WESES Cornish Steam Fair

[johnsawle]

It rhymes with Gwithian and Mithian!

[island steamer]

I think the nail has been hit straight on the head. It wasn't the ground that needed moving it was the time of year. The St Agnes site was one of the best ive seen, it had all the space needed, not crammed in to small areas and movement of engines i would have thought a lot easier. Its a very trying job for a show committee to keep every one happy and i take my hat off to those that try but i think they should think hard about weather to stay at Stithians or not. My vote is to put there pride in there pocket and go back to St Agnes. You no it makes sense.

[dolcoathuk]

Having read the posts in this thread, and visited the Cornish Steam and Country Fair on the Sunday, I can agree with many of the comments.

I hope that the members of the WESES committee who are members here view the comments as constructive and incorporate them into their post event discussions. Nobody wants to see the rally fail, and I am sure that it can be 'tweaked' to improve the experience for those who visit for the steam exhibits, and to offer something to appeal to a wide range of the public.

However, here are a couple of my views, bearing in mind how it was marketed this year. On arrival, the first exhibit you saw was a Spitfire plane. Whilst it is a great British icon, why was it given such prominence? Surely Trevithick's 'Puffing Devil', which was in steam on its transporter, would have given a much more appropriate first impression of the event.

Another issue, mentioned elsewhere is the location of the Full size steam exhibits. The area used, whilst no doubt very suitable for their storage overnight, does not allow for the public to view them easily. One of the best sites at St. Agnes was the line-up of engines alongside the main ring, disappearing in to the distance. A great photograph. It would be great if a more prominent display area could be found for next year. Also next year, could you have The Gladiator and any other Showmans Engines generating for the fair. Personally, I also think that it would be better to have the Country fair aspects, such as the demonstrations of rope making etc. and craft tent more prominent than car and lorry sales, so would swap their locations around.

Having been involved for a number of years in the organisation of outdoor events that have suffered dwindling entries and spectator numbers, I know that there is no simple answer to increasing, and maintaining public support. Events have to adapt to survive. However, I believe that all of us with a love of steam will support the event, if it can offer what we want to see. With that in mind, may I offer one suggestion for consideration.

I think that the organisers should canvas the opinion of the exhibitors and the public on how they would like the Rally to evolve. This could be done by producing a brief questionnaire for distribution via the Section Secretaries to exhibitors, and one for the public via their website and club journal. The results could be fed into the planning for next year to give us an event that stays as a permanent fixture in our Summer calendar.