Ciao
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
15th ICCCR 9-12 AUGUST 2012 HARROGATE YORKSHIRE
This email is being sent to each participant of ICCCR2012 who has booked
and paid in advance.
A separate communication will be sent to all who have registered for the
newsletter, but have not yet booked.
Dear Participant,
Due to circumstances beyond the control of the Organising Team, the
location of ICCCR2012 has had to be changed from Pickering, Yorkshire to
Harrogate, Yorkshire (approx. 43 miles / 70 km west-southwest).
Also, the date of the event has moved forward one week to 9-12 Aug 2012,
due to the Harrogate venue being unavailable on our original dates of
16-19 Aug.
As a booked participant, we are notifying you as soon as possible of these
changes, which were only confirmed on 23-Dec-10. Full details of the new
venue are given below.
Please be reassured: your booking remains entirely valid - there is no need
to rebook.
If you are unable to attend on the new dates (9-12 Aug 2012) we are
offering a full unconditional refund - although we hope this will not be
the case!
If you have paid a deposit for accommodation in the Pickering area, we will
personally negotiate a refund for you on request.
Everything we have planned for ICCCR2012 will go ahead exactly as intended
- the event will be even better due to the improved location and
facilities of the new site.
Harrogate is only a 45 minute drive from Pickering, so the access routes
and local attractions remain very much the same, but with a greater
number of major sites being closer (York, Leeds and the Yorkshire Dales).
The reason for the changes
In 2006, the Organising Team selected Pickering Showground as the best
available venue for ICCCR2012, and reached an 'agreement in
principle' for the use of the site.
In August 2009, the site was sold; obviously, this development was entirely
beyond our control. We made contact with the new owners, who were keen to
host the ICCCR and appeared very likely to make major investments in the
site, so we had no reason to consider changing the venue at that time.
Although we had several constructive meetings with the site owners, by
October 2010 they had failed to provide us with the contract information
as requested. Also, the expected progress had not taken place on site, and
the local authority had placed certain restrictions on its use. We decided
that it had become unsafe to make any assumptions regarding future
progress, as it appeared that the owners' objectives for the site no
longer matched our requirements.
We therefore decided to review our alternative sites.
In the course of this, we re-contacted the Yorkshire Showground at
Harrogate, which we turned down in 2006 because their written quotation
had been far too high for our budget.
In contrast, in December 2010, their new management team provided a very
attractive quotation which was substantially lower than before, whilst
including many more facilities. However, due to longstanding bookings, the
venue was only available one week earlier than the published ICCCR2012
dates.
Having considered all alternatives, the Organising Team decided to accept
the Yorkshire Showground offer and move the ICCCR location and date. The
new venue provides significant benefits for the event, as described below.
We signed the formal contract for the use of the Yorkshire Showground at
Harrogate on 23-Dec-10; the ICCCR2012 venue is therefore now totally
secure.
These are the main additional benefits of the Harrogate venue compared with
Pickering:
• Harrogate is a historic 'spa town' which is popular for
international conferences and shows. As a consequence it has an extensive
range of hotels, guest houses and B&Bs.
• Harrogate is closer to York and Leeds, both of which have major tourist
attractions (York is 20 Miles /35 Km), Leeds is 14 Miles / 25Km).
• The entertainment arena in the main building includes a restaurant,
stage, and dance-floor.
• The main building also provides twice as much covered display area
(5,000M2+).
• All traders will be offered the choice of secure indoor space, or outdoor
space in the adjacent area, both with free tables.
• There are two very large canopied areas for vehicle displays.
• Ten additional smaller buildings are available, and will be used for
international club displays, entertainments and social gathering, and the
event workshop.
• There are surfaced roads throughout the main site and much of the
campsite.
• The auto-jumble / flea-market will be held on hard surfaces - not grass.
• There are permanent toilet and shower facilities - and we will add to
these.
• Electrical hook-ups are available in some camping areas - these will be
on a 'first-comers' basis, except in cases of medical need.
• We have24-hour security on the main site.
• There is an on-site farm shop/delicatessen called “Fodder” specialising
in local Yorkshire produce, opposite the campsite .
• There is a ao