The Little World

But make sure you have an eraser, because you can’t tell when you might have to start rubbing things out.

The Big Local Scale Model exhibition has run very well for quite a number of years. It seems to have been the 21st one this year and that would have been a higher number except for the virus restriction of 2020. It’s been enjoyed by many people during the time.

But it has had the problem that there have been other events on the same weekend – on the same day frequently – as the exhibition. I remember a big football game occurred one year featuring the local team in a championship and it must have cut into exhibition attendance. Other civic events take their toll as well, and if the organisers want to preserve the weekend for the hobby, they can be hard-pressed.

Just this last weekend, an annual costume and street theatre day was held at a local country town to celebrate a historical bushranger and gaol escapee – Moondyne Joe. It is at a location close enough to sap off tourists and families out for a Sunday run. The Sunday attendance at the scale model exhibition was good – much busier than the Saturday crowd – but you wonder if it might have been boosted on a free weekend.

Of course the trouble is that 52 weekends are gazetted for many things by many authorities and no-one has the right to deny anyone else opportunity for display events. The organisers can secure a booking in a venue that might be used by other hobby clubs – that will at least preserve the space for the scale models – but it can not stop other amusements from going to other halls, and going when they jolly well please.

The hobby clubs that have the most advantage in this are the ones that have their own premises – the model railway clubs with their layout buildings and parks – the model flying clubs that have their own dedicated fields – and all the other organisations who have land and space.

There is a dedicated club room for the scale modellers that we resort to each week – I go Tuesday – but it is not set up as a public exhibition venue. Any display would be small and essentially private. We love it there, but you couldn’t get a crowd in.

I wonder how one goes about securing an exclusive date? A 53-week year, perhaps? Little World Week? How firm is the rest of the world about this 365 day business?