Woking Swapmeet Feb 17th 2002 
Just an insight into the world of the Subbuteo swapmeet. This one was held on Feb 17th 2002 at Woking Football Club in England. It was an excellent venue, free to enter, with plenty of items on offer and even some pitches to play on, including a cricket pitch. The turn out was very good with an estimated 100 people in the room at the peak.
Getting busy!
Items of note available on the day included, Flat team holder boxes, a
mint set of early floodlights, a 1970/74 World Cup set, hundreds of teams
and accessories and a nice Football Express set that I managed to take
ownership of. However, the main thing on offer was hospitality and
genuine friendship. A big thank you must go to Paul Woozley and family for
staging the event and providing plenty of bacon butties and coffee (much
appreciated). I would also like to thank the Collectors Club who stumped up
the majority of the cost of hiring the club house.
The man himself (Mr Woozley).
Prices weren't too bad on the day either, with regular common heavyweights fetching around £8 - £10 each. Accessories ranged from a couple of pounds to £38 for the Mint boxed early floodlights. Some of the older items were a bit dearer, eg £20 for a flat team in coloured Holder box and £60 for a 1970 International set. The Football express set was sold for a very reasonable £40...thanks Andy.
Items on offer.
Many stories of items found (and lost) and of fruitless journeys to local car boot sales were recounted as the day wore on. This chit chat is one of the main reasons I like to attend these events. Its listening to these stories that help you pick up the little tit-bits of information that are passed from collector to collector. Apparently two or three of the people there had actually bought sets at the 1947 Schoolboys Exhibition!! Needless to say they had some stories to tell about the beginnings of our favourite hobby! (Ask Stan Russell). Peter (the man behind the mega Subbuteo Info site) Upton made the trip, and I think everyone wanted to pat him on the back for his efforts with his web site.
Malc and Jools.
Alongside the sellers tables were three pitches and a stadium exhibit. Both football and cricket were played most of the day with the highlight obviously being the giant killing act performed by Tony Blake's 1970s Bournemouth heavyweights, over my hand painted Everton heavyweights. The score ended up 1-0 to the Cherries and it was left up to the real Toffees to save the day on the large screen TV that was on in the club house. (I think the less said about that match the better).
Match of the day! Toffees v Cherries (0-1)
Cricket in action (Nice to see the youngsters
taking part)
The Stadium (Old Newspaper competition
display?)
I hope this short passage helps to illustrate to all collectors just what is good about collecting Subbuteo. The whole day was organised excellently, in a well suited venue (free to get in), with helpfull and like minded people. There was a large variety of items to buy and sell not to mention the odd match thrown in for good measure. Furthest distance travelled must go to Malc, who trekked across from France (near the Swiss border) to be here. I myself travelled south from sunny Liverpool in a car with two Liverpool fans and a Man Utd season ticket holder! I'm still not sure how we managed it in one piece. The home journey took an odious 5 hours!! However, the journey put to one side, I for one cannot wait for the next swap-meet to happen ....any offers anyone?
The club house.
Me!
The End!
webmaster - j.shelley@virgin.net Last updated - 07 February 2003