We are unable to provide seating or catering within the Main Hall or Atrium at this year’s show. Catering will however be available from units in the Plaza and near the Atrium, and outdoor seating will be available in the Plaza using a large number of picnic benches. A dry day is forecast so these will provide an outside area in which visitors can eat or drink, or just meet, up to six to a table, without the need for face coverings.
To make it easier for visitors to use these facilities during and between the two sessions across which the show will run, access will be available via the Foyer, which runs across the front of the Atrium. What this means is that attendees to the morning session will be able to access seating and catering during or after they leave the session, and those attending the afternoon session can arrive early, pass through the Ticket Booths and access the seating and catering.
To facilitate this, we will provide colour coded paper wristbands when visitors give up their entry ticket at the Ticket Booths. The wristband is what will provide access to the Atrium and Main Hall, so visitors will need to put it on before entering these areas. Access will be via the doors from the Foyer to the Atrium. In addition, at the start of each session, visitors will have direct access into the Atrium via wide, external doors, so that we speed access to the main hall and avoid bottlenecks.
Turning now to the Annual General Meeting, which takes place in the Peterborough Suite at 13:00, our Articles require a minimum of 50 members for the AGM to proceed. We have already stated that we’ll streamline the AGM whilst maintaining compliance with our Articles, to limit it to around 30 minutes. Any member attending the AGM who has not bought a ticket to the afternoon session will be offered a wristband providing complimentary access to the afternoon session. Any member who has bought a ticket to the afternoon session will be able to access the AGM.
Ticket sales are accelerating as Show Day approaches, following the pattern of previous shows, with approaching 1,000 already sold, slightly more for the morning session than that in the afternoon. If you want to attend, you have until 09:00 on Thursday 24th June to secure the session of your choice. This link will take you straight to our dedicated ticket sales site.
Alan Regan, Chairman & Membership Secretary