EventPlan News

All news items are presented in reverse order, with the most recent towards the top of the page.

EventPlan delighted to be assisting military charities

On Tuesday 9th February EventPlan assisted the Soldiers', Sailors' and Airmen's Family Association (SSAFA) at their 125th anniversary appeal press launch and photo shoot, at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. We arranged and co-ordinated 40 top re-enactors representing 1880s, Boer War, WWI, WWII and National Service era military and their dependants, who were present alongside Chelsea Pensioners and glamour model Nell McAndrew.  Despite freezing temperatures there was a higher than anticipated turnout from the press, please click the links for reports by the

Daily Telegraph, Yorkshire Evening Post and The Daily Star.

SSAFA has played a vital role in assisting servicemen and their families in war and in peace since its formation in 1885, and continues to do so  - please donate now to this extremely worthy organisation. EventPlan will be reporting this event for Skirmish  magazine.

EventPlan is also helping to raise money for Help for Heroes. On 25-26 July we'll be staging Salute for Heroes at Glemham Hall, Suffolk, a weekend of military displays and re-enactments with all profits donated to the charity. As a free admission event (with modest parking charge) its incredible value so one not to be missed! Please revisit for updated details, or contact us if you would like to participate as re-enactors, to trade or to exhibit.

15 February 2010

EventPlan flying high as events triumph over the recession

EventPlan's 2009 season proved an extremely busy one with nearly 120,000 visitors attending our events, our highest number to date. As predicted by EventPlan Managing Director Howard Giles, based on his experience of previous recessions, more people were seeking things to see and do in the UK rather than holidaying abroad, whilst the weakness of the Pound against the Euro and Dollar heralded an influx of overseas visitors eager to sample our culture and history. 

Our highlight events included Gloucester's Tall Ships event with around 30,000 visitors, the Colchester Military Festival with another 30,000, and the Sheffield Fayre with around 20,000.  But even small events did extremely well if adequately promoted. Indeed, 12,000 visitors flooded into Clumber Park during our 1940s event, and Rufford Abbey Country Park ran out of overflow parking space by 10.45am on the Sunday morning of our 1940s weekend there and had to temporarily close its gates!  EventPlan was delighted to help make these events such a success, and now looks forward to 2010.

26 November 2009

The Battle of Orgreave to be rescreened

Eight years ago in June 2001, EventPlan recreated the infamous Battle of Orgreave, the climactic clash of the 1984 miners' strike between Arthur Scargill's NUM and riot police, in a groundbreaking live re-enactment for TV. The resulting documentary is being reshown on More4 on Saturday June 20th as part of a night of programmes commemorating the 25^th anniversary of the strike. Please click the link for a news item, or for information about our now famous re-enactment.

4 June 2009                      

Sunshine and superb events!

The weekend of 30-31 May proved a busy one for EventPlan with two quite different events staged during some particularly pleasant weather. Huge crowds thronged to Tall Ships 09  in the city of Gloucester to see period ships and our multi-period displays, whilst Kedleston at War at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire entertained visitors with a 1940s shows. All in  all a wonderful weekend enjoyed by all!

3 June 2009

            Grand Historical Bazaars prove a real blast!

Our Grand Historical Bazaars at Wimpole Hall and Rufford Abbey Country Park this April were such a resounding success that we'll be running both again next year - and perhaps one or two more - please revisit for confirmed details in due course. A brand new concept, we combined bring and buy sales for re-enactors and historical enthusiasts with historical traders, living history and arena displays, then placed all this in extremely attractive settings offering excellent facilities. Even the weather was perfect!

Why not come next year and take advantage of these great opportunities to take part?  Enjoy a chance to sell, swap, barter or give away all that "spare stuff" (pre 1970 vintage or so themed) and/or accumulate more! Historical traders welcome, and living history groups invited. If you would like to be kept informed, please drop us an email and we'll add you to our mailing list.

29 April 2009

                Events sure to beat the recession blues!

It may be all gloom and doom in many sectors of the economy, but hopefully not for historical events!  The good news is that experience from the 1990s shows that's there's never a better time to run an event than during a UK recession, as there are so many people looking for interesting things to do here at home rather than abroad. For example, when Head of Special Events for English Heritage during the 1990s recession, EventPlan MD Howard Giles noted a significant rise in visitor numbers at events. And with the Pound suffering against the Dollar and Euro, there's likely to be a lot of additional overseas visitors around too. So if you are thinking about staging an event, seize the opportunity! With our assistance you could be on the way to a hugely successful show!

Likewise, if you are looking for exciting events to enjoy as a visitor, simply check out our 2009 programme, offering a variety of great shows including some with free admission! Things start with a bang in April with our two Grand Historical Bazaars at Wimpole Hall and Rufford Abbey Country Park, don't miss them!

16 February 2009

Visit our news archives for news items from 2001 to 2008.