With no time to find an alternative venue Antiques Fair Manage-ment have postponed their fair scheduled at the Solihull museum for September 28, while the National Glass Collectors Fair schedule for November 9 looks set to move around 30 minutes away to Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, Warwick-shire. David Hier of Specialist Glass Fairs said confirmation of this booking was made at short notice last Friday after visiting the makeshift venue situated off junction 12 on the M40.
On September 16 the National Motorcycle Museum, the regular venue for a number of fairs, was severely damaged by a massive blaze tackled by more than 120 firefighters. Although nobody was hurt, up to 650 of the 800 exhibits at the NMM are thought to have been damaged or destroyed in the blaze.
An investigation into what caused the blaze has been launched and full assessment of the damage is now being undertaken although some of the collection’s most celebrated exhibits have been lost, including John Cooper’s 750 BSA Rocket and the ‘Slipper Sam’ – a Triumph Trident racing machine that won five consecutive TT races in the early 1970s.
A pledge made by the museum to restore the collection to its original showroom condition where possible was accompanied by an appeal for the many scarce components and parts which will be needed.
Fairs hit as NMM gutted by inferno
The fire that destroyed three exhibition halls and two thirds of exhibits at the National Motorcycle Museum last week has led to the postponement of one antiques fair and the relocation of another.
