I went for the first time this year and took my son along too, he absolutely loved it (so did I), it was his first decent sized arms fair. His eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw Bens tables full of goodies!! That's the sort of thing that keeps our hobby alive and in true style he managed to wipe out his bank account too!
Its such a shame that its so expensive for the stall holders, surely the organisers can see its better to charge less and get more people there. Perhaps there's someone out there on BOCN who can have a word with them.......
Dave.
And another hazard for dealers I noticed this year was a couple of HM Customs officials touring the site siezing items on the basis of some obscure legal technicality.
I wonder how much of that stuff ended up on display in those officials' houses?
Was it ordnance in particular hat they were siezing?
Yes they have tried to take items from me too, but after some talking and showing the UK law i had no problems anymore.
All I can say that whilst visiting a dealer (whose privacy I will respect by not naming him) I saw two Customs gentlemen helping themselves to inert, relic German WW2 S-mines and parts thereof. Apparently it is illegal to deal in anti-personnel mines and parts thereof. Obviously law must be referring to modern weapons, and one is reminded of the cleaning-up problems associated with these devices after recent conflicts. I can't believe it was ever intended to apply to inert rusty relics from WW2. However I am largely ignorant here. I did mention this episode to someone more knowlegeable than me; his reply suggested strongly that the Customs men were acting outside their remit.
T.