99th Garrison at Dan and Erica's wedding - 13th August, 2012

The 99th Garrison was asked by Dan Fountain and his bride to be Erica to attend their wedding to add a touch of Star Wars.  Dan is a big fan of Star Wars who we had met when collecting in a shopping centre in Sheffield and he has since become a generous supporter of Dreamflight providing a variety of raffle prizes and donations over the past year or so to Dreamflight fundraising events.

The wedding took place at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire and wow!..... what a fabulous setting.  It was absolutely idyllic.

We needed to be in armour for 1:00pm so arrived at the Castle at about 11:30 ish and met up with Neil… or Lord Vader.  Neil is the tallest Vader I have ever seen and is about 7 foot when he is in his costume; making me feel tiny!  

I also had a quick look around at the Birds of Prey that the castle keeps which you can book some time to spend with and fly them.  The Castle also does Land Rover Day experiences in the huge woodlands which surround it.  There were also some classes in archery taking place.

We were then joined by James, David, Paul, Colin and his Dad Eric.  We had four stormtroopers, two scouts and Lord Vader and Eric as excellent crew.

We had a very grand room to get changed in… never walked on carpet so plush before!

We were ready for about 12:50 so we went outside for some fresh air and to prepare for the groom’s arrival… as this was no ordinary arrival -  Dan was due to arrive by helicopter on the lawn outside the front of the castle.  There were already guests outside who obviously did not know about our attendance and were happily surprised and suitably impressed.

The helicopter arrived bang on time and made a couple of circles around the castle before landing.  Dan told us afterwards that the pilot played a joke on him and pretended that they were going to have to make a crash landing as there was a serious problem and then having fallen quite low and close to the ground suddenly pulled up again!  Poor Dan….. didn’t help his pre-wedding nerves at all!

Whilst the helicopter was landing, it was quite funny to see Lord Vader’s cloak almost taking off and the force of the breeze also flicked up his shoulder bells…. But no harm was done..fortunately!

Once the rotators had stopped the Best Man's Lamborghini parked up next to it and Dan's   Ferrari  was already parked on the drive!  Most impressive! 

We then marched in formation to the helicopter and then escorted the Groom and his party to the venue for some much needed pre-wedding ceremony drinks in the castle’s coach house.

It was then a case of mixing with the guests and posing for photographs before the bride’s arrival at 2:00pm.  Fortunately, although rain had been forecast for virtually all of the UK, the day stayed bright and dry. 

Me and Colin also got to sit in the helicopter too!  My first time ever and one of the advantages of Scout armour over Stormtrooper armour as at least we can move around more and sit down!

We provided a Guard of Honour for the guests’ entrance into the Castle’s Main Hall where the wedding ceremony was due to take place and also for the Bride’s entrance as well.  She looked gorgeous! And had the perfect princess’s wedding dress for the venue/location with much assistance and finishing touches being provided on her arrival by both her wedding planner and six beautiful bridesmaids on the steps to the Hall.

We then had a quick break whilst the service took place before we were back out on the lawn for the main professional photo shoot.  The wedding was also videoed and hopefully we’ll get to see that and some of the photos too.

We were then told that there was some food and drink waiting for us in the Castle’s bar and we were very well looked after indeed.  It was quite funny as the tables were laid out for us with proper posh cutlery etc and chairs but the Stormtroopers couldn’t even sit down…. But it was nice to live the high life and be spoilt.  

The owner of the castle then asked if we could hang around for his five year old son [Lucas] to come home from Nursery so that he could have some photos with us.  We could have what liked from the bar in terms of food and drink whilst we waited… sadly I was driving!

We killed the time by going back outside onto the Lawn.  The wedding guests were having their wedding breakfast by this point and we took advantage of the empty bouncy castle and space hoppers which had been provided.  This included my and Colin having a race across the lawn on the space-hoppers and Lord Vader sitting on one and falling off!!  

Lucas arrived home at about 5:00pm and sadly, was too frightened to have his photo taken with us alone.  We tried our best, even taking our helmets off to show him that we were just normal people [some would say that helmets off actually is more frightening!!] but all he would do in the end was pose for one photo with his Dad holding him in his arms.  

We de-kitted after this and then had a quick drink in the bar before setting off.  

A great day and one which raised at least £400 for Dreamflight.  More was to be collected in the evening as Dan asked for a couple of collection pots to be left and he was going to nag his guests to donate!  I’ll confirm the final amount once it is known.

A huge thanks to Dan and Erica for inviting us to their special day and to David, James, Jim, Eric, Colin, Neil and Paul for making it such fun.

99th Garrison attends a Charity concert for the Lymphoma Association in memory of Mel - Saturday 18th August, 2012.

Mark Busby [who we had previously attended the football matches at Notts Forest and Chesterfield for in May] had invited us along to meet and greet the guests as they arrived at a Rowing Club venue in Nottingham.

