tom Photiou]

There's no reluctance to travel north by collectors from the south, only a reluctance to travel 5 or 6 hours each way to go to a small hall where there's a handful of jumble sale style tables, Blackpool and Ealing are a different cattle of fish, if i was within an hour then i would be happy to visit.
Armchair ebaying is where many of the purchases will end up, i myself drove for a living for ten yeas driving around 300 miles a day, driving is no problem for me, but economics are, so is risk, we are still living with Covid at present, something some people should be wary of. Jabbed or not,

Cant help notice, (as has other collectors), soon after the conventions, ebay listings suddenly rise again!! Hmmm. Are people simply using these gatherings to make some dosh on selling? That would be a shame as it shows some people are not true collectors but are in it for the dosh, nature of the beast i guess. It also explains, (certainly in larger conventions), why some people were making sure they got a preview before the opening times.

[Lee Mannering]

Tom Ealing is no more in case you missed it and if people do not support beloved Blackpool it will be no more as well.
As people have muted many times use it or loose it.
Some of us just turn up to enjoy the events, friendship and input instead of doing nowt to sustain the film movement.

Look forward to seeing you are Rickmansworth and Blackpool supporting the hard work of those who make the magic happen.


Ps. Thank you all for the emails re our film fair and also the Christmas social show at a local cinema for 8mm 9.5 16mm and 17.5. we meet with the venue this week so please register with
eastlancsfilmfair@yahoo.com for updates.

[Tom Photiou]

Yes, Ealing has died at present time, i know there was talk of having another one but sadly i dont know if the support is there anymore, despite new releases, the numbers of people in the hobby is slowly dwindling, The main one, Blackpool, is one i have tried to visit many times but work gets in the way or economics. Our collection of well over 400 8mm films, 150 trailers and 50 odd 16mm features has been built over the years without the aid of any conventions, the two we went to in Ealing bought home around six films. The day was very nice and we both enjoyed it but even back then, noticed quite a clique, (sound familiar), who were quite cold toward us after travelling up from Plymouth, however, did we give a monkeys? No. John Clancy and Keith Wilton made us welcome as did the Dealers, especially Dereck Simmonds when we made ourselves known. After two visits, we called it a day as DVD's seemed to have as many stalls as films.

[Adrian Winchester]

I can appreciate that after the CHC weekend and Lee's event, and with Blackpool coming up, the focus seems on the north, but we may see more balance across the UK in future. Unfortunately Covid has delayed this, but people were making plans for a new south coast event, so I hope this may still happen. Others are also working on a London successor to the BFCC. If these proceed; and the March and September Chorleywood fairs return, as does Big Screen Time Revival in the Rickmansworth area, the overall picture will look quite different.

[Tom Photiou]

Thank you Adrian, that is good to hear.