99th collection for Christies Cancer Trust and send off of the Dreamflight's Pirate Group - Manchester Airport - Sat 15th October, 2011

With only about two weeks notice, the 99th was asked by Andy at Manchester airport to help them collect for Christies during the annual Christies' week http://www.christie.nhs.uk/. He asked if we could help out on the 22nd October, but we already have an event in Wrexham that day, so, I had to ask if the event could be moved to the 15th as that was the only free day left now in October for us. Gladly, they were able to move the event to the 15th to accomodate us.

As an unexpected and welcome bonus it also meant that we were able to do something for Dreamflight on the same day as well http://www.dreamflight.org/.  
Dreamflight flies out on its 25th anniversary flight to Florida on the 16th October and on the 15th October, all twelve groups of 16 children from across the UK travel to a hotel near to Heathrow before flying out to Florida the following morning. 


The Dreamflight group which covers the North West, including Manchester, is called the Pirate Group and they were due to fly from Manchester to London on the 15th!!......  So, after a few phone calls and emails and with the permission of Andy/Christies we were also able to spend half an hour with the children of the Pirate Group as they arrived at the airport with their families and before they went through to Departure.  Christie Bear/Andy and the Christie collectors came along too for the send off.  


Not going on the trip this year myself but being able to spend a short bit of time with some of the children who were going was lovely and I was glad I had my helmet on and had not done Memah... she would have ended up with a streaky face from tears.  We had made each child 99th Garrison badges with the Dreamflight and Pirate's Group logos on and put them on 99th lanyards.  They looked brill!  I'd also bought a couple of scarfs with skull and cross bones on and three pirates' eye patches for us stormtroopers to wear just to get into the Pirate swing of things. Group photos were taken of us with the children but Dreamflight has a very strict policy which does not permit photos taken of the children to be put onto facebook and social networks etc, so sadly no photos are on here of us with the kiddies.

The good people that collected with us for Christies this year and last have also very kindly agreed to help the 99th carry out a similar collection for Dreamflight at the airport next Easter.  Andy has said that he can put me in touch with the right people to arrange this! Woohoo!!!!   Thank you!!!

Going back to main reason for the day, Christies, we picked the Craigster up en route to the airport and arrived at the venue at about 08:00am. Where we met up with Simon, who, as normal, was already there.... he always gets to events early!  Ken was not due to arrive until later.

We met up with Andy and the collectors for Christies who we remembered from last year's collection and headed for the airport's transport section HQ which was to be our base for the day.  We got changed there and then all of us, including Andy in the Christie bear costume, got onto one of the airports buses and were ferried to Terminals 2 and 1 - We split into two groups. Me and Simon and Andy/Christie bear were in T2 and Jim and Craig were in T1.  One of the funniest things about doing a troop at Manchester airport though is the looks on the peoples' faces as they see a bus driving past them as they go about their daily business which is full of Stromtroopers.. there were lots of looks of amazement and disbelief and some probably wondering if they really had had that much too drink the night before!!

The morning went quite quickly, broken by our visit to T3 to see the Pirate Group at 11:30. We had a steady flow of people going off on their jollies who were happy to put money into the collection buckets. 

We stopped for lunch and then split between T2 and T1 before re-grouping as one group in T1 when things got really quiet mid afternoon and called it a day at about 4:00pm. To get from T1 to T2 though we used the airports travelators and again there were lots of amazed and amused  travellers who could not quite believe what they were seeing.    

And, I am very pleased to report that Andy has counted the monies and a whopping  approximate £1500 was collected!!!  Thank you!!

We de-kitted and then had a well earned break and drink in a cafe in T2 arrivals and then setting home back to base.  This was another lovely troop and well worth the extra effort it took to go and see the Pirate group off.  I also got to have my photo taken [at my insistence] with two rather young and attractive pilots!!

Huge thanks to Ken, Craig, Jim and Simon and the Pirate Group leader - Maia , and Andy, the transport manager at the airport and all the Christies collectors. A good day and a fantastic result!

