Stoneleigh spares day

[tim wood]

Just noticed that this is now cancelled.

Tim

[christopher storey]

It will be interesting to see whether it ever reappears, because attendance both by public and by stall holders has been dropping steadily in the last 2 years or so. I always felt it was a great mistake for the joint JDC/JEC control of it to be farmed out to an individual

[JulianBarratt]

In reponse to the above ref control of Stoneleigh, the event had actually been passed onto the JDC for either the October 2019 show or the March 2020 event (i dont recall which) so its really bad luck for them in terms of timing and i know they had some plans to refresh the format.
It would be a real shame if it doesnt re-appear as i was always a huge fan of the day but perhaps twice a year was no longer neccesary...

[MarekH]

Dear Christopher,

That depends on the individual. John Salway used to run a bi-weekly auction on Saturday mornings at a venue local to me in Godalming. One day I bought something I couldn't carry home and explained that I didn't have a car. Despite the fact that it was nothing to do with him, he dropped the item round later that afternoon, gratis. The first time I went to Stoneleigh, we both did a double take when we saw each other.

Imagine how terrible the event would be if it were run by a committee, none of whom know what they are doing. They farmed it out for a reason. Many years later, they may have learnt the ropes sufficiently to take it back. It'd be sad to see the internet kill this off the way the same way it did the Farnham Maltings swapmeet.

kind regards
Marek

[christopher storey]

Marek : Jaguar Spares Day was run very successfully by the JDC/JEC joint enterprise for many years , certainly from about 1993 onwards . There was absolutely no suggestion that "they didn't know what they were doing" . It was never very clear why they decided to give up on it, and it became apparent in the last few years that despite Salway's efforts people were starting to lose interest. I agree absolutely that it is a shame, and that the internet is no substitute, but it seems to be one of the facts of life. It would be interesting to know if the similar days run in relation to MGs and to Minis are beginning to hit choppy water - the last Mini do I went to was very well attended both by punters and exhibitors, but that was at Stafford showground which is a rather more user friendly venue than Stoneleigh

[1954Etype]

IIRC the event was run by the now defunct JCC? We had a stall in March and have to say, picked up quite a bit of business even though it was quiet (Julians mob weren't there ;) ).

[christopher storey]

Angus _ I've just looked it up in Graham Searle's history of the JEC, and you are quite right , it was a joint venture between JEC and JCC rather than JDC as I had thought . Perhaps it was the demise of the JCC which caused the JEC to give it up - it was one of those curious things about which there was silence !

[mgcjag]

Hi Christopher....my understanding is that the Spares day is now a JDC event....listed here at companies house
as JDC Spares day Ltd https://find-and-update.company-informa ... y/11758895

[PeterCrespin]

If Angus spread a few cowpats around his car park twice-yearly and organised a few clattering sheets of corrugated iron, he’d do us all a favour.