Scalefour Forum

Good morning world! Andrew Ockwell here.

The Committee can announce that Scaleforum 2021 will take place on September 25 & 26 next year provided, naturally, that the circumstances a year from now have sufficiently improved. The venue, new to us, will be a school which is modern and conveniently located for both public and private transport; however, we won't reveal its exact location yet. Like thousands of other schools, they are working under colossal pressure and we don’t want to get in the way of their running of the school. Once things have calmed down somewhat we'll announce a lot more - but we're sure that members will be as excited by this as we are.
More details next year!

I am here for the next half hour and then later this afternoon if anyone wants to chat.

android wrote:The Committee can announce that Scaleforum 2021 will take place on September 25 & 26 next year provided, naturally, that the circumstances a year from now have sufficiently improved. The venue, new to us, will be a school which is modern and conveniently located for both public and private transport; however, we won't reveal its exact location yet. Like thousands of other schools, they are working under colossal pressure and we don’t want to get in the way of their running of the school. Once things have calmed down somewhat we'll announce a lot more - but we're sure that members will be as excited by this as we are.
More details next year!
.

Well done Andrew!

Looking forward to it
Paul

Sounds interesting.

Good news, which I hope will be realised; there will of course now be feverish speculation as to where it is!

Rod Cameron wrote:Good news, which I hope will be realised; there will of course now be feverish speculation as to where it is!

Well, now there are all those empty office blocks at Canary Wharf...

Can you imagine how big a floor plan we can have?

Cheers
Paul

Bet there will be enough power too...good lighting... air con....It is the first time though that no one wants the corner office... too much natural light?

Paul its a great idea.

I hope they have many and capacious lifts then!

The village hall in Piddletrenthide.

Captain Kernow wrote:The village hall in Piddletrenthide.

Getting warmer

I am now able to tell you that the venue for Scaleforum 2021, HMG and common sense allowing, will be the Cressex Community School in High Wycombe. Look out for more details in a future Scalefour News.

Stay safe

Andrew

That's a rather good venue, with a light, airy atrium, and a large exhibition hall upstairs

"Wycrail" is held there each year (although not this year, obvs.), using both the atrium and the exhibition hall.

I can't remember what the catering is like, but the atrium provides convenient seating.

Nearest rail connection is High Wycombe (Chiltern Rail) served from London, Oxford and Birmingham.

(Not sure about bus services from High Wycombe.)

Onsite parking can be a problem at peak times (but you wouldn't be competing for space with other users of the building), but an alternative car park is potentially available less than half a mile away.

Given it's a school and not at half term, when is access for setting up available?

Well, Aylesbury had a problem with parking for the school run - couldn't get in till near 4pm.

What is the disabled access of the venue like?

Takes me back 50+ years! Very close to where my digs were when I was at HW Tech. Very close to the M40 and appears to have plenty of parking. Lets just hope we're Covid free by then!

kelly wrote:What is the disabled access of the venue like?

Hi Kelly
This is a very modern school, built in 2010, so (we are assured by the school, and Andrew will bear this out) fully compliant with modern needs and requirements. You should be fine.
Regards
TreasurerChris

Chris Mitton wrote:

kelly wrote:What is the disabled access of the venue like?

Hi Kelly
This is a very modern school, built in 2010, so (we are assured by the school, and Andrew will bear this out) fully compliant with modern needs and requirements. You should be fine.
Regards
TreasurerChris

Thanks for that. It was something that the previous version handled very well, so hopefully they are as good or better.

Hi Kelly

The school was only built about a dozen years ago, so as Chris says, it will be fully compliant with all the current Building Regulations regarding disabled access. I look forward to seeing you there!

Andrew

Great news - I have added the date/venue to the CMRA website exhibition diary for 2021.

http://www.cmra.org.uk/diary21.html

Regards

Adrian

android wrote:I am now able to tell you that the venue for Scaleforum 2021, HMG and common sense allowing, will be the Cressex Community School in High Wycombe. ...

Make sure your signposting is up to scratch. This is something WycRail 2019 got very wrong, and I consider it a minor miracle that I was able to find the entrance with two hours to go.

See you in 2022.

Help!

We have some vacancies for stewards at Scaleforum in September. Free entry, tea, coffee, food and accommodation if you need it, along with two days of fun and camaraderie (2 1/2 if you can help set up on the Friday). A rare opportunity to help out at the best exhibition of the year!

Please email or PM. Look forward to hearing from you!

Andrew

Fingers crossed for September. Its a trek up from Cornwall, but always worth the effort, it looks like no further than Aylesbury and probably easier to get to. Lately (pre Covid) on excursions North, we have taken to using the A40 from Jct. 11 on the M5, a fairly good road through the Cotswolds and infinitely pleasanter than the M4 (also means a stop at Gloucester Services!) then straight up the M40. Good choice

Steve

I welcome the choice of exhibition venue, as I know it well from Wycrail. Now, I suppose, comes the task of finding somewhere to stay - and to socialise! Any suggestions from members who know the area will be most welcome.

Chris

I see Guildex has been cancelled. It was to have run at the beginning of September but they are citing the delay to lifting restrictions, an ongoing perception of risk which means there are too many uncertainties.

Scaleforum was an item on the agenda for the May Committee meeting but there was no mention of the 2021 show in the report back to members, so perhaps it was not discussed. In the light of the delay to restrictions being lifted, further uncertainty and the possibility of increasing risk, is the show still a realistic possibility? How many traders, layouts and exhibits have committed themselves so far and what is the expectation regarding attendance?

Perhaps it will be discussed at the Committee meeting this weekend and we can be informed of those deliberations.

David B wrote:Perhaps it will be discussed at the Committee meeting this weekend and we can be informed of those deliberations.

Not surprisingly, the question of holding Scaleforum is due to be discussed at the additional committee meeting planned for tomorrow afternoon and Society members will of course be informed as soon as possible after that.

Terry Bendall