a fairground life(we've did it ourselves)
We've did it ourselves!
There is a man, whom I went to school with as a kid. When it comes to the secc he is experienced as any and more knowledgable than many, nobodies fool is he. He has been attending the secc over the last 20 years with multiple attractions. He has bid for his plots, been on wristband deals and now the ticket / voucher system. Some of these systems he has incorporated at his own fairs.
True- The other day whilst minding the miami at the mall, a lady came up and put her two children on the ride. She commented to me that she had seen me in the secc on Friday night. She asked how I thought the secc (voucher system) would work out. Not wanting to be too committal either way I pointed out a couple of ying and yang points for each system (cash & voucher). She said (possibly being polite) that she preferred the mall (cash). Now at the mall it is £2 a ride, the secc is £1 a ride but you have to buy a minimum of £10 of tickets to enter (non refundable single day use only). Strange choice? I don't know. So 140,000 visitors times £10 equals a cool £1.4 million without extra tickets bought. The showmen don't get that, the secc have it all wrapped up now. In real terms we get a couple of pennies per punter, but hey!, its the closed season and any watering hole in a drought. So how did we give it all away? Well in those early days of bidding for plots income (for secc) was finite. During those early 50p a ride days the attendances were 250,000 + and on most days when the hall was at capacity they had to close the doors. Finite space means finite revenue unless the rate is increased. Increased rate on a bidding system led to increased fares. Increased fares led to decreased attendances. Some years the showmen made losses or profits so small that their staff had earned more in wages than the man making the bid and taking all the risk. So something had to give. Enter an enterprising showman, who hires the secc hall. He hires all the equipment on set fees and introduces the wristband system . All of a sudden no risk. Why did it fail? So you sell wristbands without limits and human nature kicks in. People ride till the equipment wears out or they pass out from excessive motion sickness (joke).No, that finite space problem again and when the hall is full you cant sell any more wristbands. Then the ride operators are not happy because the equipment and themselves are being abused.People fighting to get on rides, trampling over children to get ahead in the long queues chanting IF ITS FREE, ITS FOR ME!, well you get the idea. They even argued to put small children on rides too big for them and vice versa just because they had paid for that wrist band. Plus they stayed from opening till closing to maximise the use. So again the doors had to be closed at peak times. Just like the all you can eat buffet, even when you're stuffed you've just got to pack in those last half dozen chicken wings. Something had to give. A few years go by and the SECC management have been well enlightened, they dispense with the middle man and run the event direct with the rides owners. Wristbands are out and the voucher system employed. This means that a minimum fee is £10 per punter. When the hall is full and they close the doors they are still generating income from extra ticket sales inside. Because the tickets are £1 each, people wont abuse the rides by being more selective about who is riding or what they are riding on. When they have spent their quota they leave and make room for the next £10 admission sale.There is also the invisible windfall of tickets bought, but unused every night. The showmen have given the big money away, but to be fair the secc management do have the £100M building, power supply,security,police,cleaning,advertising and other running costs. And, as my learn-ed friend said, "We did it ourselves".
One problem though, how long before something has to give again? We are running out of schemes.
Totally my views only, your view / criticism welcome, just leave your initials, no anonymous please.
13 Comments:
good day all showman i may not be right but i think the managment working with the showman direct would be the best option cut out the middle man save a few bob here n there with doing that. The SECC is a great building this may be a ridiculous idea but why doesnt the showmans guild and the secc managment work together example the guild hire the secc and all other aspects of the fair as you say advertisment,cleaners, etc included in a fair price and the showman could work on a commision basis say per punter so you dont loose out. what you think of my idea lol cheers borderer.
An interesting situation, this system as you say has its pros and cons. Personally it puts me off as i wouldnt want to part with a tenner when i wouldnt prob use the tickets. But on the other hand i understand it tends to discourage the troublemakers and the neds who just turn up to cause hassle.
the secc is a good venue and costly to run and maintain, put i do think this is over profiting on there part.
Given the current economic climate there is a great deal of large industrial sheds lying empty of the same scale or indeed larger than the secc, many with good parking, i am sure an enterprising showman could arrange something for christmas 09? Hint hint (save me a pitch). A big risk? possibly but the rewards could be there!
A fiver entry and a pound a ride cash may be more lucrative and more likely to tempt a mum dad and family of four out to spend. Let us know how you get on showman, and the question is what was blakeys big adventure??
Hi just back from another thirteen hour driving shift,but running out of time for the big countdown.So here goes.
When i was growing up on fairgrounds the lorries where old british makes. Leyland aec,albion atkinson,commer,foden etc. My fathers[in common with many showmen in the sixties] first lorry after getting married was a bus with the seats taken out. He packed his stalls in the back,and it towed our wagon as well. He did get a lorry later. Our last lorry before we became part time showmen was a thames trader which we sold in 1973.
