Welcome to the April edition of the IMM Newsletter, sent exclusively to those of you who have already bought your IMM ticket. We are getting close to the cut off date now for free goody bags, and from the end of May any tickets bought will no longer receive what is essentially worth at least £30 per head. The weekend ticket price will also increase to £100 so please remind any friends who are yet to buy their tickets, the value of buying them before June! On the upside, we will be at the Riviera Run, Himley Hall and London to Brighton continuing to promote the event, and will be selling tickets and merchandise from our stand.
The biggest news since our last newsletter is no doubt the extension of Brexit and the postponement of the UK leaving the EU. With the new date for Brexit being set at the end of October (and therefore after the IMM) this means nothing should change either for visitors or traders. There is a possibility that the UK will leave beforehand if a deal can be achieved -but even if this is the case there will be a transitional period which again is unlikely to significantly affect the IMM and it’s visitors. Please seek further advice if required.
For those of you yet to book your accommodation, there are still vacancies at nearby hotels as well as glamping on site with Podpads and motorhome hire with Blackdown Motorhomes. Details for all of these are on the website. Facilities on site include two purpose built articulated lorries, each with 10 shower cubicles which are manned and cleaned regularly during their opening hours. In addition to these, there will be several shower blocks around the camping fields which are open 24 hours. Not to mention the amount of toilets we have booked, both luxury and portable again regularly cleaned and maintained. There will be a water tap in each field and an Elsan emptying point near the entrance for those in a motorhome or caravan. Please note that there is no mains electric hookup in the camping fields. Dogs are welcome on leads, but please do not bring glass bottles onto site -any found will be confiscated. We want to make sure that all paws and feet stay in-tact!
We have secured a roller disco to tie in with our 1980s theme and this again will be free of charge! It will take place in the main barn from 1-6pm on Saturday -so a perfect excuse to get your 80’s gear on a little earlier than normal. Rollerstrut will be supplying the roller boots with a huge range of sizes, as well as knee pads if required. (Words can not describe how excited I am about this!)
Live music will be taking place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the outside stage, ending around 6pm when it will transfer into the main barn. We have hand-picked every single act and have some amazing talent lined up for you (around 26 bands in total). The stage is booked for the indoor barn, and I am confident that it will be unlike anything you have ever seen at an IMM before. Huge thanks go to Richard and Graham from the Mini Moke Club for their enthusiasm, guidance and involvement both so far and during the event in this respect. We are lucky to have such talent and experience on our side!
On Saturday and Sunday there will be a free land train travelling around site from 9am to 7pm. This will be a great way to explore the site, whilst putting your feet up and relaxing.
We have also confirmed a cider tour and tasting session with our sponsors Thatchers. There will only be one bus taking visitors to the Thatchers Farm so places will be very limited. The journey will take approximately an hour, and the tour approximately 2 hours, so you will be offsite for about 4 hours -but being chauffeured in a bus will mean you can enjoy the tasting and no doubt pick up some souvenirs from the shop before your return to Bristol.
We do still have some tickets left for the Bristol Bus tour on Saturday, mainly on the 10am and 2pm departures. These can be bought either from the Facebook shop or by contacting us direct.
The International Balloon Fiesta would like to welcome 30 minis to their arena on Friday and Saturday and we are now looking for applications for these places. We will need a photograph of your vehicle and any special points of interest emailed to us (with Balloon Fiesta in the title) as the Fiesta have requested a variety of derivatives in order to make the display more appealing for their visitors. This is an excellent opportunity to visit the Fiesta and see it from the inside out. You will park in the centre of the event close to balloons. We believe this will be for about 2 hours on each day and should you wish to stay at the balloon fiesta longer, you will need to seek alternative parking arrangements for afterwards. The balloons take off (weather dependant) early morning and early evening each day, so you may be able to see these either from site, or from locations in and around Bristol on one of the other days. It is an amazing event and should be experienced if possible.
We have managed to secure all IMM weekend ticket holders an exclusive offer from our friends at Haynes International Motor Museum in Sparkford, Somerset. Haynes International Motor Museum was founded by the creator of the famous Haynes manuals and has over 400 vehicles on display as well as a cafe, shop and indoor and outdoor entertainment. Simply visit their website www.himm.co.uk between 3-18th August and use the code MINIMEET2019 at the checkout to receive 25% off standard entry tickets. You do not need to print anything out, you can just show your phone/mobile device at the ticket desk in order to gain entry. We thank them for this offer and recommend a visit (check out the mini which you can design yourself from their computer screen).
For those unable to attend all weekend, day visitors are welcomed on Sunday to coincide with the Mini 60 show. As a weekend ticket holder, your entry to Mini 60 is included, however, the day visitors will not be allowed entry into the campsite for security reasons. There will be a mini only car park for day visitors which of course you will be able to access and look around.
A gentle reminder that we will be contacting all clubs registered on the IMM website in July to ask how much space they require. Please let your club know before this time if you are planning on camping with them. Please also make sure that your club logo is uploaded on the IMM webpage.
In other news; Andy has been designing and making props for around the site. He is also working hard on club and car displays and would love to hear from you if you feel your mini or MINI is something different or special as well Ben is working on something very cool for both adults and children to watch throughout the weekend -hopefully to be finalised very soon. Matt is going all out with statistics and technology and poor old Olly is still relentlessly amending email addresses, t shirt sizes and car registration plates as well as lining up some You-tubers for a couple question and answer sessions for you. My main jobs for the coming weeks are ordering merchandise, committing to a couple more great activities for kids and finalising the Thatchers bus and Balloon Fiesta line up. We have a site visit booked for the end of the month by which time we will have a little over three months left before the kick-off. Eek!
Cheers for now!!
Emma & Team Bristol
The post IMM Newsletter appeared first on Mini Sport - The Blog.
