Model Railroading > Birmingham 2022 Convention

Does anyone have any news about the possible cancellation of the 2022 NMRA Convention in 
Birmingham,England?
Appears to be a clash with the Commonwealth Games scheduled to finish the week before.
Convention facilities and hotel accommodation seems to be the problem.
Nothing is shown on the NMRA website for the convention.
I was planning on going to the convention. A great mix of English Trains and American Trains in one place.
From Downunder.
Graham.

As I understand it the organising committee have chosen the dates specifically to miss the games. The hotels have indicated they will have the space then. I'm not sure they monitor Trainorders but they do have a Facebook page - search there for "nmra 2022 convention - birmingham, uk".

You could also try asking the region to put you in touch with the organisers https://www.nmrabr.org.uk/contact/

You can go here.  There is a "contact us" tab at top of page. Cheers.

Bruce

https://www.nmra2022uk.org/


4745 Wrote:
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> Does anyone have any news about the possible
> cancellation of the 2022 NMRA Convention in 
> Birmingham,England?
> Appears to be a clash with the Commonwealth Games
> scheduled to finish the week before.
> Convention facilities and hotel accommodation
> seems to be the problem.
> Nothing is shown on the NMRA website for the
> convention.
> I was planning on going to the convention. A great
> mix of English Trains and American Trains in one
> place.
> From Downunder.
> Graham.

I read somewhere recently it has been cancelled.

It is cancelled.

Guys,
I am on the organising committee for the 2022 Convention and can post the following Press Release:

NMRA NATIONAL CONVENTION BIRMINGHAM 2022

It is with a heavy heart that we advise that we can no longer run the NMRA National Convention in Birmingham UK in 2022. 

Birmingham City bid successfully to host the Commonwealth Games (similar in scope to the Olympics but for British Commonwealth nations only) in the Summer of 2022 after Durban, South Africa withdrew as host city. This occurred some time after our own bid to host the NMRA National Convention was successful. As a consequence of that we moved our dates back two weeks to accommodate.  Now, as a consequence of the Olympic Games being postponed one year into 2021 due to COVID-19, and the World Athletics Games in Eugene Oregon being postponed one year to the early Summer of 2022, along with the European Athletics Championships in Germany, the Commonwealth Games are now beginning to hold venues and accommodation across the beginning of our convention week. It is possible that the Commonwealth Games dates might change officially. This of itself will put a strain on booking accommodation and meeting rooms and will likely impact the prices to be charged.

Furthermore, our train show location, which is scheduled to play host to a number of indoor sports during the Commonwealth Games, has now confirmed that they cannot guarantee that the venue will be back in a useable condition following the Games, in time for the Convention to run at all in the summer. The National Convention needs to be in the Summer for a number of reasons ranging from availability of accommodation in a city location, to traffic conditions and heritage railways timetables which are geared to the holiday periods. There is also the added concern that travel, particularly international air travel, and hotel availability might not have returned to its pre-COVID-19 levels putting extra strain on our planning.

We apologise to all those who we know were either looking forward to participating as exhibitors or convention attendees and who were planning trips to the UK around the Convention.

Birmingham 2022 Convention Committee


 

4745 Wrote:
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> Does anyone have any news about the possible
> cancellation of the 2022 NMRA Convention in 
> Birmingham,England?

Hold your horses mate. Wait until 2025 and the BIG events being planned now at Darlington, UK, etc., for the 200 birthday of railways...

Was looking forward to a holiday in England at that time.
But RRBaron could be right. A trip to the Darlington celebration could be a good time.
Looking forward to when things could return to return to almost normal.
From Downunder.
Graham.

The way the U.K. is going, it will still be under lockdown.