10 replies to this topic

[Jim]

Hi everyone,

Following on from Ford Fair 2011, I thought it appropriate to give you all an update and overview of the show.

On the lead up to the show, we quickly saw numbers were going to be matching, if not exceeding 2010's attendees, as you're probably aware, we had nearly double the ticket sales, from 220 in 2010 to 387 in 2011, excluding Club Staff tickets.

The organisation behind the scenes, consisted of Amanda managing the ticket sales, new clothing and a great deal of liaison with the Future Publishing. Rich from FocusRSOC designing the fantastic layout of the stand, Phil and Alan from FocusSTOC gathering various equipment and clothing together and myself purchasing merchandise, the marquee and organising the Sponsor prizes.

With regards to the Merchandise, I'm pleased with the response to the new items on offer. The sales on the club marquee were excellent, so I would like to thank all those people for coming over. We don't offer the merchandise to make very much profit per sale, its purely offered because in years of feedback, thats what you, the members wanted from us.

The clothing has gone down a storm, everyone's feedback when looking at the example clothing was extremely positive. We've worked very very hard to find a supplier that could meet our demands in terms of the administration, quality and flexibility on embroidery, and I'm pleased to say, they've more than exceeded!

The new merchandise and clothing will be available in the online club shop from Monday 12th September. This is to allow us time to add the items, test its function in the shop, gather additional stock if required and of course... allow Amanda time to get back from her holidays!

I was also pleased by the overall verbal and forum feedback of the club stand... we were very big this year, the marquee provided a focal point for the stand and I hope you all agree the marquee looked great. I do take on board feedback about having a 'meeting' marquee, possibly managed by regional reps.

Having contacted the Sponsors this year, I was absolutely blown away by their generosity towards the club, and ultimately you guys.

We decided to make things as transparent as possible, we would introduce a new voting system. There were two key points:

Display your vote card in your windscreen to be entered
Walk round the club stand with your voting card and choose your 'Best On Stand' by entering the three digit number on display in their windscreen

There was a large percentage of you that either didn't display your card in your windscreen and/or didn't vote.

We perfectly accept the various reasons why some didn't, all I'd say for next year is that you all have a chance to win something, so please do take advantage.

As per the letter sent to you all. The winners were announced at 2.30pm. I'm proud to announce the 'Best On Stand' Winners and Runners Up for Ford Fair 2011:

FocusSTOC Winner - Sponsored by SCC Performance, Collins Performance & JW Racing
Ian Sweetman - username - sweets
Prize - REVO Tuning Device, Dyno Run & Cold Side Pipe



Runner Up - Sponsored by Dreamscience
Rickey Sampson - username - v8sam
Prize - DS Elite



FiestaSTOC Winner - Sponsored by Superchips & UKCarCare
Lee Goddard - username - ICEMAN ST 07
Prize - Bluefin Handset and Electric Buffer



Runner Up - Sponsored by Mike Goodman Motorsport
Sean Taylor - username - duratec190
Prize - Front RS Splitter



MondeoSTOC Winner - Sponsored by Superchips
Martin Cordell - username - airbex_is_me
Prize - Bluefin Handset



Runner Up - Sponsored by Chipex
Geoff Bottomer - username - welsh4life
Prize - Chipex Repair Kit



FocusRSOC Winner - Sponsored by Sitech & Wolf
Steve Walden - username - loophole
Prize - RS Inlet & Voucher



Runner Up - Sponsored by Sitech & Graham Goode Racing
Steven Waite - username - waito
Prize - Dyno Run & Engine Torque Mount



Unfortunately I completely forgot to announce an addition prize for four members. We decided in order to encourage you all to enter your voting cards, we would randomly draw one card from each club to win one years free membership... those winners are:

FocusSTOC - David Simpson - username - david-s
FiestaSTOC - James Moore - username - Cannon
MondeoSTOC - Michael Olney - username - olney mondeo
FocusRSOC - Tony Botting - username - tony66

A big thank you to all those members who attended the show and help to make a great turn out for the club network. I was beyond proud of the stand and it gives me a massive boost of enthusiasm when running the Network.

I would also like to make a specific mention to the Regional Reps who've all made a great effort in organising convoys across the country in order to get members safely to the show. Another mention to also go out to Matt from FiestaSTOC for organising the Track Session for his club, without him willing to use his own time, it wouldn't have happened.

On a more personal note, I would like to sincerely thank all the members of staff for their efforts across the weekend and throughout the morning, you all worked like a true team, helping to set up the marquee, running round like mad whilst members parked up and finally stayed at the end to pack everything away.

And finally, as if I would forget to make a special mention, to our lovely Amanda... a name you're all used to by now... Amanda has worked very hard managing both the show, ticket organisation, as well as the new clothing, putting a huge amount of her own time aside for the club and us... so Amanda, I would just like to say without you on board the club wouldn't be the same... THANK YOU!

Ok folks, this has turned out to be a long post... Its the first chance I've had to type it up due to work commitments, so I hope I've not missed anything/anyone out!

Thank you all for making Ford Fair 2011 the best club show yet!

Jim

[Steve]

Good job Jim, it all went really well

I've seen behind the scenes, people wouldn't believe what a MASSIVE effort goes in to this whole thing

The prizes are really great, message to everyone, get involved, be a proper part of the club, it's not just fun, you might win something too

[Overlag]

was a great day, but went far too fast. I missed well over half the show, and felt a bit rushed, which is odd because the only thing i HAD to do was the mountune tracktime. Nothing else.

One thing that i noticed was the large spaces between clubs, could we have spread out some more to fill in the space? Something for next year i guess The layout was great however, good organising. Shame it was "ruined" by us lot disappearing on track so many times.

Anyway, Thanks to all the staff, all the reps, and all the club members for making the day great

[matchett]

Good job, gutted i could not make it this year, i will how ever be over next no matter what. Would love to see and meet everyone in the club and of course see the finest collection of cars in the country

[SamanthaST]

It was a excellent day for the club, never seen so many members in one place!

Hope you all had a good time and will be back again in 2012!

Btw Jim, did the dent come out?

[ClareST]

Was a really good day!

Well done and a big thankyou to all the staff for their help in organising such a great event, and to the reps for the convoys making sure people got there.

Congratulations also to all the winners from each club.

And a big thankyou to all the members for making the club stand as successful and big as it was!!

[GrandadST]

This year was by far the best Ford Fair that i have attended not only as a club member,but also as part of the STaff team .

The organisation that was put into it was outstanding and indeed Amanda does indeed need to be recognised for all that she has personaly done for the club To se all the new merchandise,club marquee etc was truly fantastic ,we definately are the best club at the moment,so a big thankyou to Jim also in what he has acheived for all of us
Obviously next year is going to be bigger if this year was anything to go by and when the MK 7 comes out then

The reps did a fantastic job for the members as well , in getting their convoys saftely there so weldone all of you.

The prizes this year were outstanding so a massive thankyou to the sponsors who gave there products as prizes and congratulations to the members fron each club who were voted to recieve them

The track time organised by Matt was a massive success , and next year he says it will be alot better, i am sure we will no doubt be supporting that one too.

Congrates to everyone who made it a great show weldone .
,

[Burty]

another awesome show to everyone behind the scenes

on the thought of the space between clubs that we had, maybe next year the 8 best cars from this year could be shown in that space? In a semi-circle, or something along those lines. This could give other members an incentive to clean their cars just a lil bit more in the hope that they too could have theyre cars that space in next years show it would maybe be showing the public the cream of our crop so to speak

[Toby]

Just need to next year to persuade the organisers to give you an even bigger stand as thats twice i have missed being on the stand due to not being on the forum for a period of a week or more and they have sold out so quickly.

[Steve]

Toby, on 18 August 2011 - 13:39, said:

Just need to next year to persuade the organisers to give you an even bigger stand as thats twice i have missed being on the stand due to not being on the forum for a period of a week or more and they have sold out so quickly.

It's not down to space, our stand could have everyone on it, it's the time limit, gotta get on the list as soon as they announce it, all down to planning early

[Cannon]

Nice write up good to see what cars won as it can be a bit confusing on the day