10 years ago folk were telling me that eBay was killing the Autojumble, it may partly have been true but the real killer of Autojumbles in Yorkshire has been the Autojumble ! Within a 30 miles radius of here (Malton) there are 3 regular monthly fixtures plus Scorton a further 10 miles and Newark about 80 miles away. Its not hard to work out why they are all falling short.
Rufforth Park near York has been going for nearly 25 years but an increase in pitch prices a couple of years ago started the rot, they are now advertising on local TV to get people back but i recon only a big reduction in pitch and entry fee prices will bring about a return, if at all. Murton (again near York) started their meetings about 4 years ago, second Saturday of the month, but despite cheap rents, free admission and a good cafe it has never taken off. The same can be said for Squires Cafe every 4th Saturday in the month.
Scorton near Catterick Garrison on the 3rd Saturday is a great place, plenty of people on old bikes, plenty of stall space undercover and a couple of decent tea stalls but it seems to have become more of a meet and chat and i have never seen it anything like full.
Newark is always enjoyable, still busy on a good day and still a good number of private sellers along with a big hall full of trade parts. The classic car and bike show always draws people even during the winter months. If you havent been its only a mile from the A1, couldnt be easier to find. Its now run by Mortons Media so its future is probably secure for a few years yet. All the info and dates Here
The point of all this is that next Saturday (9th Nov) is the first Wetherby Autojumble. There are a few doubters but it could just work. The guy organising has promoted it well, again its beside the A1 so it has easy access, good facilites at the racecourse, incorporates a classic meet or two and (for now at least) its cheap. Over a month ago there were more than 50 stalls pre-booked. There is a good website with all the info. If it works it will probably be the end for a couple of the others but at least that will mean i can stay in bed more often on a Saturday morning.
I would point out that i have nothing to do with any of these events or the people who run them, i just enjoy going.
6 comments:
I think the devise here is to do your own swapmeet!
Rufforth got to expensive to get in nearly £10 for 2 adult admissions and two coffees.and poor ones at that ..and thats before you buy anything ..no one minds anyone making money ..but last visit was bad, lots of non bike car related tat ..will try the wetherby one ..
Too busy gothing to go to Rufforth last weekend Jon but i heard it was very sparse. Wetherby it is then.
GG. the point is there are too many already, one a month in this area would be fine.
well we went ..good start and hoping it will take off ..shame about the cloudburst..very wet !! ..any way 3 bargains picked up ...not much tat for sale butty van needs to be improved !!
Hi I'm Andy the organiser of wetherby I am surprised anyone could describe it as terrible we got nothing but positive comments- for a first go we had nearly 80 pitches and an attendance nearly the same as Scorton and probably twice Murton's best ever - bearing in mind that I turned away over 20 stalls as not being what we want and that almost everyone re-booked before they left, I don;t think thats bad. Numerous members of the public congratulated me and the other staff and we had no complaints. True the monsoon completely wiped out many of the outside stalls so anyone coming after about 11 had not much to look at but to be fair we stopped charging when the rain stopped becauseof that- the hall was then busy until about 1 o'clock.
As to the food the little white van stepped in with 24 hours notice and we had no complaints and lots of praise (except for the que in the rain) - we all tried some and it was fine - and there wasn't much thrown away- I looked. We will have a bigger van next time.
Look, what we are trying to do is create a proper autojumble at reasonable prices at a nice venue, we're not going to be Newark on the first one and if you want tat you know where to find it, but repeating heresay isn't very fair- all the traders know it will take a while to build up but they see the potential and are sticking with it. if anyone who actually went has any comments please go to the website and e-mail me they're very welcome andy
Andy,
Thanks for your comments and i appreciate what you have written. I applaud your efforts and hope the Wetherby Autojumble really takes off, this is why i put the post on here in the first place. Your's looks like a genuine attempt at making something a bit better than what we currently have round here.
Unfortunately as i was elsewhere on the date of your first one i can only take on what people who did attend have told me. No one said it was terrible, only the food, i have heard this from quite a few sources,(all people who regularly attend Autojumbles so they are not expecting haute cuisine !) so i do think this is an issue.
Probably wrong of me to put my second comment, it wasn't a slight on your efforts or organisation, merely what i had been told. You were obviously not helped by the weather, i appreciate you have no control over that.
I wish you every success and if it goes as well as you (and i)hope i will publicise it again on here. I will be at the next one, if you'll have me, and am looking forward to it.
Best of luck, Pete
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