Midland Expo 2016 flyers now available.

 
The Midland Expo 2016 flyers have been printed and will be available at Scale ModelWorld.

Date for Midland Expo 2016 announcement.

IPMS Birmingham is pleased to announce that Midland Expo 2016 will take place on Sunday 31st July 2016.

The venue will once again be Leasowes Sports Centre, Kent Road, Halesowen. B62 8PJ.

Club/SIG and trader invitations will be sent out in the near future to regular supporters.

One Week to Midland Expo 2015

With just a week to go until this year's Midland Expo everything is now in place for the show to take place.

 A timetable of the day's activities can be viewed on the Timetable page or alternatively be downloaded as a PDF.

As announced in a previous post this year's show is being dedicated to the memory of our old friend Bill Nicholls who passed away in May, he was a long standing, indeed a founder member of IPMS Birmingham and there will be a special display of his models along with photographs commemorating his life.

There is also the new feature, the Social Media Modellers Meet, Greet and Display Area, which we hope will prove to be popular with those people who interact with each other via forums and the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

Details of the clubs, SIGs and traders attending can be found on the Exhibitors and Traders pages.

The car parking will be once again marshaled by our members with assistance from the centre's staff, we would ask that visitors be considerate and park as close as is practical to the next vehicle thus maximising the space available. There are three parking areas on site, the front car park for traders and exhibitors, the side park for IPMS Birmingham members and exhibitors and the rear car park for visitors. There is also an off-site overflow car park which visitors will be directed to should the rear car park become full. Please also note that there are disabled spaces in the front car par which should not be used unless you have the relevant badge.  Centre staff will also be asking for small voluntary donations from visitors which will go towards the upkeep of the centre figures in the region of 20 to 50 pence have been suggested.

We look forward to seeing many of our old friends and meeing a good many new ones, until next Sunday, see you there.

New feature at Midland Expo 2015

We are pleased to announce a new and unique feature for this year's show, at a meeting with the Leasowes Sports Centre manager in the past week it was agreed that a Meet, Greet and Display Area will be available for members of social media modelling groups.

The Social Media Modellers Meet, Greet and Display Area will be located on the mezzanine floor adjacent to the café overlooking the smaller hall/competition area with seats and tables available for people who mostly interact with other modellers via social media; e.g Facebook and Twitter, to meet up and if they wish, display and discuss their models. There are no restrictions on using the area other than you will need to pay the show admission fee, unless you are with one of the displaying exhibitors and have been issued with a pass. We would ask that users act reasonably and do not flood the tables with their models, we suggest two or three maximum depending on size.

Please note that the area will be available during the whole time that the show is open to the public - from 10.00 to 16.00. However people  are free to come and go as they wish, so if there is someone you particularly want to meet up with it is recommended that you make individual arrangements beforehand. Also be aware that any models on display will also be visible to the general public and while "Please do no touch the models" signs will be in place and stewards in attendance the organisers cannot accept any responsibility for any damage to them.

We hope this facility will prove popular with visitors to Midland Expo 2015 and if successful will continue in future years.

Spam emails from Go Displays

It has come to our attention that spam emails are being sent to exhibitors by a company in Peterborough called Go Displays using the Midland Model Expo 2015 title implying that they have an official connection with the show (example below).

At the bottom of the email there is a link "Why am I receiving this?" which opens the following screen in your browser, again misleadingly implying a formal connection with Midland Expo 2015.

Please be aware that this company has no connection whatsoever with IPMS Birmingham, the organisers of Midland Expo 2015, neither have they been given permission to use the title of the show nor any variation of it.

A "Cease and desist" letter will be going out to the Company Secretary of Go Displays in the next week, meanwhile exhibiting Branch Secretaries and SIG Leaders  please delete any emails you receive from this company.

Midland Expo 2015 to be dedicated to the memory of Bill Nicholls

Following the sad news of the death of one of IPMS Birmingham's longest seving members, Bill Nicholls, it has been decided to dedicate this year's show to his memory.

 

Bill was always a staunch supporter of both IPMS Birmingham and the society at a national level. In recent years he had been in failing health and passed away on Wednesday 20th May.

Midland Expo 2015

We now have confirmation that the Leasowes Sports Centre is available for our preferred date - Sunday 26th July 2015 and can announce that Midland Expo 2015 will be taking place as planned.