About Us

There is no doubt that the foundations of the group were started by James Thomas (Forever England) and Toby Powell (Powellcraft) as they tirelessly canvassed Hyve in early 2023 about the ill-fated ‘Connect’ programme, launched at Spring Fair that year.

This culminated in a protest meeting on the last day of Autumn Fair where some 250 exhibitors came together and made it very clear to the Organisers that enough was enough and things had to change. As a result, a new stronger voice emerged in the form of a WhatsApp group called the ‘Exhibitors Together Group’.

Organically, over the next few weeks an inner committee evolved very naturally, bringing their skills together to allow the group to perform certain tasks to ensure that we moved forward in a positive and progressive manner.

Our first success was the abandoning of ́Connect ́ and the ensuing refund to all AF Exhibitors. We followed this up by conducting a survey amongst our members to discover what they thought would enhance not only their show experience but more importantly, that of the visitor.

As a result we presented a twenty-two point plan to the Organisers and to date we are assured that some sixteen of these points have been instigated in whole or in part. So, to their credit, the management of Hyve have responded favourably to our presentations and as a group we knew we had a voice and we are being listened to..

Today the management team is made up as follows - James Thomas (Chair) and Katie Powell from ́Forever England’, Toby Powell from ‘Powellcraft’, Katie Holmes from ‘Sting in the Tail’, Garth Williams from ‘Edge Company’ and Nick Ronald (Communications) from Casa Verde. We have recently been joined by Uill Lynch of ‘Cadenza Italy’, who will be looking after our IT needs going forward and has brilliantly created our new ‘Forum’ on Discord.

To become a member, please click here.