I have not been to any of the Hubb meets for a good few years as for me they simply got to big - but thats just me lots of people love the big events, however i still attend a few mini meets. I agree with Tim on one thing maybe a limited number meet would be well attended. If two were held and would help people to attend one if the dates clashed with another, maybe I am over simplifying it as i realise more organisation is needed but one meet could be aimed towards the commercial sponsorship type event that the current meet seems to have become maybe with bands etc and the other could be without the commercial stuff offering talks and bike skill events / riding etc more like the original format. It should be easier to accommodate smaller events and remain cost effective with a bit profit in it for HU. Jake.

Re the finances, to answer your second comment first - trying to charge a subscription fee is literally the death knell for any forum, so it's not going to happen. People want free, and they can always go somewhere else- it may not be as good, or as complete, but if you charge, they'll spend an inordinate amount of time looking to save a couple of quid. ESPECIALLY when they're new to the forum, and see a fee charged.

Re the numbers - nowhere near 1000, and the important part is that only about 500 paid, many at discounted early bird rates - the rest are vendors and their staff who paid very little, presenters, clubs, authors and press all get in free, and so on.

Until you've run a big event, you can't begin to comprehend how costly it is. The Donington venue itself is the biggest, but not the only cost of the event - A/V alone is 4.5k, marquee rental, shower and toilet rentals, insurance!, etc. and Sam and Iain don't work for free, but they're desperately underpaid!

Anyway, doesn't matter how you cut it, in the end we just barely broke even, and if the weather forecast had been bad we'd have lost money. Two weeks before the event the weather was so bad that Donington raised the possibility of cancelling our booking so as not to mess up their fields, at which point we would have had to declare bankruptcy. The truth is that we don't have the resources to carry this level of financial risk.

AND we had loads of complaints about the noise, and the food. So, the decision was made to find a new venue - and we've been looking since June, and are still looking - literally a hundred or so hours so far, and not done. We desperately wanted one for 2015, but couldn't make it happen. Who knows, the perfect place might drop into our laps tomorrow and be available too! So keep looking and sending in ideas!

We really appreciate all the positive feedback and it's important to us that people understand this decision wasn't taken lightly. As longtime HU folk know, it's just us two, and we work very hard to make it all happen, and without the volunteers it couldn't be done at all. We've ALWAYS had the best interests of travellers at the centre of what we do, (our first tagline was "travellers helping travellers") but we need to eat and pay the rent, and hopefully put a few pennies aside for an eventual retirement.

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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Just a few moments ago, someone asked me about renewing their membership, which brought me back to your comment about subscription.

Note that we have had a voluntary subscription / Membership system for a very long time! While we deeply appreciate those who do contribute, only a tiny percentage ever have...

It's only US$20, which is what, three or four pints - maybe? And it goes a long way to helping HU survive, and at the same time gives you extra privileges such as more photo storage space, more PM's and more. It also allows us to acknowledge your contribution in your HUBB status - for example see Jake's above - instead of 'Registered User', you can be a 'Contributing Member'! See all the benefits here: membership and subscribe now!

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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Always amazes me the number of people who want something for nothing. Yet they'll spend several thousands on their vehicle or that touratech gadget they don't actually need.
Must admit I was a tad irritated when I discovered some of the club attendees got in for £0. They had access to all the same events & facilities that I did.
Yet I had not only paid but did a few hours volunteering - which I enjoy, so not complaining, just highlighting out the imbalance.

There are quite a few travel-related events springing up & many charge well over the HU cost, yet they're still well attended.

Out of interest, how do the other large HU events compare to the UK one in terms of costs & complaints?

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Elaine

Striving to live the ordinary life in a non ordinary way

Might be worth investigating Doncaster Racecourse. You might need to do some negotiations on the showers and such as they have the place the jockeys use. Obviously all other facilities are there and its A1, M1, M18, M62 and an airport and mainline train station make it ideal. Its also midlands sort of. Hotels, Supermarket etc all nearby. Lots of hard surface and lots of grass although no formal campsite but pleanty of space to do so.

