A brief trip down memory lane for our Director, Clive Capel

Noma first exhibited at the Harrogate Toy Fair in the early 1950s and after a short break between 1968 and 1975 has been coming back every year since; that’s 34 years in 2010. We have also exhibited at the International Spring Show at Birmingham for some 20 years, and for a long time at the ‘Lightshow’ when it was at Olympia. These shows all take place in the early part of the year and a substantial part of our sales for the year are completed by the middle of March.

Harrogate is particularly fondly remembered; we were there the first year the lower halls (a car park) were pressed into service to showcase the growing number of companies wishing to exhibit. One year heavy snow caused the show to be closed early. In another year one of the temporary halls literally lifted into the air in a particularly violent gust of wind and had to be evacuated as light bulbs were dropping out of fittings.

Harrogate was always a friendly show where buyers and sellers would often meet in the town’s booming restaurants in the evening. Sadly economic pressures tend to see fewer customers staying in the town and restaurants, where once we booked for next year as we paid this year’s bill, are not so full with bustling commerce.

In the early days we could set out our stand in a day and have Friday afternoon off to visit Betty’s. These days the Noma stand takes three days to erect and another 3 days to dress working long into the night.

The show, now the ‘Harrogate Christmas and Gift Show’ is smaller and not so busy now, reflecting consolidation in the retail industry. Whereas our customers would have been toy and gift wholesalers, these days it is the garden centre trade that fills the halls. Many customers attend both Harrogate and the ‘Spring Fair’ in Birmingham, choosing to view the new year’s offering at Harrogate and consolidate ideas at Birmingham.

This years exhibitions

We exhibited at Harrogate, running from January 10th to 13th, 2010.
We also showed at Spring Fair, running from February 7th to 11th, 2010.

Well, now that the shows have run their course, here are a few snaps to show how our stand looked at Harrogate and Spring Fair 2010: