New National Hamfest announced by RSGB

Close but no cigar! The RSGB set themselves up to fail once again with the announcement of a new National Hamfest. 2 and 3 October 2009 are the dates and the venue has been carefully chosen to be an absolute nightmare to get to for anyone not living on the doorstep. It is very nearly in the middle of England which should be good but it is nowhere near any motorways at the George Stephenson hall on the Newark and Nottingham showground.

Sorry RSGB but if you are going to do a Hamfest put it somewhere with good access via the motorway network and if you are going to make it a two day affair put it somewhere with lots of accommodation and preferably make it in summer so we don't have to drive 200 miles to queue in the pouring rain to get in only to find that we could have bought what we wanted cheaper on eBay.

The pain does not end there because the cost of admission is £3.50 if you get tickets in advance or £4.50 if you pay on the gate. There is no mention of letting youngsters in free either so if I was going with the three kids and XYL and planning to stay over night so we could go both days, on top of my fuel and accommodation costs it would cost £45 in admission alone. I can see the amateurs staying away in droves and the failure will no doubt be put down to an apathetic lack of support.