99th Collection for Dreamflight at The Arena Retail Park, Coventry - Sat 17th Sept 2011

The 99th was asked to help out one of my friends [Katie] at her collection for Dreamflight at the Arena Retail Park in Coventry.  See www.dreamflight.org

Me and Katie became good friends in 2009 when we both did Dreamflight together for the first time.... we were Dreamflight virgins!!  Its fair to say that the first time that you do Dreamflight as an escort you do feel a little bit like a rabbit in the headlamps as it can be very daunting and at times overwhelming but with the help and support of the other adults members of the Dolphin Group - particularly our group leader, Jo - 

we supported each other and together we got through it relatively unscathed and pre-warned should we ever be asked to do Dreamflight again.  

Fortunately, for me I did get asked back last year and had my second trip.  This year, its Katie that's going and not me.  Hope you have a great time Katie.... the second year is so much better!! Knowing what to expect helps a lot!!

Anyway, Katie set herself a target last year of raising £3500.00 for Dreamflight which is basically how much it costs for one child to go on the trip.  So far she has held a barn dance and nail evenings and took part in a zipwire event in Manchester and raised over £2000.  This was a much more quieter event for her to take part in!! no safety net required!

We set off from base at about 7:00am with the Craigster and got to Coventry for just after 09:00 where we met up with Katie and with Paul and his son, Rhys.  We were given the conference room in the management suite to get changed in and be our base for the day.  We got changed and then set up in the shopping centre.  Initially, we had been told that we would have to be in two separate groups and although we tried this for a while it was clear that we would have a greater impact as a group of one so Katie had a quiet word with security and they agreed to us standing as one group outside Carphone Warehouse.

The morning was fairly quiet but things picked up a little bit after lunch and we were kept fairly busy.  A photographer turned up from the Coventry Evening Telegraph so we may appear in that this coming week.  Katie was excellent crew for us as was Rhys and I believe that he took about 300 photos!!  Some of which are on here.. thanks Rhys!!

There was one little girl that made the day for us worthwhile.  She loved us all and came for a hug from each of us but was particularly taken by Lord Vader/Paul. She invited us to her birthday party.. but had just come out of hospital that day after having a fairly serious operation.  She was such a happy little girl though and made us all realize why we do what we do.  We were also able to suggest to her carer that she thinks about getting her nominated for Dreamflight as she would be an ideal candidate.

We also had one lady come up to us her knew all about Dreamflight as her son had been on the trip in 2008!!  This was amazing as my experience at collections for Dreamflight is that most people do not know Dreamflight or what it is about despite it being a national charity and to have someone come up to you who knows all about it is quite refreshing!  She had even been on the Dreamflight 25th anniversary event at Heathrow on the bank holiday weekend in August.

We trooped until about 4:00pm and then called it a day but not before a well earned visit to Starbucks for some well earned liquid refreshment and cake!!  We collected £203.65!!!  Thank you!!!!

A huge thank you to Katie for organising the event for us and buying our lunches and to Jim, Craig, Paul and to Rhys. for taking all the photos! They're brill ... thank you!!   A lovely day's troop and one of three that the 99th were attending that day across the UK in Coventry, Wrexham and Newcastle.... we rock!!!

99th collects for the Wirral branch of the MS Society at the Pyramids Shopping Centre, Birkenhead - 3rd September 2011.

The 99th was asked to support the Karen of the Wirral Branch of the MS Society at one of their local collections.  We have helped them out at the Cherry Tree Centre in Wallasey previously but this one was at the Pyramids Shopping Centre in Birkenhead.

No Craigster on this one as he was on his jollies so we set off from base at about 7:30 and arrived at the venue at about 09:10 to meet up with Colin, Eric and Simon. We were later joined by Paul and Mel with Jack, Lucy, Finn and Cora. We had two stormtroopers, two biker scouts, one Royal Guard, An Imperial Gunner, Sith Apprentice, Anakin Starfighter Pilot and one Jedi.

We were given the Management Centre's conference room as our base for the day and after meeting Karen we got ourselves changed and ready.  We were then with the public from about 10:00 until 4:00pm and we were very, very busy.  The people of Birkenhead were very keen on us and were very generous.  Some of them recognised us from the event at Spaceport on the 13th\14th August.  The amount collected is a fabulous £583.92!!! a huge thank you to all involved and all who contributed!!  

