I suspect that it is a combination of things, and the lack of organisers is almost the least.
One of the main problems is that there are far fewer suppliers, and with the cost of transporting their goods most of them are not willing to/can't afford to attend lace days and fairs where they are not even going to cover their costs so there is now a small core of them who are at nearly every event over quite a large area and it is unusual to find anyone else. It is only the very largest fairs who are still able to attract a wider range of them. Related to this there are also fewer lacemakers (and this situation will continue until we can get more and younger people enthused), at the moment possibly with less available money, and they know they are going to see mostly the same suppliers so why bother to go to the lace day or fair. If they do go it's to meet friends and chat, not to buy from those same suppliers, which in turn makes the suppliers less likely to attend that event again. A real vicious circle. Add to that the cost of venues and insurance is going up (although cover for a UK lace day is free to Lace Guild members), making it more of a gamble for the organisers that they won't be out of pocket at the end of the day. Many of the events in Spain at least have some back up support in the way of venue and/or finance from the local government, because the Spanish authorities take their lace heritage more seriously than their counterparts in the UK. Jacquie in Lincolnshire. - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
