Euro. In Memoriam.

Sad news to report today.

Euro Miniatures Expo officially is relegated to the history books alongside Euro Militaire when it shuttered in 2016. After 33 years there will no longer be a miniatures concorso held in Folkestone. Although I am not sure about the On-Track show. Is that still on?

I am not near as devastated as I was when the original Euro collapsed after thirty-years, still I am filled with a certain melancholy. I attended Euro Miniatures Expo in 2017 and 2018 and it was such a delightful feeling to be in Folkestone at all the old haunts with a model concorso at the Leas Cliff Hall as well. Steve Kirtley gave it a proper go. But Brexit was bad news for Brits overseas and foreign tourists (and concorso attendees and traders) felt timid about journeying to Folkestone. Add to it two years of pandemic restrictions and the writing was well on the wall. It doesn’t detract from Steve’s initiative. He bought those of us who love the Euro three more of ‘em. Bless.

So now it’s gone. As I said, I’m not as shattered as I was the first time round. I was back to Folkestone last October to film a book trailer for my novel THE GIFT and had enough time to visit all the places I’d not seen for two years. I plan to be back in Folkestone next November for the Creative Folkestone Book Festival. Not the same as Euro, but good old Clifton Hotel and all that.

Here is Steve’s announcement he posted. I admit, I had word of this news in advance with the promise to keep schtum. And I did. As a result my sadness was tempered prior to the announcement.

I was reading the replies to Steve’s post. What rather surprised me was how few who commented I knew. Stranger still was none of the armour and diorama guys I drank with for years and years at the Southcliff bothered to comment. Where were the Blue Shirts who earned so many gold medals and Best in Shows? Where were all the Scandinavians who garnered so many medals over the decades of Euro. It seems all those many weekends in Septembers have been forgotten.

That certain weekend in September is replaced by a certain weekend in October. That being Scale Model Challenge.

But.

Not this year.

Thanks to the pandemic there has not been an SMC since 2019 and won’t be in 2022 either. Why not? WE. World Expo. It was meant to be 2020. But didn’t happen in 2020. Nor 2021. Again thanks to Covid. So it’s on for this July. And all the usual suspects are expected.