'Bert'leground 2024 Report!

[Leon]

After 10 years of Battleground, this year we moved to a new venue!

The new hall had more space and much better access so we were really looking forward to our first event, but sadly Storm Bert had other ideas!

The weather on the Friday was fine, although setup was hindered by the venue forgetting to cancel the badminton club and also forgetting to take out all of the hard fencing that surrounds the central courts area.  Once those two wrinkles were fixed we got the tables up in quick time ready for the traders to arrive.

We'd added a few new names this year, including 5 Dice Games, 7th City, Crescent Creations, MarDav Miniatures, Novo Cast, Test of Resolve and War-Drobe, who all brought something new or different along to the event. 

Overnight on Friday the storm gathered pace and by Saturday morning a lot of the higher ground in the north-east had received a rather generous delivery of snow and stopped a lot of our visitors from being able to attend.  We also lost one trader and a few games/societies too, so we switched those tables to seating areas for the day instead.

By opening time we had 32 traders, 22 games, 4 living history groups, and 2 historical talks.  The tabletop sale had been sold out since September but again a few people weren't able to make it and visitors on the day were able to get themselves a spot and sell off some unwanted goods.

The weather started to clear up by midday but by that point the damage had been done to the visitor numbers and we finished the day with 539 through the door, down on the 705 from last year.  But considering the state of the weather across the country, I think we've done really well to get 500+ along and I'd like to thank everyone who attended for making the effort to support the event.  We had some people who'd spent 4+ hours battling the conditions!

We'll have some photos of the day uploaded to Facebook soon, so keep an eye out for those.


So, numbers for the day compared to previous years:

.	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2021	2022	2023	2024
Traders	56	59	68	62	62	64	64	37	48	53	58
Gamers	52	48	53	67	85	87	88	46	84	84	76
Living History	0	0	0	11	4	10	11	12	22	25	14
Visitors	498	517	469	427	607	567	596	472	664	705	539
TOTAL	606	624	590	567	758	728	759	567	818	867	687

The atmosphere in the hall this year was just as good as usual and people were still wandering about and purchasing after 2pm, which was great to see. We'll include some of the blog posts and show reports below too.

Next year's show will be held on Saturday 29th November 2025, so we hope to see you there!


If you come across any other reports please let me know and I'll add them below.

Westerhope blog: http://westerhopewargames.blogspot.com/2024/11/battleground-show-report.html
Carryings On Up The Dale blog: https://www.carryingsonupthedale.com/2024/11/battleground-2024.html
One Man and His Brushes blog: http://onemanhisbrushes.blogspot.com/2024/11/gaming-7dttrr-airfield-assault-at.html

[sultanbev]

Sorry I couldn't make it in the end, lack of funds, but happen a good job given how the weather turned out!

[Steve J]

Well I'm glad the numbers weren't down too much, given the effects of Storm Bert on various parts of the country.

[Dave Knight]

It was a difficult drive on Saturday morning even just from Sunderland and Durham so very well done to those who came from further afield.

The Test of Resolve trade stand is a new venture with this being only our third show after Carronade and Claymore.  It went very well so thanks to our customers, those who stopped by for a chat and of course the organisers for putting on such a fantastic event.

It was also a trip down memory lane as I used to live about a mile from the venue.  Not that I saw much of it in the snow!

I am looking forward to next year already.

[d_Guy]

I always enjoy reports from the shows. Likely, you had little time for taking photos (which are always a plus) but your statistical table was interesting and seems to show a slow rebound from Covid times among the vendors.

Speaking of Burt, I too attempted the drive but two hours in encounter a large puddle of unknown depth. Not the adventurous type, I turned around and went home.

[fred.]

Glad that the big storm didn't cause too much disruption. 

Can't believe how long you have been running this show!

D_Guy - I think it's good you stopped as that puddle is perhaps a bit more than just a puddle 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Well done all