What did you think of BBKA new Venue

[Nic Rhodes]

had a couple of days down there:

Pros

Easy to find (I have worked there previously!!)
Large trade hall, decent amount of space
Quality of lectures
MBS Langstroth nuc feeder (discussed with Dr S and Peter at the Paradise stall). We are all looking forward to Hannah getting this in.
MBS National poly feeder on it's way! Only one on show
Food cheap
2nd gear (UK cedar) was cheap at Th**nes and Maisemore and very good as were their 2nd frames. 14.50 / 15 for a brood is excellent in the UK.
AgriNova extractors looked excellent and well priced in comparison to competition, I may.....
Jerry sold me too many books as per normal
Have bought all sorts of things I didn't need
Got some MBS Langstroth nuc supers and Apidea supers, both of which I have been waiting for for ages.

Cons

Parking a mess, I learned about this on friday so was well placed on saturday for all the boxes that jumped into my car, however I felt many really struggled especially the elderly of which there was a few. Someone like the scouts could have earned loads of money by carrying to cars for some. Perhaps next year.
Loss ran out of water
Long queues for food saturday lunchtime (early)
Just missed two lovely books by seconds
Turned away from 2 lectures due to being full and was early
Phone signal a mess
I would have run the trade exhibition on the three days to take the pressure off the lectures and the hall. I would have stayed another day if they had. [they need to remember that the exhibiting companies largely bank roll these events]

Saw some forum members around (some clealy signed on their hats) and lots of friends, especially from Manchester! It is a bit far for most of my lot.

Overall a mixed bag, and they need to do some changes in the future. I would go again.

 

[BBG]

Sorry to hear it.

However another masterpiece of organization from the masters of nothing.

They really need to begin to do some serious thinking.

PH

 

[itma]

...
I expected more forum subscribers to be there but wasn't spotted ( I was clearly visible )
VM

...
Saw some forum members around (some clealy signed on their hats) ...

Is there some recognition code that more should be aware of when attending such events?

 

[region2]

I expected more forum subscribers to be there but wasn't spotted ( I was clearly visible )
VM

I saw you (well I saw a man with a hat with Victor Medrew on it but didn't make the link 'til now...).

201 miles. 90 quid to sleep over 2 nights so slept in my car - good shower facilities (in the collge, not my car!).

Didn't book due to uncertainty of attendance so Sunday there was nothing for me to do so went home...

Difficult to get into quite a few lectures but managed - Changing Combs was added in but the time was out of sync which caused confusion. Lot of building work going on hence the lack of parking...

Maisemores pitched their seconds prices 1 pound less than Thornes and both shifted loads of gear... National Bee Supplies sold very little and won't be back apparently...

I think the trade stands should be 3 days - many were closing early on Sat to catch ferries/get home on time.

I think they should toggle North/South so that the distance is only an issue evry other year!

R2

 

[jackbee]

My main gripe was that the lecture rooms weren't large enough. I was turned away at 2 of the 4 lectures I wanted to attend and I met a man who was turned away at three lectures. These weren't the events that required per-booking.

Lectures were busy but i managed to catch all i wanted over the 2 days (8 in all, thought they might be busy so just got there at least 20 min before start time. Was tight sometimes if previous lecture overan but managed it

Maybe they need to extend the bookings, with minimal booking fee??

 

[jackbee]

no mobile G3 service as the local phone transmitter was not working....ok you think you can live with no Phone then find out that therefore hardly anyone was accepting credit cards because the PDQ electronic handset could not phone the bank to verify the payment

Thorne seeemed to have no problem - location ? provider?

Payed them 3 times by card. Must remember next time not to keep wandering around hall so much - too much temptation!

 

[jackbee]

Did omlet turn up?
Come on - we want to know!

There was a stand but i din't see any beehaus or people but then i was in at 9 for kit, out at 930 for lectures and not back til 2, maybe they went early??

 

[jackbee]

Parking distant for most.

Parking areas were quite small - i'm going to be smug cos i got there early so no prob.

Loos - there and in all buildings but nobody knew this.

i thought signs were pretty visible and stewards were helpful.

Signpost not available until arrival ( should start 10 miles + away in both directions)

is this managed by BBKA or the AA??

Loading/unloading cramped (who designed the place).

It did look like it had evolved rather than designed as a whole.

Doormen/ticket checkers aggressive and abrupt. 'Tickets please', would have been nicer than 'Where's your wristband!'