The venue was nest door to Notts and there was a match going on when we arrived so we killed some time by having a 99 with flake [but sadly no raspberry ripple] whilst we waited for the various burger vans etc and the supporters to depart so that we could then park where we had been instructed to.

We had to be in Armour for six and what had been an average day weatherwise suddenly turned very hot and sunny and within 10 mintues of starting to get into costume, I was sweating... it was hot.

We had a changing room which was located at the back of the stage and on entering the stage/hall I met Aundrea Nyle from the voice who gave me a new trooping name.... a "Troopette"  I like!

We then went outside which was only slighter cooler than being indoors to meet and greet.  It was fairly quiet for us with no collection pots to rattle and only a few photos and by 7:30 as most of the guests had arrived we dekitted and then stayed to watch some of the acts.

We also got to hold an Olympic Torch!!

We saw a duet called Distracted who were very young and very good, Chole Pownall who was also very good and Carmel Reynolds... who was very good and reached some very high notes very successfully. http://www.facebook.com/events/108514202616579/   Further detail can be found about the event and acts here.

There were only four of us at this event so, a huge thanks to Craig, Darran and Jim and to Mark for inviting us... Sadly I did not get to see Aundrea Nyle as I had to leave at about !0:00pm and she still hadn't been on but I'm hoping to see her again at another event for Mark some time.

99th Garrison collecting for Christies Cancer Trust - Didsbury Festival - 16th June, 2012

The 99th Garrison was asked to support a fund raising day at the Didsbury Festival in Manchester on the 16th June, 2012.

We picked up the Craigster en route to Didsbury and were at the venue for 10:00am.  Ken was already there waiting for us and brought with him copies of a local newspaper from Burnley which contained a story and photo about him being a stormtrooper and member of the 99th Garrison.  A good bit of publicity Ken!

Our changing room for the day was at Matt's house.  Matt is a friend of Craig's from Uni and now work and Matt was to be the first to wear the Christie bear costume for the day.

We had to be in armour for 11:00am and then set off on the short walk from Matt's to the festival.  We harassed a few on lookers who were waiting for the Festival parade and although we did not take part in the parade from the start, we were able to join in at the front for about the last ten minutes or so.

We then had a spot on the festival field with the Christie table/tent and were very busy... busier than I I had anticipated given the weather and what had been forecast.  It was cold and grey and it did rain from time to time but it was still a busy festival. The worse rain waited for 4:00pm when we were due to finish anyway and we got soaked walking back to Matt's.

Lunch was chips from a chippy in Didsbury which had been voted the best chippy in Cheshire... very nice too and did involve another walk to and from Matt's again..  This was in a residential area and I think that the local residents were getting used to seeing us walking up and down their residential streets!

From our posing for photographs we managed to collect £308.55 for Christies and in total, £854.96 was collected for Christies on the day which was well more than had been hoped for... I think we were a huge hit with the fundraisers!

A huge thank you to Ken, Craig, David and Jim [sorry Ken, but you left before the post troop photo] and to Matt and Vicky and Matt's family for making us feel so welcome and taking over their front room!

99th Garrison helps MB Management to support the Lymphoma Association - Sunday 27th May 2012

The 99th Garrison was asked by Mark Busby of MB Management to help out at a charity football match on Sunday 27th May, 2012 at the B2net stadium in Chesterfield between the Chesterfield Legends and a team of actors from Eastenders, Waterloo Road, Coronation Street and Emmerdale.  I went along with Paul, Darran Jim and Craig from the 99th and we also had The Stig and a Clone Warrior attend as well.  Here we are with the "Moon" brothers from Eastenders..... I never watch soaps so didn't recognise them but they were nice lads!

The Craigster had stayed at base on Saturday night as we had been out with my sister, brother in law, niece [Hazel, David and Lucy] and Paul Alexander in Manchester to celebrate Craig's 21st on the 23rd and for getting his first ever job - straight from Uni- testing test pc games - which he starts today [the 28th!] Well done and well deserved! Good Luck Craig!  One of the many pubs we went to was the Mark Addy but we also went to the Ox Noble amongst others before getting the train back to base; arriving back at just gone midnight having been out since midday!

We needed to be at the venue for 10:30 so left base about 9:30 which gave us a bit of time to come round from our varying degrees of hangover from the birthday celebrations but I don't think any of us were relishing the thought of wearing our armour in what already felt that it was going to be the hottest day of the year so far. 

 Poor Darran decided to wear his black Shadow Trooper and was very warm indeed ... and with a lot of people thinking he was Darth Vader! lol

Once at the venue [after a very scenic drive through glorious Derbyshire] we met up with Mark and also Paul, Maria, Paul W, Darran and Rob.  We then had to be outside in armour for 11:50 so had  plenty of time to get ready and recover more from our hangovers!