We even had one lady who wanted to have her photograph taken with us with her lying flat on the floor, one trooper pointing a gun at her head and two of us with a foot on her belly... that is exactly what she wanted.. and we gladly obliged for which she donated £10.  

She has since joined the 99th's Fan page on Facebook and has made the following collage.

Another person, gave us a £20 note and didn't even have his photo taken with us.

We broke for lunch in shifts and sadly, Paul and his family had to leave us then.  Colin changed into his Imperial Gunner costume for the afternoon and we were just as busy.  At times it was just a steady flow of punters wanting their photos.

A special mention has to be made of Eric, who was excellent crew for this event and provided all the photos for this blog as once, again, I did not get chance to take any... Thanks Eric!!! And to Simon for travelling from Wrexham.

A lovely happy event with great people and a reminder of all things good about trooping, including a nice cuppa and cake afterwards and the post troop photo xx

99th Garrison goes to the American Classic Car Show - Northampton - 20 and 21st August 2011

The 99th Garrison and MK Garrison was asked to attend the American Classic Car show at the Billing Aquadome, Northamtpon on Saturday and Sunday 20th and 21st August 2011 to help with fund raising for Help For Heroes.  

We weren't able to do the Saturday but went along on the Sunday with Craig, leaving at about 08:45 and getting there at about 11:00am.  Ian and Marie had traveled down from the North East with Mark and Matthew and made a weekend of it renting a caravan on site for their stay.  On arrival at the site [Billing Aquadone is huge by the way!] we eventually found their caravan and located Paul who had traveled from our neck of the woods in Derbyshire. We got ready in the caravan with Jim and Ian crewing for us.  We then made our way through the park to the main arena where we were extremely popular and well cared for by the organizers.  We were also joined there by Stuart form the MK Garrison... thanks Stu!! 

Paul had brought his Lord Vader with him and made his appearance later with accompanying loud Lord Vader style breathing and music and we were then even more popular than we had been previously.  We posed for photos for a while and then went and posed by some of the fantastic classic cars as well... They were gleaming in the sun and we were somewhat hot and perspiring! ! Boy was it hot!!!  Yet another event where you're left thinking "one of the few days where I'm not at work and could be getting a tan if it were not for the fact that you're covered in white plastic!" but that's what its all about.... trooping in all weather with good friends and for worthy causes.

We took a break because of the heat after one circuit of the cars before going back out again before lunch and then stopping for a lunch break... all kindly provided by the organizers and much appreciated.  I have to say that I have never seen us all look so hot and sweaty as we did when we took our helmets off at lunch... especially poor Paul and Lord Vader... but Paul didn't complain once!  What a trooper!!!  We also met up with Gary from the MKG who had been there on Saturday in costume and had ended up dancing on stage - as a stormtrooper as part of the evening's entertainment! 

After lunch we posed for photos again and Ian got changed into his Darth Revan.  We were then briefed our next "performance" which involved us being driven back into the main stage area either in or on the back of an american pick up truck or walking at the front or at the back with a lady DJ/singer called Lynette dressed as Princess Leia.  She then entertained the crowd with a medley of songs such as "I will survive " , "Stand by your man" and "sometimes its hard to be a woman" with various of us being involved in each song... it was brilliant... and was videoed... I just hope that we can get hold of a copy.

We then took part in handing out the trophies to each of the winning cars and there were some beauts!!

The organizers were well impressed with the 99th and the MKG on both the Saturday and the Sunday and I know that an article is due to appear in their American Classic Car magazine as well. They could not thank us enough!

A huge thank you to Paul T for getting the event and to Jim, Craig, Ian, Marie, Matthew, Mark, Paul, Stuart and to Gary and all the other MK members who attended on the Saturday.  love ya!  .. this was what trooping is all about!!

99th Garrison goes to the Spaceport in Liverpool

The 99th Garrison was asked by Mersey Travel to support the Spaceport Centre in Liverpool at its Star Wars weekend on the 13th and 14th August 2011.  We agreed and invited another group along to assist called the Mint Imperials.  We had met them previously at the Star Wars Family Fun Day in Burnely in May... excellent costumes and their own hand made props to die for!

