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Hopes sink for RBW boat party in 2011

Edited as of 21:31
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The RBW boat party on the River Thames will not be happening in 2011, according to an unofficial announcement by Miyabi on the UKfur forums (registration required).

Reasons cited for the cancellation include prior staff commitments and a lack of boat availability on the desired dates.

RBW, once the UK's largest furry convention, was cancelled early this year due to declining attendance. The boat party was originally intended to continue, and Miyabi has confirmed that staff still hope to put it on in 2012.

Comments

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As I recall, it wasn't due to declining attendance. The thread explained the problem was that they couldn't grow their attendance, which is quite different from 'decline'.

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They tried to put a good spin on it, but attendance had declined significantly and was continuing to fall despite their best efforts. RBW 2008 attracted around 290 attendees; RBW 2009 had 226, and RBW 2010 had 216.

Would it have stabilized at that level? Probably. The point was that it was not worth putting on an event for 200 people.

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It was a little from column A and a little from column B to be honest. While this is not an official announcement and therefore should not be classified as such i believe that the team would rather put on a good show and have a break than rush it and put on a mediocre show.

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Ah well in that case there's no disputing the facts, that's definitely a decline and bloody dramatic to go from 290 to 216 in only 2 years. Apologise for my ignorance. ^^;

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I understand from con reports that 2008 didn't really go that well, though there were bright moments.

Basically, expensive, cavernous hotel with too few people in it and other issues. Financial issues meant they had to raise the registration fee in the middle of a recession. And with regular Londonfur meets, why have a con?

The tale can probably be told better by the people who were there, though.

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It's still a shame. I love cons but financially I'm not sure how far I can travel to go to them, and because of RBW I'm not sure if I have much choice in the way of furcons. I'm still hoping Confuzzled next year, and maybe go to furmeets.

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About the author

GreenReaper (Laurence Parry)read storiescontact (login required)

a developer, editor and Kai Norn from London, United Kingdom, interested in wikis and computers

Small fuzzy creature who likes cheese & carrots. Founder of WikiFur, lead admin of Inkbunny, and Editor-in-Chief of Flayrah.