03-02-2006, 02:14 PM
Ave richsc,
I'm not too sure how much help I can be but I'll plough on anyway.
Back in 1968 I won the National Wargames Championship in London with an Airfix Roman army. As a result of that success I formed my own Wargames club called the North London Wargames Group. I had a mate who had a directory of wargamers from all over the U.K. I pillaged his directory, with his consent, and created a list of those who lived in North London. I circulated them and got 42 to the first meeting over a pub called The Bald Faced Stag in East Finchley.
I ran the club for six months on my own. I then co-opted six members onto a commitee with me as president. We ran the club together for three years with monthly commitee meetings at my flat.
I single-mindedly drove that club in new directions, for example, an AGM is normally a closed affair for members only. I opened it up and invited other clubs to send members and put on demonstration games etc. We publicised it and got over 300 people to attend. We made £80 out of that event for the club funds. That was in 1969.
In 1970 we hired a hall in the Russell Hotel in central London with our £80 which I had to underwrite. We got national radio, TV and newspaper coverage for that event. We had over 1,100 people and took more that £300 at the door.
The key to our success was trade stands, I sold enough space to pay for the venue. People coming through the door were pure profit for the club. That was probably the very first of these events in the U.K. Now there are numerous events like this every year organised and financed by wargames clubs.
In 1972 I moved away and had to resign from the club. The club is still going and will celebrate it's 40th birthday in 2008. I will celebrate my 65th birthday during the same year.
Trade stands, Trade stands, Trade stands.
Vale
M. Spedius Corbulo
I'm not too sure how much help I can be but I'll plough on anyway.
Back in 1968 I won the National Wargames Championship in London with an Airfix Roman army. As a result of that success I formed my own Wargames club called the North London Wargames Group. I had a mate who had a directory of wargamers from all over the U.K. I pillaged his directory, with his consent, and created a list of those who lived in North London. I circulated them and got 42 to the first meeting over a pub called The Bald Faced Stag in East Finchley.
I ran the club for six months on my own. I then co-opted six members onto a commitee with me as president. We ran the club together for three years with monthly commitee meetings at my flat.
I single-mindedly drove that club in new directions, for example, an AGM is normally a closed affair for members only. I opened it up and invited other clubs to send members and put on demonstration games etc. We publicised it and got over 300 people to attend. We made £80 out of that event for the club funds. That was in 1969.
In 1970 we hired a hall in the Russell Hotel in central London with our £80 which I had to underwrite. We got national radio, TV and newspaper coverage for that event. We had over 1,100 people and took more that £300 at the door.
The key to our success was trade stands, I sold enough space to pay for the venue. People coming through the door were pure profit for the club. That was probably the very first of these events in the U.K. Now there are numerous events like this every year organised and financed by wargames clubs.
In 1972 I moved away and had to resign from the club. The club is still going and will celebrate it's 40th birthday in 2008. I will celebrate my 65th birthday during the same year.
Trade stands, Trade stands, Trade stands.
Vale
M. Spedius Corbulo
![[Image: spedius-mcmxliii.gif]](http://www.nhmgs.org/images/spedius-mcmxliii.gif)
