Wayfest Festival, Tilford, Surrey

The 99th Garrison was invited by the MK Garrison to attend the annual Wayfest Festival in Surrey over the 29th, 30th and 31st August, 2013.  

This was quite a long journey for most members of the 99th but as I was down there for the week anyway, I went along on Friday afternoon and on Saturday but had to drive back home on Sunday  to be ready for back to work on Monday.  Fortunately, I was staying in Aldershot for the week anyway so didn't even need to camp as the journey to the venue was only about 30 mins.

This hat was way too small... I needed a large!

I accompanied David Tarrant, his brother Rick and nephew Dan from Sci Fi South Collectors - see scifisouthcollectors.co.uk -  at the event which meant that I was with Han Solo, a Stormtrooper and a Predator respectively, along with Daleks and other characters from Dr Who.  We collected for a charity called Star light for who we collected just over £200.00 :-) - see www.starlight.org.uk

This was taken out side our favourite tea and cake stall  "The big Mug" where you got your tea in a mug and could also buy homemade cake! :-)

I arrived at the venue at about 3:00pm on Friday and at that stage it was still fairly quiet with some stall holders still setting up.  The event was held at the Rural Life Centre. See www.rurallife.plus.com - which was a nice venue and the sun shone [yet again!]  Having met up with David, Rick and Dan it was a case of milling around for a couple of hours, sampling the local ale whilst waiting for the evenings entertainment to start at 5:00pm.  The gigs that night were Rodney Brannigan, Nine Below Zero, Tiny Dragons and The Stranglers!  All were very good, especially the Stranglers who did Golden Brown, Always the Sun and Walking on the Beaches Looking at the Peaches et al.  

Saturday morning arrived and we didn't need to be in armour until 10:00am so it was a leisurely drive in to the Rural Centre.  We were based in one of the centre's display huts [The Stable block] with Ady Davies from Corsham Sci Fi, the Daleks and a music workshop for kids of all ages and had the smallest of changing rooms yet... we had to take it in turns to get changed!

The smallest and quaintest changing room yet!

After Friday nights festivities, some of the campers were late getting up on Saturday, but eventually the festival got busy around lunch time and sunny .... again!  I did Scout in the morning and then Mara Jade in the afternoon.  

The Baker Street Boys

In the morning we were asked to play in a Laser Quest at the Festival against each other at a Laser Quest area set up by Battlefront Games. See www.battlefrontgames.co.uk. This was a first for me and didn't really know what  was doing or how heavy the gun would be but it was fun.  It was also hard work and we all got rather too hot, especially poor Dan in his Predator costume. There was one rather surreal moment where I was crouching behind an inflatable camouflaged wall hiding from my opponents only to hear the "choo choo, peep, peep" of the centre's steam engine passing by... I turned round and waved at all of the passengers and they all waved back. 

We also got talking to a World War 2 re-enactment group [The Baker Street Boys] and they challenged the Si fi Group to another Laser Quest match at 3:00pm which was duly announced on the centre's tannoy system for all to come and watch.

The rest of the morning was spent in my Scout armour until lunch time when I stopped for a bite to eat and then got changed into Mara Jade.  This seemed to confuse some people including the owner of our favourite "tea and cake" stall who didn't recognise me with different coloured hair and others who assumed that I was Princess Leia.

hmmm.... tea "n" cake :-) from The Big Mug

3:00pm soon came round and we all re-grouped back at the Laser Quest centre ready for battle with the WW2 re-enactors/Baker Street Boys. This was much better second time around and as the owner now realised that I was female he gave me a lighter gun!  And we won!!!   

All of the Laser Quest teams

From there, we then headed back towards our base but en route, we bumped into a large group of Morris Dancers from South Wales called The Widders [see www.thewidders.co.uk] and asked if we could take part.  Myself, Rick [Stormtrooper] and Dan [Predator] had a quick lesson on how to do a basic routine and then we were off!!  This was great fun and it is not as easy as they make it look!  It was also filmed and is on my facebook page if you fancy a giggle. 

I then headed off to the main stage as Roachford was on and he is one of faves.  He was his usual cool self with his amazing voice and did his hits Cuddly Toy and Feel for You amongst others.  I then got changed back at base which was next to another stage where The Wurzels were performing!  :-) Hilarious! :-)  It was then time for something to eat before watching John Coghlan's Quo [he used to be in the Quo and they did all the Quo hits with lots of moshing going on!], Eddie and the Hotrods and then Echo and the Bunneymen.  All very good!! :-) Sadly,  as I had to leave on Sunday I missed Sunday nights main band which was UB40.

Take my word for it... that IS Roachford on t'stage

All, in all, a very laid back, family orientated festival and good fun. Much smaller than Carfest North but still very good and so far, I've only done two festivals in my life and the sun has shone on each!

Dan/Predator daning with the Widders Morris Dancing.

Huge thanks to Julia for inviting the 99th, David, Rick and Dan and all the other attendees too and also to the BakerStreet Boys!  Hope to see you all again next year!