The Giuseppe Garibaldi—lost in action

Use It or Lose It WHEN I first started in the medal hobby, the Orders &Medals Research Society (OMRS) held their Annual Convention at the New Connaught Rooms in London, a vast hall that accommodated a big bourse with side rooms for exhibits. It was always a huge success and, although we often struggled taking our “to-be-launched-on-the-day” MEDAL YEARBOOKS up the steps, there were generally porters on hand to help. We always enjoyed the event and always came back with cars far lighter than we started! Unfortunately, London pricing, and the inconvenience of the Capital (particularly if you’re a driver), meant that the OMRS organising committee was urged by members and trade alike to start looking for alternative venues and, in 2016, the Holiday Inn at Stratford-upon-Avon was chosen. Again, it was a huge success; the committee had listened to members, had moved out of London, and Stratford is such a lovely town that it was difficult not to approve. Annoyingly, the Holiday Inn was in the process of becoming a Crowne Plaza (the transition was actually completed the weekend we were there) and prices started creeping up; so whilst we were there for two years, after that the OMRS was forced to look around for a new home for Convention once again. Fortunately, the Nottingham Crowne Plaza wasn’t as expensive as its Stratford counterpart so that was chosen as the Convention hotel but, rather irritatingly, they didn’t have a big enough space to accommodate the medal fair and that was moved across the road to the Nottingham Conference Centre. This two-site approach didn’t go down too well with dealers or exhibitors who were concerned about security and leaving their medals overnight in a separate building to where they were staying, so although it lasted two years there, in 2020 it was planned to move again, this time to Bristol with the idea that perhaps the event could be held in a different part of the country every few years . . . except Covid hit and there was no OMRS Convention at all. The uncertainty of lockdowns meant that 2021 was convention-less too and it wasn’t until 2022 that it made a return, but the venue, the Business Design Centre in Islington, didn’t prove that popular, not least because post-pandemic hotel prices were through the roof (we couldn’t attend as it was Coinex that same weekend). So, the OMRS committee were, once again, left looking for a new location; they needed a big enough place to accommodate nearly 300 guests, with a room for a bourse and rooms for talks, exhibits et al, but one that was relatively easily accessible and not in London! There was no Convention in 2023 as they did their utmost to source a venue, but earlier this year they announced, after much speculation, that the 2024 Convention was to be held at the Kents Hill Convention Centre in Milton Keynes. To be honest, this was a nightmare for us; there’s no easy route to get to Buckinghamshire from Devon but no matter, we weren’t the only ones attending and so we just had to accept that it was far more convenient for others! We were, we must admit, curious and cautious in equal measure. The OMRS had done everything that was asked of them—they’d moved Convention out of London, they’d found a single site, it wasn’t expensive, it accommodated a bourse, exhibits, lectures everything. But would the membership support it? Would we drive 5–6 hours up from Exeter only to find a handful of dealers in the bourse and fewer attendees? The answer, thankfully, was “No”, and both trade and members seemed to wholeheartedly embrace the new venue. Thank goodness they did because I think this was probably the last chance for Convention in its traditional form; it would have carried on in some way or another, but probably as a big “Weekend of Medals” and not how it has been until now. Convention was, I think, a success. It certainly looked like it from where we were sitting and I think the OMRS organising committee are to be applauded—but so, too, are all those who attended. Without support it probably wouldn’t be going ahead next year (and who would have blamed the committee for throwing in the towel after accommodating as many people as they could?) and we would have lost an important part of our hobby. I do realise not all of our readers are OMRS members of course, and I apologise for concentrating this month on the event, but the message that came out of Convention can be taken across the board—if you don’t support something it will vanish, and it probably won’t come back. The same goes for all shows, medal clubs, societies, etc. Such events, such gatherings, are a crucial part of our hobby and without your support they simply wouldn’t exist, so thank you to everyone out there who does support them, and I urge those of you who don’t yet attend such things to think about doing so. Because once they’re gone, they’re gone, and our hobby will be much poorer when they are.