Out and about… Popham

682al,

its was a couple of months ago that DR had his problem – he was certainly there on Sunday & Monday.

I think you’ve all made some valid points, even if coming at the topic from different angles.

Yes, the weather struck most cruelly. Sunday at Popham was lovely, with lots of flying. The rain on Monday co-incided with opening time and lasted for about five solid hours, enough to drive all but the most dedicated away.

Yes, there was some interesting stuff there, although for most of the day it was inaccessible due either to visitors crowding the “drier” stalls or traders in the open covering their wares and/or packing up early due to the constant rain and concerns about being able to get their vehicles off-site.

Yes, there’s a mix of stalls (it’s advertsed as an auto/aerojumble) and there’s a bit too much of the antique/sunday market in my opinion, but if that helps keep stall prices down and attendance up, I’ll live with it.

Yes, it’s getting harder and harder to find new treasure, whether at Popham or Shoreham, Whitwick, Newark, Hooton Park, etc. A lot of the stuff to be seen at Popham was the remnants of the Staravia auctions of the mid-1990’s. That means ten years since there was a major new injection of material, so what’s left on those stalls will have been well picked over by now.

Yes, I think there’s a question about the long term survival of many events. Ever increasing fuel costs and stall fees, coupled with the difficulty of sourcing fresh stock will slowly kill them. (not to mention concerns about health hazards from some older instruments). A criticism I would make of many events is that the organisers fail to publicise them well enough and widely enough. An ad in Flypast is likely to produce the “same old stalls, same old stuff” result, whereas more imaginative advertising may prompt a few people to clear out their lofts and garages, which is where I believe much treasure still remains.

For all its disappointments, I still thoroughly enjoyed the Popham weekend. For the record, we packed our stall up at about 3.00 p.m., but only because almost everyone had departed by that time. I picked my route carefully and got off-site without undue difficulty, even though the usual exit routes were very churned up, and we enjoyed a 200 mile drive home in lovely spring weather. Now all I’ve got to do is dry me, the camper van and the tent and I’m all ready to do it again at the next one!

I’d rather do it anytime than sit at home, lobbing bids at inaccurately described rubbish on Ebay.

By the way, I heard that D1ck Richardson suffered a heart attack a few days ago. I hope he makes a speedy recovery and continues to host a great event, I’ll certainly be there in August!

I wasn’t aware that was a British Standard for Aerojumbles that had been infringed. All the people at Popham did their best and got stuffed by the weather. Would you have stood there all day in the rain with a table full of aeronuatical junk waiting for someone in a snorkel to come past and buy? What do you expect flat-packed Sea Furies?

A junk sale is a junk sale, be it a car boot, an auto jumble or an aero jumble (of which popham tries to be both and in the good weather almost suceeds) and the bottom line is that most of it is junk. Sometimes you get a pearl sometimes you just get the seafood.

Now, if you want to organise a better one . . . .

or even define what an aero jumble is?

MH

Admittedly my original post was a little harsh and I’m not having a go the people who organised the Popham event or the traders, but do you really expect me to be happy when having travelled a long way to an event advertised as an aerojumble, it turns out that there is precious little aerojumble there? The plant, embroidery, toy and camo jackets stalls far outnumbered the stalls that are supposed to be the whole point of the day. As you say Melvyn, a junk sale is a junk sale, but don’t pretend it’s an aerojumble.

Now my real point I suppose is the poor state of the ‘aerojumble’ in general. As I said in my original post they’re ALL in a bad way and I think that kind of event is dying a death. That’s not anybody’s fault, there isn’t the stuff out there to sell at these things anymore as Bruce has quite rightly said.

Frankly Shoreham is dying because the organisers are demanding unrealistic fees for stands and Popham has become a general boot sale event rather than an aero/autojumble. And those are comments made by a number of the higher profile traders at these events not just me.

As far as I am aware there was no external sponsorship of the aerojumble – as my previous post the advertising banners were left overfrom microlight trade show

The banners from Todays Pilot / Flyer were left overs from the microlight trade show on the previous 2 days.

Please note that I attended on the Sunday – hence my answer.

Flood.

I think the weather put a lot of people off, both sellers and buyers. If it had been kinder, I would have spent more time looking round, and would probably have bought some parts for my Jag, and for my Vampire!

As it was, we got completely drenched and gave up! If the weather is good next year, I will try again!

MarkG – the problem with all the sales is that there are more and more of us chasing fewer and fewer parts. The days of finding brand new boxed Spitfire stuff at (e.g.) Shoreham, are largely over I’m afraid! You know where I am for Vampire stuff – just let me know as soon as you have a wants list.

Bruce

The banners from Todays Pilot / Flyer were left overs from the microlight trade show on the previous 2 days.

Yes, the weather was poor yesterday but those who stayed to the end (our ‘tent’ packed up at 4pm ish) were rewarded by a few movements – including a Hiller, Luscombe, GA7, AA5, Vans RV6 – not many but at least some made an effort.

to MarkG – what exactly did you expect? – there were some gems to be had but you needed to search for them. On a good day it is an event well worth attending – at the May event last year there were over 100 aircraft visitors and a lot more classic cars/bike/lorries. As far as our stand went it was a great success – took over double the money we took on Sunday in the nice weather – go figure ! 🙂

I believe it was sponsored by Flyer magazine – at least, that is the impression that all the banners gave…

Flood.

I wasn’t aware that was a British Standard for Aerojumbles that had been infringed. All the people at Popham did their best and got stuffed by the weather. Would you have stood there all day in the rain with a table full of aeronuatical junk waiting for someone in a snorkel to come past and buy? What do you expect flat-packed Sea Furies?

A junk sale is a junk sale, be it a car boot, an auto jumble or an aero jumble (of which popham tries to be both and in the good weather almost suceeds) and the bottom line is that most of it is junk. Sometimes you get a pearl sometimes you just get the seafood.

Now, if you want to organise a better one . . . .

or even define what an aero jumble is?

MH

So went along to Plopham today (called so because that is what the ground was made of) and got wet.

It should be called Plopham because that’s exactly what it was…a load of plop. Undoubtedly the worst and most pointless event laughingly called an “aerojumble” that I have ever attended. More like a car-boot sale. I thought Shoreham was bad, but Popham today redefined the word. Do FlyPast still sponsor this dead duck? 😡

The weather made the exits and entrances like a skid pan earlier in the day.
A couple on their motorbike fell off as the machine lost grip on the tracks and toppled over. The passenger escaped injury but her husband ended up underneath the Yamaha and with an very serious broken leg.
Not nice. 🙁

So went along to Plopham today (called so because that is what the ground was made of) and got wet. At least it had stopped raining when we got there. Lots of people had gone home. Very few visitors. A Hiller came in while I was there.

Bought a suitable PTT switch and came home.

Shame as the fly-in is usually excellent and the censored Mr Richardson does a first rate job at Popham in general. He is looking well.

Nearly got stuck in the car park but found a dry-ish way out.

MH

I shall be there tomorrow. I need to buy a PTT switch of I can find one. H.I. wants to look at the plant stalls and stuff. I will probably last about twenty minutes until I decide to go and nail some more bits on the red beastie. I’ll probably be there early afternoon. Say hello if you know me.

MH

I was there too today amoungst the ‘triangles’, tomorrow’s more my cup of tea but a couple of nice Yak 18T’s today. Saw the Vampire go through to Abingdon, and a T-6.
1) Yes thats BNPV with dummy, must have a look at it tomorrow, forgot it now has the dummy!
2)The Tiger is G-BPHR I think is based on a private strip at Swindon, its a Popham regular.