50 30th June 2012 fairs & markets Publicity paves the way
■ Bath and Norwich events show the value of promoting your antiques event properly
Joan Porter reports
TWO promotional-savvy women who launched successful markets last year have seen their ventures
really take off. The success of Bath’s annual
decorative fair spurred Bath-based graphic designer Naomi Wright to launch a Sunday monthly antiques and vintage market last June in the splendid, vaulted glass-roofed surroundings of Bath’s Victorian Green Park Station. Over in Norwich, monastic cloisters
– traditionally places of tranquillity and silence – are buzzing. The fi ne colonnade of the Grade I-listed medieval St Andrews Halls, part of the most complete friary buildings in the country and used to host receptions, now also echoes to the
Arboretum hosts military book fair
THE National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas, near Lichfi eld in Staffordshire, is set in 150 acres of wooded parkland and home to more than 200 memorials, including the one for the Armed Forces. Saturday, June 30, is Armed Forces
Day and will be commemorated at the arboretum with tributes and parades. It is also where PBFA are holding a one- off small military book fair. Tom Donovan of Turner Donovan
Military Books in Brighton is bringing a collection of works relating to what women did in the First World War. This includes Honourable Women
of the Great War, a Who’s Who of 230 women engaged in nursing and charity work published for subscribers at six guineas in 1918 (£225 now), described by Tom in his catalogue description: ”Leaving aside the eye-watering sycophancy of its prose, this roll-call provides a valuable insight into the war
Above: a selection of books about women’s roles in the First World War, priced between £45 and £120, for sale with Turner Donovan Military Books at PBFA’s one-off military bookfair on June 30.
work of society ladies.” Tackling vice and the perils of
VD was New Zealander Ettie Rout’s passion, and her unusual book Two Years in Paris, privately published by herself in 1923, detailing her tireless work in bringing sex education to the troops who faced greater perils than VD, costs £95. Tel: PBFA on 01763 248400
www.turnerdonovan.com
Left: traders at the Bath antiques and vintage market held every month on a Sunday at Bath’s Green Park Station, which is now expanding into a mid-week market.
“a one-stop shop for dealers to buy stock for their shops, websites and fairs”. Now her standholders want a midweek market, so she is launching another monthly market in September to be held on the fi rst Tuesday of the month – when local auction house Aldridges hold sales, thus hopefully attracting more trade buyers. Helen says of her Norwich success:
“I’ve doubled the number of stalls to 90 and we’re so busy that we’re now spilling over into the adjoining Blackfriars Hall – 100 stalls is the target. “Word of mouth is how I operate. I
sounds of busy monthly antiques and fl eamarkets organised since last year with campaigning zeal by Helen Leith. Naomi vigorously promoted her
event – “higher quality than a car boot, cheaper than an antiques centre and no bric-a-brac” – everywhere that mattered; including Twitter, now with 2000 followers. “I work hard to promote the market as
I feel a very large responsibility to do so,” she said. “The traders all put so much into the day and it’s very much my job to make sure as many people know about the market and visit.” On its fi rst anniversary last weekend,
Naomi’s market was almost full at 60 standholders. Nearly all of them were young with plenty of upcyling and handpainted furniture, sold by people with a passion for old stuff and active supporters of the Antiques Are Green campaign (rather like Spitalfi elds Antiques Market). The websites and names of some
of the dealers who stand at Bath’s market are a giveaway to the eclectic mix on offer:
refoundlove.co.uk;
severnbeachantiques.co.uk; Madame Steptoe’s; Mr Moustache Furniture. Naomi sees the appeal of this market as attracting local and regional dealers:
regularly take calls from new stallholders who’ve been recommended by an existing exhibitor. There’s also a lack of competition in Norwich – we’re the only monthly market in the city and because it’s on a Saturday, and we’re right in the city centre, it’s very busy. “Our range of buyers too has
expanded with all this promotion, including collectors and dealers. Everyone is looking for a bargain today and we certainly have that, which is why we have so much repeat custom.” The next antiques and fl eamarket is on
Saturday, July 21.
www.vintageandantiques.co.uk www.cloistersfair.com
Tim is at the elm
Right: well-known Welsh furniture specialist Tim Bowen will be bringing this fi ne c.1800 century elm cricket table to the Carmarthen Antiques Fair at the United Counties Showground on Saturday and Sunday, June 30 and July 1. The three-legged table from the
Wales/West Country – the best the Carmarthenshire dealer has ever seen – is “in wonderfully fi gured timber” and is priced at £3950. Fair organisers are Carol and Robert
Pugh of Towy Fairs. Tel: 01267 236569
■ BRADFORD-ON-AVON is certainly one of the prettiest towns in the West Country. Just outside Bath, it was the centre of the textiles industry in the 17th century and weavers’ cottages from this period still dot the riverside terraces. Dealer Brian Ashbee, who stands at Cooper Fairs, took over a small monthly Saturday antiques and fl eamarket six years ago and says it’s a very popular little event and that he’s fully booked from one fair to the next. He does have a small orderly queue outside for the strictly 9am opening. Brian’s next fair is on Saturday, June 30. Tel: 0117 960 5946
send fair s and mark ets information to joan porter at
fairs@atgmedia.com
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