A Trafalgar Connection

The past isn’t what it used to be AUTUMN is upon us and with it the start of the “numismatic” season, and that includes medals. There is no real logic to why the coin and medal world should start gearing up again when the schools go back except I suppose a natural reaction to the end of summer. Not much happens in August after all (OMSA yes, but otherwise there are no major shows and few auctions, even Noonans pause their monthly offerings) and so as the days get shorter and the heat abates (when we get it) things start happening again. For us the start of this period has always been the Orders & Medal Research Society (OMRS) Annual Convention held in late September. When I first joined Token Publishing, the Convention was held at the New Connaught Rooms, Queen Street, London, a vast, spacious venue with a variety of rooms for everything the Convention needed—a large bourse, smaller rooms for exhibits and talks and I believe the OMRS annual dinner was held there too. Unfortunately, whilst the venue was ideal it did have its problems, no lift for starters, so all the dealers (including us with our YEARBOOKS) had to go up a large flight of stone steps, not great but there were porters on hand to help, but worse was the fact that it was in central London and that had its own issues. Parking was available close by, but you still had to negotiate London traffic, and as it was a Convention with a social aspect (the dinner, etc) that meant an overnight stay for many, and slowly but surely hotel prices started creeping up, as too did the cost of the venue itself. This inevitably led to the decision to take the event out of London and it went to Stratford upon Avon. This was a great success but again costs started going up and after two years a new venue in Nottingham was found. Unfortunately, this wasn’t as well received and although it did return there for a second year, it wasn’t popular. When Covid hit this was seen as a chance to look again and after a brief return to London and then a year off, the current home of Kent’s Hill Convention Centre in Milton Keynes was chosen. 2025 was the second year the event was there (although it is no longer a Convention but a Medal Fair, see “News & Views” for an explanation) but will it be there again? The venue itself is perfectly OK, it’s a horror to get to on a Friday, (especially for us coming from Devon, and I really do hope the organisers move the bourse to the Sunday if they can) but I can’t expect the OMRS to change location just to suit us at Token; the rooms are basic but clean and pleasant enough, the bar could do with something else on tap other than lager (what’s wrong with a good ale?) and the food on the Friday wasn’t exactly great. Also, it’s a bit “in the middle of nowhere” so you can’t just pop out to the shops if you fancy a break. That said, the room where the bourse was held is bright and airy, as were the exhibits area and the room where the talks were being held, and both were close by the bourse meaning people could easily go from one to the other. There was free coffee and tea on hand (although oddly no café per se, nowhere to grab some food and just sit and chat like there is at Britannia or Wakefield), loading and unloading was fairly painless (well I was in pain from a dodgy knee and those corridors were long but that’s not exactly the OMRS’s fault) and all the dealers were in one room, which is one of those little details that’s actually quite important. It’s not the perfect venue, not by a long shot, but that’s because the perfect venue doesn’t exist. Yes, those of us who remember the New Connaught Rooms (or even Pickett’s Lock) will get all misty eyed about the long line of collectors eager to get in, those who remember Stratford will reminisce about being able to pop into town after the show, but those venues weren’t ideal either. There was traffic, there were steps, there were higher hotel bills, etc, etc. We may well look back with fondness at Conventions gone by, mourn their passing and say: “it isn’t like it used to be” and we’d be right, it’s not, but I’m not entirely sure it ever really was, not really. Yes, there were long lines of people waiting to get in but the whole hobby has changed so we rarely see that anywhere anymore, and as for the rest, well I fear that’s often just rose-coloured romanticism and didn’t really happen as we like to think. So for us, although it takes 5 ½ hours to get to Milton Keynes from Exeter, although there’s nothing close by the venue, although queuing for food reminds me of school dinners and the bedrooms remind me of my University Hall of Residence, if the OMRS Organising Committee decides to hold the Medal Fair in Milton Keynes next year we’ll be there “stalling out”. Because if we don’t go, if other dealers don’t support it, if collectors don’t, then one day there may not be an OMRS annual get together at all, then we really will have something to mourn the loss of.