Mechanical Organ Owners Society
2019 Tour Announcement
Dear Members,
As is usually the case around this time of year, some of you are now beginning to ask about the dates for the MOOS tour which we usually run around the second weekend in November.
This year I have to tell you that, after considerable thought and discussion amongst your committee, we have decided that we shall not be running such a tour. I know that this will come as a very great disappointment to many of you, however there are a number of reasons for this decision which we firmly believe make it in the best interests of all members of the society and in particular those of potential tour participants;
• As you will know, our tour operator Linda Paskins passed away some weeks ago. We don’t want this to be the end of the MOOS tour, but your committee will need some time to organise future tours without her years of experience and contacts.
• Brexit has of course been in the news for many months, however the government has now stated that it is committed to this taking place on 31st October 2019, deal or no-deal. The immediacy of this and the uncertainty surrounding how it will be implemented is already having a significant effect in destabilizing exchange rates, which means that pricing a tour is very difficult and those who had booked could face surcharges after booking. It also makes pre-booking our hotel accommodation extremely difficult.
• We also know that as a tour would take place in early November, just days after Brexit takes effect, we would be passing through the Channel ports at a time when there may be increased delays to commercial traffic due to increased border checks. Again, it is hard to predict exactly what will happen. While this does not directly affect us, there is considerable uncertainty as to how lorry traffic will be managed and we would not wish to be caught up in any such disruption and at risk of not reaching our planned destinations.
We are hopeful that in time we will be able to operate a tour in the usual MOOS style and will keep you posted regarding this. For the moment I am sure that we will all watch the emerging news re the Brexit situation with interest as I know if affects all of us in many different ways.
May I once again say that this has been a hard decision to make, however your committee believes it to be the right one in the circumstances and ask for your understanding.
Alan Smith and Peter Craig on behalf of the MOOS committee.
As is usually the case around this time of year, some of you are now beginning to ask about the dates for the MOOS tour which we usually run around the second weekend in November.
This year I have to tell you that, after considerable thought and discussion amongst your committee, we have decided that we shall not be running such a tour. I know that this will come as a very great disappointment to many of you, however there are a number of reasons for this decision which we firmly believe make it in the best interests of all members of the society and in particular those of potential tour participants;
• As you will know, our tour operator Linda Paskins passed away some weeks ago. We don’t want this to be the end of the MOOS tour, but your committee will need some time to organise future tours without her years of experience and contacts.
• Brexit has of course been in the news for many months, however the government has now stated that it is committed to this taking place on 31st October 2019, deal or no-deal. The immediacy of this and the uncertainty surrounding how it will be implemented is already having a significant effect in destabilizing exchange rates, which means that pricing a tour is very difficult and those who had booked could face surcharges after booking. It also makes pre-booking our hotel accommodation extremely difficult.
• We also know that as a tour would take place in early November, just days after Brexit takes effect, we would be passing through the Channel ports at a time when there may be increased delays to commercial traffic due to increased border checks. Again, it is hard to predict exactly what will happen. While this does not directly affect us, there is considerable uncertainty as to how lorry traffic will be managed and we would not wish to be caught up in any such disruption and at risk of not reaching our planned destinations.
We are hopeful that in time we will be able to operate a tour in the usual MOOS style and will keep you posted regarding this. For the moment I am sure that we will all watch the emerging news re the Brexit situation with interest as I know if affects all of us in many different ways.
May I once again say that this has been a hard decision to make, however your committee believes it to be the right one in the circumstances and ask for your understanding.
Alan Smith and Peter Craig on behalf of the MOOS committee.