Fanclub Meeting 1995 – report

After two club meetings, which were combined with a concert by the cover band Seconds Out, we had something different in mind for our third club day. And we also agreed to the request to hold the meeting a little further north than Aschaffenburg and Nuremberg. So we looked for a venue near Peters and Bernd in the Braunschweig area and then decided on a shooting club clubhouse in the south of Braunschweig, where the facilities would be better than at the previous club days and where we were also offered refreshments for visitors in the form of drinks and simple food.

We had already purchased four display cases for last year's club day, in which we were able to exhibit Genesis rarities. In order to further expand the exhibition space, club member and crew member Uwe Brehmer offered to make additional display cases, which we gratefully accepted. We also purchased two display cases, even more picture frames, and a simple barrier system for certain areas. This meant that our equipment for this club day was much more extensive and was transported to Braunschweig in a borrowed trailer, where we set everything up meticulously as planned in advance.

There was a room for the actual event, another equally large lounge and dining area, and a narrow side room for the collectors' market. The program included an auction of Genesis rarities, a quiz, video presentations, and a collectors' market. The latter became quite crowded because, of course, everyone wanted to grab a bargain and the room was really very small.

Oliver Schlapp was also new to the Club Day team, supporting us as auctioneer and quizmaster and taking on this role at several other events as well.

As before, much of this meeting was still somewhat improvised, and there were a few technical glitches. But that didn't dampen the mood.

Speaking of cancellation… that actually happened. The plan was to slowly wind down the event after an hour-long video block at 8 p.m. and end at 10 p.m. Presumably because some visitors had already started their journey home earlier and the demand for food and drinks had noticeably decreased, the kitchen staff at the clubhouse informed us at around 9 p.m. that they wanted to call it a night and that we should start dismantling everything immediately. After some heated discussions, we had no choice but to accept the sudden end of the club day. We had to send the visitors home and dismantled everything in a rather hectic manner.

But we had to learn this lesson too, because for future club days we chose venues where we were more independent and flexible.

Once again, there are few photos of this club day, and many of them are of poor quality. Nevertheless, they may still give you an impression.

The program booklet for the meeting was based on Peter Gabriel's 1980s "Tour of China 1984" program and was therefore equally quirky, with the title "Meeting in Manila 1998."

Author: Helmut Janisch (2025)
Photos: Peter Schütz, Helmut Janisch