East Lancs FilmFair

[Brian Fretwell]

The films I bought were mentioned in the "What 8mm films did I watch last night thread", all at good prices. As I have just come back from a Beer Festival (With disrupted trains delaying me) you will have to forgive me not remembering just how much I paid for each at the moment.

[Melvin England]

I'm surprised that all those who attended, no figures here, haven't told us what bargains they had from the dealers ?, not sure why that is, maybe perhaps there weren't any............

Paul, I am sure in the past lots of people have come on here and said that they attended various conventions and got lots of bargains, but don't necessarily mention what they are or the prices. Normally I don't talk money, but on this occasion to give people some idea of what could be had at Lee's film fair, here is my haul and, for this occasion only, the prices......

Duel 1x 400' (Pretty good colour) / Born Free 1x 400 (flat and better colour than my scope copy) £6 each.

All In Good Fun 1x 400' £3 - Bob Monkhouse with silent movie clips.

The Sting 1x 50' Trailer / Prisoner of The Pirates (Peter Pan)(Disney) £2.50 each

My Fair Lady Trailer / Yankee Doodle Dandy Trailer £2 each

Cueball Cat - Tom & Jerry 1x 200' - Great colour £8

.........then the two that REALLY mattered........

Scrooge - Alistair Sim 5x 400' £50

That's Dancing 5x 400' £60


Make of those prices what you will. I am personally very happy with them. There were other bargains to be had, too, which I chose to overlook for one reason or another. Star Wars 1x400' £6, Raise The Titanic 1x 600' Scope £30, the first version of A Star is Born 4x 400' (can't recall the price) and there were more. On top of this, I saw TWO Sankyo 800 stereo projectors. One priced at £90 on a stall, the second on the "free" table where a charity donation was expected...... so pay what you will!
There were many more films available than the photo's suggest. I agree that what taints it a little is that central table with all the dvd's on it that could mislead those who didn't attend. Yes, there were a lot, but he was the only one.

Whether one chooses to attend or not........ PLEASE don't knock these gatherings wherever they are, North or South. We all know that the hobby over time is becoming more frail with people leaving us at one end and virtually no one coming in at the other. Please don't shoot ourselves in the foot, too!

[Paul Browning]

my original statement was as to why there are non more local to the midlands, excusing the notion of actually where the the centre is now, i don't think even i know that now, to be honest, i thought i lived in the midlands, but someone corrected me as to where this gathering was, and it appears more "in the centre " than i am. As to me knocking these events i 'm asking the question as to why there are non more local to me, i'll give the post code if you need it ,you can look it up, as for the bargains you got great i'm very happy for you, but it still does not answer the reason why there are non near me. I see your from "lets say up north" quite near to the show, so closer to it than i am, or anyone south of the central region, i dare say you will travel for your bargains and that ok too, but it not as far as it for me, i get better bargains now from ebay, but that is because most of these gatherings are "up north ". I think other peoples input has tried to balance out for those who might want to go or who not, and not make it sound like a "jolly", those who make it sound like narnia, some kind of fairy tale adventure.

[Gary Sayers]

Unbelievable prices there Melvin! They were almost giving them away judging by what you paid. Amazing bargains.

[Tom Photiou]

Can anyone arrange one in the south West

I suspect it would be attended by three or four of us.

I dont think anyone's intending to knock the events though, it's good for all those who could attend, i think it is more of the fact somewhere along the line someone said t's always tickled me the reluctance of fellow southerners to travel north, thats bollocks and makes people see red, it has nothing to do with the length of travel, it has everything to do with cost and time for the sake of a jumble sale style event. If i were retired and had a stash of cash i would attend all of them, north and South, unfortunately, down here at least, we are as far away as we could hope to be, before anyone mentions it, i am aware of those who get on a plane to come over, but if i were going to do that it would be for sun, sea and quite holiday, not a film fair unless it was incorporated with the traveling.

Melvin, those were some bargains you got, had i have travelled up for similar savings, it would have probably cost a full tank of fuel, which, in case those in the US of A or other countries didn't know, is in rip off Britain, currently around £6.50-£7.00 a gallon, in the US i believe it is in the region of $3.50 - $4 a gallon. That would cost me around £80 - £100 in fuel cost to drive up and back (around 600 miles) plus an overnight stay to make it enjoyable.
Blackpool is similar as far as costs and travelling are concerned. It is great living in the SW, it even still feels like i actually live in GB, the downside is, everywhere is miles away.

It is as Paul said though, if you live on the doorstep or at least within an hour or less then its fine to attend, otherwise its almost pointless with the costs and what may possibly be there.
Only six films in our collection were from conventions, as i repeat, several people gave us the cold shoulder when we arrived some years ago in London and made ourselves know, personally i couldn't give two monkees, we wernt there for a social meet, we were there after we heard so much about conventions, we enjoyed it, but my word, there were some weirdos there as well, no one on here i hasten to add. (i hope).

[Brian Fretwell]

I feel there are two main reasons why there are not more southern/midlands events. ! Someone need the drive to organise them and 2 the cost of hiring a hall. Near London we do have the "Rickmansworth" and 9.5 (which aren't entirely or often mainly that gauge) which at present is in Chorleywood, not to mention the Big Screen Scene Revival. None of these is near central London and Keith has said the last few BFCCs have lost money.

[Douglas Meltzer]

The topic here is "East Lancs Film Fair". We have strayed and returned a couple of times, however it seems that we are no longer on topic.

I'm going to close this thread, however if someone would like to start a new one specifically about the current state/future of film gatherings, please do so.