Failing that any Racecourse may be an idea.

Thanks for the idea Neill, place is fabulous, but their prices are astronomical!

There may be a much smaller racecourse that's better, we'll keep an eye out.

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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Sorry I hadn't got to this Elaine!

To answer in order:

Club members - there was a reason! The idea was to make sure Clubs came to the event and supported it, and as well did some promo for the event to their members! I'm not sure in the end how well it worked, it is one of the things that's up for evaluation for the next HU event. You have to keep trying things!

Great to hear you enjoyed the volunteering, it always seems to work well for the volunteers, they make great connections with new people they wouldn't have met otherwise, and most volunteer again the next year!

Good to hear the other events are more expensive, that will make it easier to charge appropriately. We are often told at our other events that we should be charging more for such an amazing event! Draw your own conclusions.

We greatly appreciate your support!

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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

I did realise the price and of course thats a big factor.

What about a school ? Thinking locally, as thats all I can do really. Theres a school near my Dads house with a large field, fenced in of course. And surely they will have a assembly hall and toilets and showers. Its in pretty much the same area as the Race Course i mentioned. During the summer holidays its of course unused so if the event is in the summer then it might be able to be negotiated. No idea how you'd go about that but it would be cheap, i'm sure. They used to run the RGS event at a school and that worked pretty well.
https://goo.gl/maps/nP8DT
The green space in the middle of this map is the school. Its part of Hallcross Comprehensive. Its near all the other stuff on Lakeside.

Theres also Castel Park just up the road and thats the rugby Ground and that also has all the things you require. Not sure about the parking on the grass though!
Conferences | Castle Park

A couple of suggestions for a venue...

Duncombe Park, Helmsley or Sledmere House, Nr Driffield.

Don't know what their costs are like but both have hosted large bike events in the past.

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Current stable: 2004 TDM900

I seem to remember that there are a number of large Scout Camp and activity centres all over the U.K. Tolmers is one that comes to mind. These places usually have both lots of facilities with classrooms etc. as well as the usual camping/catering. Dunno if availbale for a bunch of bikers, but maybe worth a shout!

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-''It is better to walk alone than with a crowd going in the wrong direction''. ( Herman Siu)
-'' Live life then give life '' (www.lltgl.org.uk)

Hi can some one please let me know of any Hubb meets this summer . I have been meaning to to visit the big hubb weekener for long time but have always been traveling when its on :-( So make a point of doing it this year sadly just read its not happening this year :-( so can some one please help me locate a mini hubb meeting ? Many thanks J :-)

Just a thought you can check out the Norfolk show ground , large area showers bar infact every thing you might need for a bike event

You are right in the correct forum, sub-forum or whatever the correct terminology is:-
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...s-meetings-uk/

Regarding earlier suggestions, I suspect that all of these racecourses, county show grounds and the ilk are always going to be excessively expensive - they cater for, and are designed to deal with, 1000s of people.
Smaller places mentioned already are essentially the more middled-sized faciities such as the schools, university halls of residence, training places (such as the fire training college in the Cotswolds) and even the small Counties that have show grounds in proportion to their size.
And, yes, scouting facilites, outdoor activity centres + youth hostels!
Then there are commercial camping sites.
But they are not all central to the UK and some of them take bookings only when it suits them.

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Dave

Hi Lostworld, we have European events happening in Germany from May 14-17 and Ireland (NI) from June 26-28, depending on how far you want to ride! There will also be an event at Haggs Bank in the autumn, but date not yet confirmed. Always check the Events page for the most up to date list all over the world!

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Susan Johnson

Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

It does strike me as a little strange that the mantra, to date, has been to find a central point within the UK: that is a big constricting factor that is self-imposed so far = Ripley for a few years and then the other location.

Why not a meeting for the north, and another for the south in the same year?
Or, why not have a single "national" UK meeting and move it around the UK annually so that each year a proportion of the "travellers" have their chance to just pop down the road while others have to put in a few more miles?

Just got me pondering for a moment.

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Dave