What a show! If the comments the Miniatura team have received are anything to go by, the Stoneleigh Autumn Miniatura was a super success with exhibitors and visitors alike loving the venue, the atmosphere and the facilities.
As Andy has already pointed out, we had 93 exhibitors and 1,600 visitors over the weekend which is a 20% increase on last year, a trend we hope to continue in Spring 2023.
There have been so many complimentary and positive comments on Facebook, confirming that Stoneleigh is the best venue for the show, we wanted to share a few more with you.
From David and Fred at Little Houses Plus and Small World Products, they said, “Well, what a show! Thank you – yes, you, the visitors who made it a pleasure for us to work there and talk to a cheery group of customers. I would also like to thank Andy and his team for putting the whole show together and for making the atmosphere great, so we, the traders and customers had a great time.”
Nickie and Ginnie of Five Valley Bears also had a great time. Ginnie commented, “Thanks to you all. Ginnie and I had a great weekend meeting all the lovely visitors. You and the team are great and the staff from the site were amazing, so friendly and helpful. See you soon xxx.”
Kathy Holden of Delph Miniatures had this to say, “Thanks to Andy and the team, and all the exhibitors who put on a fabulous display! We really enjoyed our day off! Hope to be back with the Delph Miniatures stand as soon as we can.”
So much to see and do
There was so much to do and see at the show getting around to every stall was an impossibility! As well as all the opportunities to shop for our dolls houses, there were some incredible dolls houses simply on display for our entertainment and inspiration. Julie from Dee Daw Designs had brought her amazing Featherstone Hall along after it being ‘retired’ from showing for the last ten years. Julie had to fit a few new light bulbs and rebuild the porch which had got damaged, but otherwise the magnificent hall was fine – and drew crowds throughout the weekend.
Robert Crouch had brought along Crouch Castle – a work in progress at the moment, complete with authentic cobwebs in the dungeons! Dee Dale had built her version of the house from the movie, Beetlejuice with some wonderfully creepy characters. While Rebecca from Miniature Real Estates had built scenes from the popular series Stranger Things. There were some dark and creepy premises and miniatures on newcomers, Crawl Space’s stand. And throughout the exhibition hall there were lots of brilliant Halloween miniatures to be found – and of course sparkling Christmas miniatures lining the shelves.
TV Personalities
A nice surprise for many visitors was to meet five of the contestants from the TV series, The Great Big Tiny Design Challenge. Beth had her own stall – My Mini Maison, displaying beautiful contemporary kitchens, home decor and accessories and Michael had his stall, Michael R Miniatures selling curiosities, fantasy items, characters, hand painted furniture and Ephemera. More on their work and what Beth, Julie, Sharon and Thomas have been getting up to since the show finished on a future blog.
Workshops and demonstrations took place over the weekend giving people the chance to make a miniature or two, perhaps for the first time. A range of clubs and societies put on displays, and of course Pat Cutforth was raising money for Cancer Research once again. More on these next time. And of course, the weekend brought lots of fun, laughter, sales, commissions and conversations.
Andy concluded, “I want to say a great big thank you to everyone who helped make Miniatura so fantastic. The exhibitors excelled themselves as always. The visitors brought so much enthusiasm and created a great “buzz” in the hall. I also want to thank my brilliant team who really are indispensable. And a special thanks to the security and traffic staff, and our shuttle bus drivers. They all went the extra mile and the positive, kind, compliments from visitors prove it. We hope you had a lovely visit, and we will see you all again soon.”
Couldn’t resist sharing this photo with you all. As another TV programme says: “Who’s that behind the mask?”
No prizes for guessing correctly!
Photos by Rob Tysall – Pro Photography.