At each Festival, we place a book in the entrance hall and encourage visitors to write their comments about the event, whether good or bad, and any suggestions they may have.
We always address any concerns you raise and here we share the most common ones with you, together with our responses. Your views are important to us, so please continue to express your comments in our book on Festival day.
The Venue
Hulme Hall is not large enough – it becomes too crowded
We have become a victim of our own success! The hall becomes somewhat crowded at times, but that does make for a terrific atmosphere. We sell a fixed number of tickets, available in advance only, so that we have complete control of the numbers, keeping them well within the limits specified by the Health & Safety regulations for this venue.
Hulme Hall has good road and rail access from all directions, is well placed for Liverpool Airport (yes, some do fly in!) & there is plenty of local free parking. It is also a beautiful building in an area which offers plenty of places of interest for those partners wishing to escape the delights of rubber stamping. Indeed, many of you say that the lovely venue adds to your enjoyment of the day.
We have tried to find a larger venue, within the region, which can at least match all the benefits of Hulme Hall, but cannot come up with anything better. We review the layout of stands each year and make adjustments to minimise blockages wherever we can.
To help avoid congestion, we would appeal to those accompanied by small children not to bring prams & pushchairs if at all possible! It would also help if visitors would not congregate in the entrance hall or doorways as this often causes obstruction.
It’s too hot, with poor ventilation
The building is more than 150 years old & the windows have been over-painted many times, making some impossible to open. As soon as we have access to the building, we do open as many windows as we can and the doors in the main hall. The day before the show, we ask for the central heating to be turned off, but it takes a long time for the heat to dissipate.
The Services
The toilets are in a poor state
Could the refreshment area be larger, with faster service?
The ramp for disabled access is difficult to negotiate
These matters are the responsibility of Hulme Hall’s management, from whom we hire the venue and to whom we have passed your comments.
We check the toilet facilities at the start of the day to ensure they are clean & stocked with paper, etc, but if you subsequently have cause for complaint, please speak to anyone wearing a HSNW badge & we'll immediately ask Hulme Hall's management to deal with the problem.
We have no control over the refreshments area whatsoever – please direct any comments to the Hall’s own staff at the counter there.
We are told that, because Hulme Hall is a listed building, the regulations do not permit any alteration to the frontage to provide a permanent ramp for disabled access, so there is unfortunately no alternative to the existing wooden ramp.
More seating is needed for resting and for partners not interested in stamping
Some people stay for too long in the rest room, not giving others a chance to sit
We have already increased the amount of seating available by setting aside the third room exclusively as a rest area. To go any further would mean losing retailers, which nobody wants! We would ask everyone using this area to be considerate of others by keeping their rest periods as short as possible when people are waiting for a seat.
We have been lucky to have had very good weather for almost all the shows so far. As an alternative to our rest room, there are some lovely "green" areas immediately outside & in the village suitable for rest & recuperation.
We stamp your wrist when you arrive so that you can go in & out as you wish – if you are over-enthusiastic when washing your hands to the extent that the stamped image disappears, please ask for another on your way out!
For anyone not interested in stamping or wishing to take a break from the event, you may like to see Port Sunlight’s website for places of local interest to visit close by, including an art gallery and a garden centre.
The Festival Itself
Please start earlier and finish later
Many of our retailers start setting up on Friday afternoon, but not everyone is able to do this. As soon as we have access to the building at 8:00 am on the Saturday, everyone works tremendously hard to be ready by 10:30.
Once we have closed at 4:00 pm, the retailers have only 2 hours to pack up and leave before our 6:00 pm deadline for vacating the premises which, as you can imagine, is very difficult for them. So unfortunately longer opening hours are impossible.
Please could we have a 2-day show
Spreading the show over 2 days would increase the retailer's costs alarmingly – doubling the stand fees & overnight accommodation, etc – as well as doubling the workload and costs for the Club's Festival Organising Committee!
Experience at other major 2-day events shows that a large proportion of shoppers attend on both days, rather than on one day or the other, but do not spend twice as much money.
Let’s have the show more often than twice a year
This Festival used to take place just once a year, but we did double the frequency in answer to your pleas. We are a Club, not a business, and the hundreds of hours we spend staging each show (do spare a thought for the 4 organisers!) are fitted in around work & family commitments, so it's nice to know that our efforts are appreciated.
Could access be permitted earlier for the disabled?
We do sympathise with the difficulties you face in such a crowd of people and, where possible, we do try to bring you to the front of the queue if you arrive before the doors open. As mentioned above, prior to opening at 10:30 am, the Hall is a hive of activity while the retailers unpack their stock & set up their stands, making it a Health & Safety risk to allow access to any member of the public before that time.
I was assaulted by a huge rucksack in my face
Too many rucksacks on backs – I was nearly knocked over more than once
This is a problem. We understand that people find the use of this type of bag convenient for them, but we would implore them to remember that they're carrying such a dangerous weapon which strikes when they turn!
It's not such a good Festival for those who prefer decoupage, scrapbooking, etc
We are not a general papercraft show or a craft fair. We promote our events as "the North West’s biggest and best specialist rubber stamping occasion" because we aim to bring you retailers who can supply all the things that stampers need to carry out and enhance their craft.
Almost Finally …
It isn’t an easy task keeping so many shoppers, over 30 exhibitors, the Hulme Hall management & staff, Club members & the Festival Committee members happy at the same time, but we do our very best! On balance, judging by all the positive feedback & the Festival’s popularity, we must be getting most of it right. Please do continue to support the event, and don’t forget to add your own comments or suggestions to the book.
And Finally …
Here's just a very small selection from the hundreds of messages you have left in our book over the years . . .
"Another great show - it really is the highlight of my year. Not to be missed."
"Cash and feet ran out before the magic."
"Another wonderful day - worth coming 280 miles from Cornwall. Nice, friendly show."
"Love the opportunity to browse and find items you can't get at home. Good selection of stamps and lots of ideas."
"As a veteran of 5 years, I can still say I've come away with new knowledge and inspiration."
"Never disappointed when I come here - I love every minute."
"Top class exhibitors - best stamping show in the UK."
"Exciting, challenging, fun, inspiring."
"I loved it. Everywhere you look there's another card or something else to give you inspiration."
. . . and by e-mail . . .
"May I just say a HUGE thank you to all your staff for a wonderful show at Hulme Hall on Saturday 10 October. I thought it was a really good show, well organised, brilliantly arranged and there were some impressive big names who were really patient and helpful. I won't be travelling all the way to Ally Pally in London any more when I have a cracking stampers show on the doorstep. Thank you, thank you, thank you."
"Just got back from the Festival and again have to compliment all concerned. I attended with Dad, who is wheelchair bound and was given excellent care and consideration for the duration of our visit. We had a brilliant day."