Poor Sidley.... he must have been really, really, really, really hot!!

Once outside, it was, as had been expected, very, very, very hot and I needed to find shade to stand in where ever I could.  Its fair to say that this match wasn't as busy as the one we had done for Mark at Notts Forest on the 13th May and the collections pots were far too light but we were still very popular apart from a couple of little ones who I unintentionally made cry and run for mummy, although for most of the day, I was referred to as the "little one" lol.  We even did a spot of boogying in the shade above Elton john's poster which went down very well and may even have been filmed!

We de-kitted as the match started at 3:00pm having had a round of applause from the crowds as we left and then we free to get changed and watch the match.  We were given some seats on the stand that had been reserved for us but at half time, I decided to move as they were in the shade and I was getting cool in the breeze and I moved over to the other side of the stadium which was still in the sun and gradually all the others followed me! I also got the compare of the match to wish Craig happy 21st birthday on the tannoy system!  We were also treated to a surprise of a Dakota DC3 flying over us three times and then the theme tune to Dad's Army was played on the tannoy system with everyone singing along!!  It was a case of plane stopped play!

We watched the remainder of the match [including one between Derbyshire Constabulary and Nottinghamshire Police] at half time and then left for the day.  We could have stayed for the post match buffet and mingle with the soap stars and players but we were all tired and needed to get Craig back to base and then back home ready to start work the following morning.

A huge thanks to all who attended and to Mark for inviting us along and to Courtney for taking the group photo of us with the Moon brothers ..... Jim, Craig, Paul and Maria, Paul, Darran and Rob.

99th Garrison supports Dreamflight and the Lymphoma Association in one very busy weekend 12th and 13th May, 2012

Having not written a blog for quite some time now, I now find that I have two events to cover from one weekend!

Firstly, the 99th was asked to support the Pirates Group of Dreamflight at its Family Fun Day at the Royal Oak in Mellor, Stockport. For those of you who don't know.... but quite frankly how can you not know by now..... Dreamflight is a national charity that every year takes 192 seriously ill children on the holiday of a lifetime to Florida with Doctors and Nurses with them to make sure they have a fantastic time.  See www.dreamflight.org.

This was a fairly local troop for us and it only took half an hour to get there.  The Craigster had stayed with us the night before so we were all able to take our time in the morning and not have to rush like we normally have to.  We left base at 10:30, arriving at the pub by 11:00.  Simon came along on this troop and it was great to see him as we worked out that it had been seven months since we last trooped together.  We all got changed in the cellar and were out in armour by 12:00.

It was also great to see Maia and Adrian and the other pirates too.  The weather was intermittent sunshine and was quite cold when the sun wasn't out.  The event was fairly quiet to begin with but by about 2:30pm it was starting to get busy. We spent most of the time at the front of the pub on the street trying to lure people in and also get them to have a photo and make a donation before they went through to the fun day at the back of the pub. We had a fair degree of success!

The event had a bouncy castle, face painting, raffle, tombola, guess the number of sweets in the jar, guess the name of the HUGE rabbit and MAGGOT racing!!

We spent a few minutes in the main event field in the afternoon but by this time all those children who had been frightened by us on their way into the pub had built up their excitement  levels and courage and we became the centre of their attention, being poked, prodded and shouted at!!  It was all good fun but tiring making sure that they were always in sight and we could see what they were up to.  After about ten minutes, we beat a hastily retreat back to the front of the pub.  Children = 1.  Storntroopers = 0!!

A huge thanks to Simon for travelling from Wrexham for the event.  Look forward to seeing you again soon.

The 99th was also asked to attend an event by Mark Busby [M.B Management] at Notts Forest FC.  This was a charity football match between former professional footballers [including Teddy Sheringham] and various soap stars from Eastenders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale etc.  Here's me with Mark Crossley.

The main charity for the event was the Lymphoma Association and prior to the match the organizers had raised approximately £80,000.  There is another charity match on the 27th at Chesterfield at the B2net stadium and a concert in August as well.  

The Craigster stayed with us again on the Saturday night so on Sunday morning it was up for the usual hour and a half drive to an event, leaving base at 8:30 and getting to the venue at 10:00.  We were joined at the event by Stig and Batman from Hollywood Heroes and some of the 99th Troopers from the North East had made the 4 hour drive down too.  It was nice to see Nigel, Craig E, James and also to see Darran, Jeff, Michaela and Kayleigh and to meet Mark's family.

It was also nice to see my brother in law David, who had come along to bring us some new holsters he has been making from scratch.  They are very, very good and were well received by the troopers who were there... especially the Craigster who got one as a 21st birthday present off David and my sister Hazel.   He wore it all day when ever he could and probably still is!