What is the point of this nostalga i her you ask. Well if you walk round a fair now then almost all of the above names have now gone. The lorry you will see the most however is almost purely for nostalgic reasons at number three. Yes despite the fact showman has three of them and one's a twin shitter,ive gone for erf.
ERF were founded in 1933 after edwin richard foden[note the initials 'r'] left the foden family firm in 1930 after a disagreement on the board. He wanted to switch to the new diesel engins while foden wanted to stick with steam power. How ironic then that MAN ,who helped develope the diesel engine,where to kill off erf 74 years later.
The first erf's i drove were mostly for friend's and family still travelling full time. The king and fatso as well as showman have benefited from my professional driving skills. Apart from his twin splitter showman has an f reg six wheeler that i have driven once.It was quite a challenge.He also has an ec for the dz. It drives ok but it does sometimes have a slight aversion to changing down. One thing about all of his lorries is the fact that all the seats are in different driving positions and are mostly stuck.I asked him why and he said he never thought to change them to a nice comfy position you can actually drive in. No wonder he got a bad back. I got out of the twin shitter and was a virtual cripple.I only moved it a couple of hundred yard's.
The best showman's lorry i have driven is fatso's p reg erf ec. It may be old but it still has a very nice gear change. ERF,S age well if you look after them. Fats used to have a b series erf on a c plate. He used to love to give it a bit of revs. You could hear him coming from about half a mile away. We used to say it was his ambition to rev the c--T out of it.Can i use sweary word's on this blog. He got his wish about three year's ago when he blew it up.
ERFs were the first lorry i drove were the radio was on the dash rather than above your head. Its amazing how long it took the rest to catch up. I cant say i have driven a modern erf. I have driven plenty of lorries up to a 54 plate that say ERF on the front,but they are just man's with an ERF badge stuck on the front. ERF where bought out by a canadian company in 96 and then MAN in 2000. The last ERF models,ect ecm,and ecl were all based on existing MAN lorries. You could however still have the option of a cummings engine.[erfs had gardener or cummings engine's when they made there own lorries]. I never drove that model so cant comment. The cummings option was removed in 2002 so it was MAN engines only.The erf badge was finally removed in 2007 and is no more. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who have far more experience of erf's than i have.I only wish they were still being made here so i could have driven them more.
ERF was always my favourite lorry when growing up. There are still many fine example's on britain's fairground's today,many with great paintwork,and fairground art. Fatso has a very nice example with an olympic cab,but dont tell him i said so. Havent driven that one yet.
I will try to fit in number two tomorrow. Hope all regular's jester's borderer ,ss ,waltzer and skyliner c are well. Just incase i dont write another masterpiece tomorrow MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.
This will probably be my last time online before xmas. Would just like to wish everyone (Showman, R, Blakey, Borderer, Jesters, ss) a merry christmas and all the best for 2009 :)
what an informative read! only got 1 fact wrong blakey-I wish my 6 wheeler was an f reg but it's a b reg. I'll tell you the reason why erf & fodens so popular with all showmen-fibreglass cab! plain an simple long long long life. look at my lorries 25years and a quick lick 'o' paint makes them look new, no body filler here matey! that 6 wheeler best lorry I got at the moment, nothing to do with performance, just that never put a spanner on it! ever! bet mine still going when today's MAN's are in the scrap!
fatso's lorry had the best GRUNT I ever heard from a 14lt, it hurt your ears that's why the fat git revved it up all the time!!!
You cant call fatso a fat gitt. That's my job.
it's unanimous then.
no but everyone agrees
a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush , so they say .
the secc is well advertised,
and your in the warm ,
hope everything goes well for u..
rr
your statement that "showmen did it themselves" is spot on Thomas, the fact is that we are our own worse enemies. I only attend a handful of fairs now, I am mainly involved with corporate events. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get other showmen that can be relied upon to send to an event. If an event finishes at say 6pm, we have to tell people it finishes at half past, if not they are stripping tilts off etc at ten to. Nobody ever seems to think about the future, get the money now and to hell with next year, unfortunately next year comes round quicker than we think.
That is so true and I must admit I suffer from that ailment also, when I pull in somewhere, I don't set the lorry for ease of building up, I set it for ease of getting out! Why?? I have never heard of anyone being left behind at a fair before. Just human nature to steal them 5 minutes, like I say- you can pay a man a million pounds a week, but he would be happier if you paid him half a million and he stole a tenner! just human nature.
to showman
dear sir i am applying for the job you have advertised paying half a million a week,and you can keep the tenna.
sorry, Mrs showman already has that position and I think her taking a tenner a week would be getting off lightly!
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home