| Late January 2002 I received a telephone call from Jim Burton the owner of Tackle company Matchbox. Jim explained that he was going to exhibit some of his fine wares at the Go Fishing exhibition at the NEC and was inviting me to stand with him. Having never been to the show I jumped at the chance and accepted his invitation. This was also the first time that Jim had taken Matchbox to the show and we were all looking forward to the event.
To stage such an exhibition, having never done so before, was no mean feat as expectations were high and everything had to be right. The display itself was the most important thing and was to be impressive to match the quality of the merchandise on display. After all if you have excellent quality products it must be displayed in the right frame otherwise justice would not be done.
Jim and his staff busied themselves making 'display stock' for the show, as this was all it could be as no wares over £10 could be sold on the stand. Rules of the exhibition for tackle manufactures. Tackle retailers could of course as obviously their job was to retail to the public but manufactures could only sell to the trade and so it was to be.
We had heard through the grapevine that ticket sales for the event were going well with pre ticket sales far exceeding the 2001 show. So the printers were visited and countless leaflets and brochures were made all emblazing the Matchbox logo and showing some of the boxes along with a R.R.P. I put together some leaflets for Talkangling and my printer was red hot!
I met up with Jim a few days before the event to discuss one or two things and to collect my pass for the show and everything was set. Whilst all the organisation was taking place, Matchbox had been commissioned by Peter Drennan to make the Drennan Team England boxes and it was decided that the show was to be the launch date for them.
Clive Munslow had also been invited to the show as a representative of Preston Innovations and so we decided to travel together. Friday morning arrived and off we went getting to the NEC for 9.00am as arranged. As I said having never been before I did not really know what to expect, so when I entered the hall I was impressed to say the least. Each and every exhibitor and retailer had done themselves justice with some fine displays in existence. Some companies could obviously afford more space than others ( at a £ cost of course) and were able to demonstrate more of their goods freely but even so every stand was looking good, none more so than the Matchbox stand. Jim and his team had done a tremendous job, as I'm sure those of you that did attend would agree, and the boxes that were on show looked the business.
The show opened at 9.30am and a steady stream of visitors came through the doors and before long we were showing them just how good those boxes are. Also in the run up to the show, Richie Powell a member of the English disabled angling side had also commissioned a box from Jim. This box was on display and very impressive it was too, incorporating a back rest that proved very popular amongst the visitors! The amount of people that enquired about that box was unbelievable, or was it just polite conversation whilst taking a nice rest? Who knows. A steady stream of people came to the stand and before long my voice was hoarse through all the talking, (no comments please!) and this was to be the quietist day!
Five pm came and off we trogged home for the evening absolutely knackered. An early night it was to be ready for the onslaught the next day. (and more printing, all my leaflets went in the first hour!)
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