We were all in armour by 11:45 and then were outside meeting the crowds as they entered the ground.  We then spent some time pitch side and then walked around the entire pitch signing autographs and posing for photos as we went and also rattling the collection pots.   It fair to say that we were very popular and when the time came for the players to come onto the pitch and for us to make our exit we were given a heart warming round of applause from the spectators.

It was then time for us to de-kit, before watching a bit of the match and then having a well earned burger and a cup of tea!  We then hung around on the off chance that we might get to meet some of the stars.. not that we actually knew a lot of them [I only recognised Teddy!] but that wasn't to be.  It was then the drive home, getting back about 7:30pm and a quick tea before the Craigster had to be taken home back to Manchester.

Thanks to Jim,  the Craigster, Nigel, Craig E, James, Jeff, Michaela, Kayleigh, Darran and to the Stig and Batman and to Mark for inviting us to attend.  Heres to the next one at Chesterfield!

99th Garrison invited back to the Trafford Centre - Sat 18th Feb 2012

It used to be the case that we had to ask the Trafford Centre management for permission for the 99th to go to the centre and collect but on this occasion, the Trafford Centre asked us along to help them out with their Star Wars week for school half term.  

They asked us to be there on the Saturday and the Sunday but I couldn't do both days so just did the Saturday.  Originally, we were asked to be in costume at 11:00am but then they asked us to be in costume by 09:30 as the Trafford Centre press and PR people wanted to take some professional photos of us around the centre before it got too busy with shoppers.

Ian came down from Newcastle for this event and he arrived at base on Friday afternoon.  I had actually been out on a ten mile walk up and down Kinder Scout as part of my sister's [Hazel] special birthday celebrations and had got very wet as the weather had not been very nice at all.  So, on Friday night I was suitably tired.    

Saturday morning was a fairly early start as we had to be out of base by about 07:30 and then it was straight into applying my make up for Memah for me.  It took about an hour to get on!

We were then taken around the centre and had professional shots taken on the central stair case, queuing at ATMs, sat at the champagne bar, ordering food at Cafe Rouge and on travelling on the escalators before having a half hour break at 10:30 and going out for the public at 11:00.

When we did go out at 11:00 we had a crowd of people waiting for us including lots of children in their Star Wars costumes and we were very busy.  The Trafford Centre management told us that they wanted us to do half hour on, then half hour off, and I have to say it worked really well.  We got lots of breaks from the heat and when we did go out we were in demand.  .. Its a system that we may need to use again at other events where appropriate.

The odd thing about the day was that we weren't allowed to collect for charity but at least that meant we did not have to sit down and count loads of coins when we got back!  It was strange though not to have a collection pot in hand!

And just in case you're wondering as the Craigster hasn't had a mention yet in this blog.... Craig made his way to the Trafford Centre by bus as we didn't have room for anyone else in the car with Ian being with us and fortunately for Craig, there is a bus service from Manchester to the Trafford Centre.  We were also joined by Paul and Rhys, who very kindly brought Darran with them and also by David, Jim and Ken.  It was also Craig's first outing in his X wing costume doing his Luke Skywalker impression!

After the troop it was a quick turn around to take all my blue make up off and get ready for a night out for Hazel's birthday at Piccolino's in Manchester and the the Mark Addy pub by the river Irwell. Needless to say as I'm sat here writing this blog on Sunday morning, I'm feeling ever so slight worse for wear from the many GnTs I had and my legs are so stiff from the walk on Friday and all the standing around on Saturday that I can hardly bend them!

 A huge thanks to David, Craig, Ian, Darran, Paul, Rhys, Ken and Jim.

If I get copies of the professional photos I will add these at a later date. :-) x

99th Attends the launch of The Phantom Menace in 3D at the aptly named Empire Cinema, Wigan - Sunday 12th February, 2012

The 99th was asked to help the empire..... The Empire Cinema in Wigan.. to launch The Phantom Menace in 3D and kindly allowed us to collect for Dreamflight as well. www.dreamflight.org.

We needed to be in costume by 1:00pm so left base at about 11:00am.. picking the Craigster up on the way.  We were at the cinema for two screenings until 5:00pm but were allowed to stay after that to see the film ourselves if we wished as well... for free.  Unfortunately, none of us were able to but we were given free passes instead with no date to use them by!

This was the second troop of 2012 for me and also the second troop this year where we met a new member.  Today it was Grant.  Great to meet him as a fellow Scout/Tree Dodger but not to stand next to, if, like me, you're a little on the short side.... he is very tall!! and made me feel tiny in comparison!!!! :-)

We had a good day and were well received by the punters and the staff alike.  Lots of children turned up with their Star Wars T shirts on ... and lots of keen Dads as well!  That's the thing about Star Wars.... it gets all generations in the end!

A nice second troop at which we raised £72.80 on the day for Dreamflight. see www.dreamflight.org.