They were very strong on that, but i suppose it protects those who pay.

£16 to get in - Ouch! Ouch!

I thought that was OK, but then i did get 8 lectures and some cheap kit in trade hall so good value for me

 

[jackbee]

Overall, i thoroughly enjoyed my 2 days (fri/sat), learnt a lot and got more kit than I should have

It was my first and i'm v new to this so maybe my keenness made it more bearable

 

[victor meldrew]

Beehous had one of their wendy houses on display . Didn't seem to attract much attention !
VM
Ps two of my mates refused to acknowledge me until I removed offending head gear . Shy guys or what

 

[Bates]

I felt being one of the younger guys there I was spoken to like I did not know anything. I also pretty much stood out as being one of the very few in my age group (22).

Parking was too far, I bought a load of hive straps and had a long trapes to the truck which was bloody ages away. I also helped a friend who bought a load of roofs from maisemore and managed to get their truck around the side.

I rely on my Blackberry to manage my business, emails phone calls etc. All of which I was unable to access. I brought cash to pay for anything as I wasnt sure what to expect.

For my first time, its worth it if you buying a load of gear, I already have a lot of stocks so did not need to buy much. But apart from that I probobly wouldnt hang about as long as I did.

 

[victor meldrew]

I rely on my Blackberry to manage my business, emails phone calls etc. All of which I was unable to access..

Should have taken a smoker and blanket . Don't rely on technology out in the sticks
VM

 

[psafloyd]

We had excellent service from Freemans and KBS (pre-orders) and Brunel, sorted a faulty zipped suit and bought (yet) another from BeeBasic (microfibre suits rock

Microfibre suit, susbees? Is that just a very lightweight material or does it have special qualities?

 

[psafloyd]

Is there some recognition code that more should be aware of when attending such events?

An idea for people to agree where/when to meet, a specific style of badge or even agree a design of a tee shirt which people can print themselves. Done the latter a couple of times.

 

[susbees]

Microfibre suit, susbees? Is that just a very lightweight material or does it have special qualities?

Light, perfectly strong and worn straight out of the wash gives aircon for the first two hives by which time it's dry . Not that it gets that hot very often

 

[MuswellMetro]

Thorne seeemed to have no problem - location ? provider?

Payed them 3 times by card. Must remember next time not to keep wandering around hall so much - too much temptation!

Th**nes was near the outer wall think the signal was better there, it was those smaller traders in the middle of the hall having conection difficulty. it could be a problem of the rebiulding of the telephone mast as they said or just the part metal clad building shielding the signal...COMPAC had the most diffiuclties of those i bought from , others had resorted to paper processing

And why no Cashpoint, the banks and Link will provide a mobile one, Lloyds Bank cashpoint in Newport had run out of money by 12:00 and Barcalys was only issueing £10 notes

 

[susbees]

And why no Cashpoint, the banks and Link will provide a mobile one, Lloyds Bank cashpoint in Newport had run out of money by 12:00 and Barcalys was only issueing £10 notes

There WAS a cashpoint although it was a charge one and didn't work for all cards. Most retailers had the old slide machines and Orange phones worked throughout the halls.

 

[drstitson]

"The most helpful trader there was C wwyne jones....,(thats excludes ChrisB and Rooftops)"

RT no longer associated with MB and the bloke on the stand was just RT's younger twin/looky-likey AFAIK - previous events there have been the two RTs in addition to the young ladies.

Don't know why chemicals laif or paradise farms bother coming to these events.

 

[Blacky50]

As a beginner and my first visit to a BBKA event I was keen to soak up as much info as I could so was really disappointed to be turned away from two lectures that I wanted to attend.

Half an hour was insufficient time between lectures to fetch the car from the car park, load it with my purchases and get it back to the car park, which meant I had to miss at least one lecture. Why couldn't the exhibitors remain open after the lectures finished?

The venue doesn't appear to be able to cope very well with the number of visitors (parking, speed of serving food, size of lecture theatres).

One plus though - as a non member there was no queue for wristbands!

Oh, and special parking and mayoral style gold chains for the bigwigs put me right off joining. How very 19th Century.

 

[drstitson]

I think that actually was the local mayor you saw!!!!

enjoyed the talks by Jurgen Pflugfelder - interesting to learn that drones stick to DCAs and won't follow virgins outside their chosen zone!!!

Note to self: Must invest in a catapult to allow me to detect DCAs!!!!