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An important announcement regarding BRITCON
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Now to be held at UMIST, MANCHESTER,
Thursday 19th - Sunday 22nd August
Following the successful conclusion of last year's event we immediately
began to look to the future of the event and despite the obvious and
growing popularity of BRITCON there was an underlying problem. I am sure that those
of you who attended would agree that to hold the entire event in one gigantic room was a fantastic experience, but this was only possible at
great expense. It became obvious that unless we could secure a reduction in costs from Loughborough that the event was simply unsustainable.
Regretfully that has not been possible. Last year our financial loss was well over
£3000, principally because our charges had increased some four fold from the previous year. In addition the new location required carpeting as
protection for the arena floor and the costs of this were in addition to the other
increases. Nevertheless we remain committed to ensuring the survival of BRITCON.
A further difficulty was that Loughborough could not guarantee any security of tenure for subsequent years and we were required to renegotiate
rates and availability on an annual basis. As you can well imagine this has proved to
be an uncertain and unsatisfactory way to proceed and so when this year's rates were announced indicating that there would be a further 7%
increase we decided that if the event was to survive that changes had to be made.
BRITCON has become a victim of its own success and now requires over 16,000 sq. ft. of open floor space. Combine this with our desire to retain a
convention style format with both affordable accommodation and reasonable hiring rates and the challenge becomes obvious. In addition, we have
learned through innumerable site visits to venues up and down the country that none
are completely ideal for our purposes.
Some of you may recall that in 2002 we assisted the Mind Sports Olympiad to host their event alongside ours, and all concerned considered that it
had been a successful collaboration. However MSO decided to move to UMIST in 2003 and knowing of our difficulties were keen to encourage us to join
them. To cut a very protracted and long story short this is exactly what has happened. The benefits and synergy between our two organisations appear
to be many, but as always there will be unforeseen problems as we bed into the new location, and we ask for your patience and understanding during
this transition.
In respect of BRITCON, the ethos and character will remain largely unchanged but we think that there will be several significant benefits.
We are now able to ensure that the cost of the event to players is reasonably controlled over the next 5 years, and that our policy of
allowing juniors free entry is maintained. We now have security of tenure for 5 years
at agreed incremental increases.
We are at an easily accessible City Centre Campus, with greatly enhanced transport facilities, especially useful for our many overseas
participants.
We will enjoy all the benefits of the Mind Sports Olympiad and our prize-winners will be awarded Olympiad medals.
We will be the opening event in a festival of gaming that will run for two weeks.
All of the following features are retained
A full 2 day trade Show (SAT & SUN)
The Britcon Journal
Four days, six games
Bring & Buy
Demonstration and Participation Games
Wargamers Bar and free beer vouchers
Pub Quiz and Yellow Jersey awards
Various accommodation packages on site to suit all pockets
Prizes for all categories including Best Demo/Participation/Display Game, Best Sportsperson, Best Trader, Best Terrain, Best Painted Armies,
Competition Period Winners, Pub Quiz, Free Delegates Badge Prize Draw, Top Team Fantasy League Manager.
For further information on any aspect of Britcon please contact BHGS - BRITCON The White Cottage, 8 West Hill Avenue, Epsom, Surrey, UK. KT19
8LE
E-mail BHGS@slitherine.co.uk
Further details and information will appear on the web site in the near
future
J.D.McNeil
BHGS
http://WWW.BHGS.CO.UK
Please remember to mention Wargames Forum when contacting traders!
