Small programme fair

[dookie]

Hi all,
Just after some information really. I'm fairly new to collecting, and have never been to a programme fair. I've also just started volunteering at Redhill FC (Sussex County Div.1), and they have asked me to run a programme fair as they have a couple of thousand to shift. Now, i was wondering.. how many tables/collectors would a small programme fair hold? We're not looking to do anything major, but it needs to be worth the time/effort. The idea would be to put adverts up to invite other collectors to set up stalls, as well as selling the collection the club already has. Does that sound like something that could work? I was thinking around 15 collectors.. does that sound enough, or would we need more?
Any info/advice greatly appreciated.

[Auchinleckian]

Unless the programmes go back a long way, 40's and 50's, there's not much point in organising a fair to get rid of them. If they're mainly modern issues they're unlikely to (a) sell well, or (B) make much money.
Organising a fair takes a lot of time, organisation, and hard work. If you have the facilities, ie a clubroom, you're halfway there.
It would all depend on whether or not any dealers would go down to Redhill and take a stall themselves. Why don't you put an advert in Programme Monthly saying that you're looking at putting a fair on, and ask if any dealers would like to have a table. If you've got facilities that won't cost you anything to hire you can offer cheap - or free - stall rental which might encourage them to come.

[dookie]

Yeah, that's what we'd be banking on really, some dealers coming down with decent collections to sell. Does anyone know of any dealers in the Surrey/Sussex area that i could contact?

[goonerboy]

I would suggest that you get in touch with a dealer called Ian Hands (you can contact him through ebay, his ID is handyfootball).He is based in Crawley and I think he runs the programme shop at Crawley Town. He also is an experienced fair organiser as i think he organises a fair in London once a month. He can give you advice and you could ask him about taking a stall himself plus for a list of contacts.

[dookie]

That's great, thanks very much goonerboy. I'll get in touch with him.

[stevecpfc1966]

Hi Dookie, i dont live to far from Redhill myself, and would be intrested if you get anything off the ground.
Please let me know

Steve

[dookie]

Will do Steve. Will probably not be for a while though, maybe over the summer, as it is still just an idea in the pipeline, for now.