There were lots of trades carried out and many people were able to fill gaps in their collections. Many people were very focussed on certain themes and I spoke to collectors looking for NOC, media and sponsor pins as well as those trying to find some of the elusive retail designs that did not appear during the Games.
Lots of people I spoke to caught the collecting bug whilst attending an Olympic or Paralympic event and wanted to know more about the hobby. Hopefully they found the group welcoming and will want to come back to future meets.
We would like to thank Jan and the staff at the Railway Tavern for hosting us once again. They let us move the furniture around to make it more open for everyone and looked after us brilliantly - thank you.
Opinion was divided on when to hold the next get-together with some thinking that we should keep interest going by meeting in late November, whereas others though that early next year was a better time to allow people to find some more pins to trade. I'd welcome opinions from readers either by a comment below or by email.
One thing we did agree on is that we should hold a '1 Year' trading event in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park when the first phase opens next year on Saturday 27th July. People felt that a picnic/pin trade event would be a good idea. So if you are interested, keep the date free in your diary. You can read more about the park and the timescale for opening here.
Thanks again to everyone who came along and enjoyed the day - hopefully you'll be able to make it to the next one.
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7 comments:
Paul,
As ever, many thanks for everything you do to keep all us London pin badge collectors happy and up to date. I know that this can be a daunting task at times, and you have probably spent many late evening (and early morning) hours on researching, writing and organising.
Once again, it was a thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile event yesterday, and it was good to catch up with everybody again. Until the next time, thanks once again.
Hi , is it true, that on the meet we could only swap, no sellin pin?
I had a whale of a time, many a good trade done. It was nice to see all the old faces and some of those I met at Coke Trading during the games, and people I have "met" via the dreaded EBAY. Paul does what he does with so much flare and this causes much enjoyment for others. It was nice to see that the younger generation had a good interest in pin trading. Until next time..... Keep Collecting.
Ps, The ideal of Pin Trading is swapping pins. No money "should" change hands, and selling is NOT what its all about. However, if anyone did see money being exchanged, this was more than likely due to other reasons, ie payment for Olympic Merchandising brought by one London Pin member for another. Or in my case paying my mate Bill for buying a set of Pins from Coke that I was unable to buy at the time myself. ( Thanks Bill ) Remember during the Games some people ended up in the right places at the right time, especially when certain items could only be purchased from various locations. Like the Athletes Village, which was closed to the general public. Like Olympic park programmes, those of us who could get in, would if asked pick up programmes for those who could not do so themselves. I know that people do sell pins, but a pin meet is NOT the place for this.... and from what I know about our guys this does not happen.
Yes, thanks as always for all your efforts Paul. 50+ ! It was just as well we moved the tables. The funniest part for me was seeing so many people proudly wearing their 2012 loot clothing - especially Pip's socks!
Our room was packed - pub was empty - a sign of the post-Games times I suppose.
Wookie, even Noel abandoned his usual striped atire for a souvenir T-shirt!
My socks weren't looted, though, as I paid £1.00 a pair from Primark!
Primark ! see what happens, you spend all your money on Pins and are reduced to shopping at Primark ! Now I have seen my latest Credit Card bill, I can only dream of shopping at such fancy shops as Primark, It will be the 99 Pence shop for me for the forseeable future.
Still wondering ....does anyone have the Team GB / Paralympics GB pin - the one shown on another thread ???
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