The weekend started at about 6:00am on Saturday morning when me, Jim and Craig had to get up to leave base to be at Liverpool for 08:30am.  The trouble was that we had that much stuff to take with all the costumes, garrison publicity material and overnight gear that we could not fit it all into one car and had to take both!

On arrival at the Spaceport Centre, we located the others and set to getting set up and organised.  There was the prop table to be organised and populated, banners to put up and props to be labelled and general catch up with troopers and introductions to new members, Paul and Eric.

The Mint Imperials worked quickly and efficiently and put up their amazing props and back drops before getting changed into their costumes, including a Boba Fett, Snow Trooper, Tie fighter Pilot, Boosch, Sand trooper and Royal Guard.

We then needed to be in costume for 10:30 when the centre opened to the public and I agreed to do Biker Scout in the morning and then Memah in the afternoon.  Once ready, I spent most of the morning near the entrance to the centre posing for photos with the Mint Imperials and Paul as Lord Vader.  I didn't have time to take any photos on this troop but thanks to others such as Eric, Nigel, Ian and Marie, we managed to get some cool photos including a few in the centre's worm hole... This is Colin in his Biker Scout.  

The event had been organised by the 99th's MLO [Paul] and through his involvement with the Walking With Giants Foundation, it had been arranged for members of the WWG Charity to come to the centre in the morning for a tour and a visit as part of their WWG annual convention. The group included members from USA.  I have to confess that when WWG party arrived, I was glad that I had my helmet on as there was a tear or two....  They had a really good time though and enjoyed their visit to the centre and seeing the Star Wars characters.

The weekend also included what I believe to a first for the 99th....  We were to provide Jedi workshops every hour on the hour for the visitors.  This took place in an theater/auditorium which seated 84 people and almost every workshop was full to capacity.  The workshops were run by Paul for Saturday and Craig did some on Sunday to give Paul's voice/throat a rest.  These little workshops were a huge success with the children loving the opportunity to ask Stormtoopers questions and given them orders to do things like dance and sing and do star jumps and of course, to try on stormtrooper Armour and play with light sabres.  They also loved the opportunity to buy photo cards of us and ask us for autographs.

The weekend was very successful for the Spacecentre who told us that they had about 750 visitors on the Saturday and about 850 on the Sunday when they would normally only get about 150 per day on a weekend.  They did pay pay our travel and hotel expenses though and our lunches so we were very well looked after and appreciated.

I found somewhere quiet and private to get changed into Memah for the Saturday afternoon and am pleased to report it only took about 40 minutes to get ready!  A vast improvement on previous times when it has taken a lot longer! I spent Saturday afternoon in the centre, with the public and by the prop table and also by its entrance in an effort to keep cool, taking regular breaks from the very tight fitting lekku...  headdress!!   We finished trooping on the Saturday at about 5:00pm and then de-kitted before heading off with Craig, and Ian, Marie and Nigel who had traveled down from the North East for the event,  to Liskard to a restaurant for some much needed sustenance. 

I then had a much needed early night at the Premier Inn that we were staying at whilst, Jim, Craig and Nigel had a few drinks in the Hotel Bar.

Sunday morning was a more leisurely start with a full English cooked breakfast at the Hotel before we set off to be back at the centre for 09:00am.  

Once at the Hotel, I set off to find a private room where I could get dressed and made up into Memah again and then spent the day as Memah.  I was impressed at the number of people who knew that I was a Twi'lek although they did not necessarily know who my character was but I received lots of compliments and there were lots of children who wanted their photo taken with the "Blue Lady"

I spent most of Sunday in the Jedi workshops with Paul and Craig hosting them and Jim taking part in nearly all of them, whilst those of us who were not in the workshops and the Mint Imperials mingled and posed for photos with the visitors to the centre. The day went very, very quickly!!

There are a lot of people to thank for this event and I will probably forget some, so apologies if I do miss anyone but thanks to Jim, Craig, Nigel, Ian, Marie, Colin, Eric, Paul, Paul, Susan, Rob, Jacquie, Ken, Chris, Daz and all the crew from the Mint Imperials and a Special Huge thanks to Paul T for organising this event... it was a blast!