Pickering Steam Rally

[Headless]

Looking at another forum it would appear that there are major troubles at Pickering tonight. Also confirmed via text messages recieved. The steamers blocked the exits at about 4.30pm after it became apparent that non of them were going to get paid. It also appears that an organiser has apparently disappeared with the takings for Thursday thru Saturday ( there were supposed to have been record numbers of visitors).

Hopefully it will be sorted and those that have been promised payment, either engine owners or helpers, will get what was promised. Bearing in mind that the same organisers were also due to run Clumber Park rally earlier in the year and that was cancelled, what will happen to other events forcast for as early as next week from the same organisation.

[danthetangye]

Originally Posted by Headless

Looking at another forum it would appear that there are major troubles at Pickering tonight. Also confirmed via text messages recieved. The steamers blocked the exits at about 4.30pm after it became apparent that non of them were going to get paid. It also appears that an organiser has apparently disappeared with the takings for Thursday thru Saturday ( there were supposed to have been record numbers of visitors).

Hopefully it will be sorted and those that have been promised payment, either engine owners or helpers, will get what was promised. Bearing in mind that the same organisers were also due to run Clumber Park rally earlier in the year and that was cancelled, what will happen to other events forcast for as early as next week from the same organisation.

No change there then... My Father had appearance money payment issues with the Pickering organisers back in the 1970s.

Dan

[Stationary Stu]

I'm sure it was the same organiser that took over the Chester-le-Street rally in Co. Durham they ran it for two years then never ran it again and it was a very good rally and no one can find out why it was never ran again.

Stu

[Windrush]

I was talking to a pal of mine at the North Rode rally a couple of months ago, he has a miniature steamer, and he told me THEN that the steamers at Pickering were not getting expenses or coal! It seems odd then that this has happened UNLESS they were later promised some recompense to tempt them there. He did say that the local coal merchants were not supplying coal as they were out of pocket from last time.
To be honest we went to the rally last year as an exhibitor for the first time, I was not immpressed with the water facilities for an event of that size, (a 4 day event) and there were no programmes either (I am guessing that a bill had not been paid?), it could be a brilliant rally if only some more money was spent on exhibitors requirements. Couldn't fault the engine steward though so this is not a snipe at him! Such a shame that it has problems which could be easily remedied.

Pete.

[Coal Miner]

The companies running these events have had financial problems over the years, yet appear to rise Phoenix like from the ashes. I haven't attended any of these either as an exhibitor nor visitor for many years as they were very disorganised and appeared to me to be run solely for the financial benefit of the organisers without any regard for the exhibitors nor the public.
Barry.

[3PhaseMotorman]

I was told yesterday, as we packed up from Pickering, that the event organizer was in debt so most of the profits from the rally is going to pay this off.
As for the steam lads blocking the entrance off, I did not see any evidence of this, we left at about 5:50, and got off the field no problem.
But the rally is in that much of a mess that one of the long serving stewards there dosn`t think the rally will be on the Pickering showgroung, if, indeed on at all, next year.

[Headless]

In the interests of all on this forum I have posted this message from the Traction Talk forum.

Gentlemen

I am a Director of Events and Exhibitions Limited, the organisers of this years rally at Pickering.

There are many rumours and posts many of which are total fiction. This is as I see it.

I know nothing about steam or events and have lost considerable sums, however I (and my family) invested in Simon Boak through Events and Exhibitions, he brought his previous team with him, some of whom work like crazy and deserve so much more.

He was paid by the company and he had complete autonomy for running the office from an organisational point of view and the total organisation of this years rally at Pickering.

The only parts I personally became involved in were as follows: the money/cash collections (due to the problems from previous years), the hiring of the bars and part of the gate security (where there had been some issues previously), apart from that Mr Boak organised the whole event.

Mr Boak was tasked to produce budget sheets, which he did, but as I do not know or understand steam events these were presented as totals rather than individual figures and names which would have meant little to me. His budgets showed it would have been a worthwhile event commercially.

However when I asked him on Thursday how much the exact payouts would be for the Sunday I was told "absolute maximum £160,000". I thought that was slightly high but nevertheless acceptable and do-able.

He repeated that figure to me at various times and throughout the weekend the show infrastructure (ie people who make a living from shows, security, electricians, toilets, water, etc etc) were paid.

My wife who was manning the cash office kept asking Boak for the final payout lists which were never forthcoming so on Saturday she started compiling her own list from people who had either been paid or by then were known to want monies. Boak had also by then produced a list of engine men and attractions which needed paying. His list came to £89,000.

At 1am Sunday morning when I was dealing with an incident on the main gate my wife called me and said that she had just finished compiling the list and there was a massive problem in that it wasnt £160k to pay out but more like £300,000.

The event takings were as follows approximately: £40k Thursday, £40k Friday, £95k Saturday and £50k Sunday. (Total £225k).

Obviously decisions had to be made at that point.

SB was contacted early Sunday and went to the office but his only solution was to pay some of the engine men and not others but this still was not going to solve the problem. (Unfortunately two of the main ones had already been paid) (One engine man also told me that his amount included £2500 from last years event which obviously I had nothing to do with!)

I made a decision that the people who rely on the event for a living (ie the show infrastructure) should be paid first, mostly that had been done on previous days anyway.

I also said that I was not prepared to let all the lads and girls, who have worked all weekend for the event to go ahead, not to get paid. I did not have their hours or timesheets at that point.

Therefore I had to keep some monies back to ensure they got paid. My wife wanted to make a statement whilst still on site and with the help of two very loyal supporters she did that to an audience of understandably angry engine men and attraction suppliers.

I left the site with all remaining monies, some £30k to cover their wages. They will be paid out today.

If there is anything left over following that I will try my hardest to distribute it fairly. There is also some monies still due in from credit card payments that too will be added to the figure for distribution, as will any assets that the business has once they are sold.

Unfortunately I cannot afford to put more monies into this business and therefore am cancelling all further events that it was intending to run with immediate effect. My association with Simon Boak (despite a text from him timed at 6.30pm Sunday night saying "he didnt know what all the fuss was about" and wanting to meet this morning) is terminated with immediate effect.

Please accept my sincere apologies for what has happened.

I will just leave this thought with you: Simon Boak can organise a good show but at what cost? believe me there are many people from over the years asking that very same question! I was warned and didnt heed that warning - a bad mistake that has left myself and my family devastated and some £120k out of pocket.




If you are booked in for Astle Park Steam rally please check as this is organised by this company.

[Windrush]

Thank's for posting that Andy, no doubt SB will reappear in "another guise" somewhere in the future as he seems to have few scruples!

Pete.

[martinpaff]

Isn't that interesting - all the "goings-on" behind the scenes that the rest of us don't see. I have nothing to say about this particular show (because I didn't go, don't know the people, am not qualified to comment) but it seems like a general rule that those shows run by an enthusiastic committee of amateurs are good and those run by "professional" event organisers have trouble!

At first sight it seems that if it weren't for the payments to the steamers, the takings would cover the expenses. Since we attend shows entirely at our own expense it's difficult to feel sorry for the traction engine people. As an aside: I wonder how many are declaring the payments as income! Since they are attending shows and being paid for it, they are therefore "professional showmen" and should be paying tax on the income - it seems to me...

Ho-hum, just musings really...

Martin.

[listerdiesel]

Thanks for the update, Andy, much appreciated.

It's a huge shame that such an enormous show and a big part of the summer calendar should have these sort of problems, especially in view of previous occurrences.

Mr Boak should really place his side of the account on record so we all know what has happened, having one side of the story is not going to help matters for the future.

Peter