It is a great pleasure to be able to report that a large proportion of the BMSS National Collection, which had been in storage, is now once again on display to the public in a new venue at the British Ironwork Centre near Oswestry, in Shropshire.

The British Ironwork Centre is a large tourist attraction on the A5, a few miles east of Oswestry. The road to the Centre’s car park goes through a sculpture park leading to the central cluster of buildings, where there are numerous workshops for crafts people and some large galleries displaying a wide range of arts and crafts. The area given over to the BMSS National Collection is right at the heart of the Centre, on a gallery which runs the length of the café area. It is well lit from large skylights, and could not be better placed for visitors. The collection is currently shown across twenty display cabinets.

With the opening of the National Collection display at the British Ironwork Centre the BMSS now has an excellent public display once again, at a venue that attracts thousands of visitors all year round. There are plans for further expansion of the display with more cabinets, more detailed labelling and information boards. For details on the National Collection and more pictures, see the National Collection page.

What a great day was this year's BMSS Annual Show! The halls were packed all day and there was a great buzz throughout. The traders were doing brisk business, while in the competitions hall the quality of the entries was as high as it has ever been. Congratulations to Alex Long, who took the President's Medal for his "Arrow Blocker", a tremendous example of modelling, painting and presentation all coming together to make an outstanding entry. A huge thank you to everyone who entered the competitions and gave us all so much to enjoy, please enter again next year. Many thanks also to the show organisers for all the work they put in, to the volunteers who helped with the set-up, stewarding, and all the many other jobs on the day, and thank you to the judges, who had a very difficult task with so many excellent entries on display.

For pictures from the show please see the Annual Show page, and put the date of the 2019 show in your diaries now - it is not to be missed!

​The photo shows Alex Long's medal-winning "The Arrow Blocker".

The 2018 BMSS Annual Show is nearly here, and the plans are all ready. There will again be plenty for everyone to enjoy, with many traders, the open competitions (all welcome), displays, and a Paint 'n' Take for young people - enjoy painting a model soldiers and take your figure away with you. 

The show is on Saturday 28 April 2018 at St Saviour's Church Hall, Lupus Street, Pimlico, London, SW1V 3QW, open from 10.30. The venue of only a couple of minutes walk from Pimlico Underground Station. Full details of the event, traders, list of competitions, and location map, are all on the Annual Show page.

See you all there!

I have managed to obtain our local community centre for the afternoon of Sat 18th June (Waterloo Day) for a joint meeting of North London, Northants and North Herts Branches as I have done in previous years. I have the hall from 12 noon until 5pm and the meeting takes the form of a workshop, bring & buy and general “chat”.  In previous gatherings we have managed to entice up to 15 members and guests.
 
If at all possible, could mention be made of the event in Bulletin Extra and/or Website. It is open to all but no “trade stands”.  Refreshments will be provided and there is an excellent chippy only 200yds away – ideal for lunch.
 
The location is:  The Bragbury Centre, Kenilworth Close, Bragbury End, Stevenage, SG2 8TB  [http://thebragburycentre.co.uk/ ]
 

NEW VENUE – NEW DAY and DATE!
Sunday 27th November 2016
Presented by the Bristol Area Branch of the British Model Soldier Society &
South West Figure Modellers
Adults £5, Children under 12  £2, OAP £4, Family £9    

Nailsea School, “The Link”
Mizzymead Road, Nailsea, North Somerset BS48 2HN  
FREE PARKING!
Probably the largest exhibition of military
models in the South West. Numerous displays of models including fantasy / garage kits, aircraft, ships, AFV’s, cars  and miniature figures.
Refreshments available all day and a large selection of trade stands and modelling and painting demonstrations.
 
Exhibitor contact details; Kevin Peart –slenderboy0247@gmail.com
Trader contact details: Bob Orr – boborr@talktalk.net
Web Page - http://www.bmssbristol.org.uk/ 

The venue have just yesterday advised me that we no longer have access to the tennis courts at the rear for car parking. The management company that manages the venue has changed in the last year so the courts passed to the control of the local authority who are developing them as all surface courts so we can no longer hire them as parking.

With limited parking on site, expensive and limited to 4 hours max (I was unable to negotiate any discount or extended stay terms) combined with rising costs and a reducing number of personel to run the show we have taken the difficult decision to cancel this years event and all future events at this venue.


We may be back next year in our usual November slot if we can find a suitable venue at a realistic price.

 Kind Regards,

 Bob Orr

 Hon Treasurer Bristol Area BMSS.

It may be a long time since we had a posting here, but this event was something to shout about!
The BMSS this year had a prime spot at Euromilitaire, with taking the space that has been used by Andrea and other traders before, next to the stage.
Here are a couple of pictures taken  at the weekend event in Folkestone. Joseph Perera, Malcolm Mays and Graham Cobb were the stalwarts , with John Regan co-ordinating events.

Saturday 6th September 2014 saw the annual Interbranch being held at Knowle as for several years now.
Where were you! attendance may have been down, but the day was as enjoyable as ever, with the chance to meet up with BMSS members from around the country and enjoy looking at figures made by branch members.
Six branches entered the competition, with Northants ending up as winners.
I've added a few photos of some of the excellent models on display below. I've unfortunately mislaid the piece of paper that I noted the entrants' names and titles of the entries. Feel free to add comments!

The design for the card for this year has been proposed by Paul Vickers and Ralph Weaver.
The card will be on sale as normal later this year. Look out for the Extra and Bulletin adverts!
PS. it will also be in colour!