The Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show may have kissed Birmingham's NEC a long, lingering goodbye as it relocates to London in January as part of a three-pronged mega-show, but now there's a new kid on the block in the form of the Outdoor Leisure Show, which debuts at the NEC on 25-27 February, 2011.
It's strangely ironic. Over the last few years, the original OS show had been stumbling around waiting for someone to put it out of its misery. Each year it seemed to get slightly more jaded and less impressive and finally, it's gone. And no sooner has it hopped on a train to London, than another appears. So if the OS Show couldn't quite make Birmingham work, what's to make the the new Outdoor Leisure Show any different?
Honestly? We have no idea, more to see and less expense would be a good start. But on a positive note, the Outdoors Industries Association - OIA - has thrown its weight behind the event with Chief Executive, Louise Ramsay saying:
“We are delighted to officially support the new Outdoor Leisure Show at the NEC next February. It is important for the OIA to back a new show such as this, as it’s our vision to help get more people outdoors, responsibly. The show will encourage and inspire participation in the outdoors, and will also help people appreciate the health and well-being associated with those experiences."
There's a clue to what's going on in a statement by the Show's Event Director Andy Gibb who believes that:
“The support by the Outdoor Industries Association confirms the support and demand for an outdoor leisure show specifically targeting those from the Midlands and the north of England; for those who enjoy the great outdoors - rambling, fell walking, climbing, mountaineering, camping or exploring places of natural interest.”
So there you go, a local show for local people who really don't want to trek all the way down to London. And more prosaically, an offshoot of the 50th Boat and Caravan Show, which take place in an adjacent hall. The target audience is 20,000 people, and ticket prices are high... think £13 for an adult and £5.50 for a child aged 5-15 years or £38 for a family of two adults and three children it says here. On the plus side, the ticket price does, at least, include the exhorbitant price of parking at the NEC.
Call us cynical, but we'll need an awful lot of convincing, particularly given that the headline attraction, speaking at all three days of the show is adventurer and former marine Monty Halls, who with the greatest respect, we've never heard of.
Anyway, more details, but not many more at www.outdoorleisureshow.com.
