In this update:
Early cancellation has meant fall backs have been already achieved by most societies who were attending this event. There is to be a scaled down American Civil War Society and Southern Skirmish Association Event at Rockingham Castle hosted by the Castle itself. Members of the History Fair Team will helping organise and set this up. Jo Baker will be in role of Societies Co-ordinator. The event will be held in the Castle grounds, not the Great Park. Details pending, please watch the Castle website for further news.
Rockingham Castle Website: http://www.rockinghamcastle.com
The Sealed Knot have a self-funded event elsewhere, details will be on their website shortly. Other re-enactment events for this year will be published later this month on this site.
We have been overwhelmed by messages of sympathy, well wishers and condolences for the situation we have fallen into. On behalf of the company, the Organisers, Sally Green, Jo Baker and m'self, can we thank you for the endless stream of messages, the emails, texts, telephone calls, post arriving. We did not in truth know how much History Fair meant to so many, many people. We are completely and utterly stunned by the response. There has not been any negative comments, we have had so many offers and suggestions, we are still to hold talks on our future and will be reviewing our options but in the light of these, we now at least have some hope of a way forward.
Sally Green personally lost £30,000 as sole sponsor for History Fair over the two years, we ran the event and burned most of her life savings on it. Many of you have asked if you could help her in anyway by way of a thank you. Please stop off at the Sally Green Costume stall / tent, at any of our events this year. Treat yourself to a new piece of costume (kit / garb etc.), make this the year that you poshed up the look a bit, or got that super warm cloak, coat or gown to stay snug and cope with all this Global Warming going on! Every garment you buy helps Sally clamber back up again and will benefit you even more so than anything else. See her website at http://www.sallygreen.co.uk
If you will be at T.O.R.M. http://www.reenactorsmarket.co.uk 13th to 15th March this coming weekend, please give Sally a big hug as her Mum passed away two weeks ago after a long illness and she will need your love and sympathy after the Funeral on Thursday. Thank you.
Thank you to everyone who remembered Jo Baker in all this. She appreciates the support too, cancellation was a bitter blow to her and she has put a lot of now wasted work into what was to be our third year. Sally and I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for her slaving away at setting up our first two triumphant and memorable History Fair at Rockingham Castle events. Jo is part of the organising team, of the Tintagel Fair, in August see more at http://www.tintagel-show.com
My mum and family have been superbly looked after by the Iain Rennie Hospice At Home Trust. My disabled father and grandmother have benefited from their work and I would like to give something back to the Iain Rennie Trust. Their care has been first rate and they have helped in many different ways. If you want to make a donation, please visit the Iain Rennie Hospice website http://www.irhh.org – they have several donation systems. Please add reference for my mum, Christine Jennings as you see fit.
Call to Arms (Events) Ltd.
Duke Henry Plantagenet
1 Lyng Lane, North Lopham
DISS IP22 2HR
Text msgs: 07872 681013
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Sorry for absence of direct link but spam harvesters preclude this
It is with deep and bitter regret, that I finally have to admit we have failed to get this show off the ground this year, due entirely to lack of funding. Sally Green Historical Costumes entirely funded History Fair 1 and 2, you owe it to Sally Green for funding the super shows we had, and on that she has burnt over £30k of her entire life savings. For this third year, we had been heavily reliant on a single sponsor on the belief that this time, with the increasing gate potential, the reputation of History Fair which was building, the genuinely friendly "muck in together" attitude of the societies, caterers and traders who supported us like the stars they are, the solid backbone of one of the best "Yellow Jacket" teams it has been my pleasure to work with - a belief we could pull it off and produce the greatest yet.
No money, no show. Hurts.
For the societies, caterers and traders looking forward to this event, it is a major annoyance, for some of the traders, an early season event collapsing is going to be a disaster or at the very least a lean time. We had managed to build a super, working partnership with most of the attending groups who loved the buzz of a big, multi-era, without the excessive regulation and nit picking, blended with a very unique insanity. Time after time, I've heard the phrase, there really is no other show like it, followed by an entirely different reason from the last.
For the public, it destroys the chance to see the biggest and the best societies in the Living History and Heritage industry, performing together and a vast range of eras covered by a multitude of societies and groups. The insane sight of a site full of tents from a thousand years with a couple of huge teepees in the middle of it. So much gunpowder being blown up, that the show actually fell into the Anti-Terrorism Provisions. The only relief will be not having to read the terrible attempts at puns in the local newspaper coverage headlines.
For the team it is a dreadful disappointment. The "Yellow Jackets" have a lifetime of beertent stories from the first two shows and there would have been more no doubt. With so many re-enactors, so many traders, so much gunpowder - something will go wrong. Disastrous, Nearly Disaster-except-for-pure-bl00dy-miracle-ous, Side-Splittingly Hilarious, Hilari-Afterwards-But-Brown-Trouser-Time-When-It-Happened-ous. Stories which now will never be told.
For the company, it leaves one director bankrupt, another with her life savings burnt beyond recovery and the last one in his usual penniless state, no change there at least. One could make the usual noises about recession, credit crunch, serial money supply failure, serial crunch, and Gordon Brown. However, all the good excuses have already been claimed by the Banking industry, so there is nothing left to say, except we boxed it. Spare a thought too for our sponsor, who was funding this on the profits, the profit in fact, of a now failed business deal which now leaves him without a roof, our offer of crash space stands but he will have to fight the Mrs. for the sofa.
For most of you this now means a hopefully not-too-last-minute scrabble round to find an alternative to a long, wet weekend. The organiser's decision to cancel now went Triumvirate and I lost. It leaves all concerned time to re-organise and contemplate other options, and I sincerely hope you will find a profitable recourse - or indeed, a pleasurably pointless and enjoyable division to lighten your busy lives.
For me personally, it's the end the road. My mother is dying of cancer, it was my last chance to prove I could have achieved more than just being a failed directory publisher. A donation to the McMillan Hospice who are looking after her would have been a nice touch. Was not to be.
Game over.
(All and any variations to this statement, future if there is any, will be reflected on http://www.historyfair.co.uk - please refer to the website in the first instance NOT the rumour mill)
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