CMRA Exhibition Insurance Scheme

The CMRA Exhibition Insurance Scheme is available to all Associates of the Chiltern Model Railway Association and is brokered by Magnet Insurance Services Ltd. Associates will benefit from a 10% discount off the standard premiums. The policies are also available for non-members but the 10% discount doesn't apply. The CMRA Exhibition Insurance Scheme provides cover for both liability and material Loss, to meet most needs of those Clubs or Societies organising Model Railway Exhibitions, as well as providing for those organisations attending exhibitions or events where insurance is not provided by the exhibition or event.

CMRA Clubroom Insurance Scheme

The CMRA Clubroom Insurance Scheme is available to all Associates of the Chiltern Model Railway Association and is brokered by Magnet Insurance Services Ltd. Associates will benefit from a 10% discount off the standard premiums. The policies are also available for non-members but the 10% discount doesn't apply. The CMRA Clubroom Insurance Scheme provides cover for both liability and material Loss, to meet most needs of those Clubs or Societies operating from a Clubroom.

Portable Appliance Test (PAT) Scheme

To enable both Associates and Associates' members to comply with electrical safety regulations applicable to portable electrical appliances, both in clubrooms and at exhibitions, the CMRA operates a Portable Appliance Test (PAT) Scheme. For a nominal fee the Scheme enables Associates to have their, and their member's, portable appliances formally inspected and tested by an insured and competent CMRA Tester.

Details of the Scheme and the relevant Guidance Notes and Booking form are available within the Associate's Area of this website.

Loan of Exhibition Equipment

The Association has available for the use of Associates, free of charge and subject to availability, a range of equipment to assist members run their exhibitions. This includes crowd barriers, banners, electrical leads, display cases, etc.. The equipment is held in depots in Welwyn Garden City, Chippenham, Crawley and Stafford.

Details of what equipment is available and the relevant Exhibition notification and Equipment Booking form is available within the Associate's Area of this website.

Layout Register

This register gives details of the exhibition layouts available from Associates and their individual members. The register is designed to aid the exhibition organiser. It is potentially useful in enabling searches to be made for different sorts of layouts.

Modellers Workshops

These are ticket only events, generally held once a year, open to all those who are members of those organisations which are Associates. A series of lectures and talks are run throughout the day. In addition attendees are encouraged to bring a bit of whatever they are working on and get on with it in the informal atmosphere. There are no constraints as at a public exhibition, so work of any type or standard is welcome and everyone can just chat and discuss their different methods at leisure.

Exhibition Managers Forum

Run every year or two, these are one day events aimed at enhancing the organisation of exhibitions by a series of talks on particular aspects of the exhibition, combined with the opportunity to exchange ideas with other organisers.

Exhibition Diary

One of the original purposes for the formation of the Association was to assist in the co-ordination of exhibitions and to avoid unnecessary clashes of dates within the local area. The diary holds all known exhibitions affecting our Associates for up to three years in the future and also acts as an early booking system for the loan of exhibition equipment.

Please note that the edited version of the diary offered on this Website consists only of those exhibitions organised by Organisational Associates. Associates have access to dates beyond those shown on this Website as well as details of any relevant equipment bookings.

Exhibition Guidelines

These are offered to our Associates as suggested guidelines for good practice when organising, or attending, exhibitions. Though not formally enforced they are followed voluntarily by many clubs, being seen as a good guide to acceptable standards for such areas as provision of catering for exhibitors and similar matters. The guidelines are a definite must for anyone organising an exhibition for the first time or for checking that every thing has been covered.

Technical Advice

In recent years papers, have been distrubuted to Associates covering technical areas such as taxation and the data protection act. These get updated and new matters of general interest are raised at general meetings.

Financial & Legal Assistance

Though not offering the services available from professional advisors in these areas the Association will endeavour to provide limited assistance and advice on an informal basis. In addition, the contacts with other bodies will often allow the discovery of an organisation which has had a similar problem which would be prepared to discuss the implications with others.