The 99th Garrison attends the Spaceport Centre in the Wirral - Saturday, 9th March, 2013.

The 99th Garrison has attended events at the Spaceport Centre in the Wirral a few times now and this time we were asked to attend over the weekend of the 9th and 10th with our good friends The Mint Imperials for the centre's Star Wars themed weekend.  

I was only able to do the 9th March on this occasion as I had already arranged to meet my mum on Sunday as it was Mother's Day and also my step dad's 65th birthday.  So, it was a very early 04:30am alarm call on Saturday morning and I dragged myself out of bed about fifteen minutes later!  Fortunately, for me, Dave had agreed to do the driving for this troop so I was picked up about 6;00am and we arrived at the venue at 08:00am!

This was a well attended event and there must have been about 30 costumers there in total on the Saturday.  I'll try and list them all later but I do apologise in advance if I have missed anyone off.  It was also great to see some new members of the 99th who I had not met before and their families!

The Centre was due to open to the public at 10:00am and they had already sold about 1,000 tickets in advance and it was extremely busy!  It got so busy that they had to close the doors for some of the time and not let anymore guests in until some had left the building. Over the course of the weekend the centre had 3,000 visitors... an average day is just 100 visitors!

There were also celebrities at the event, including Derek Lyons, John Chapman, Kathy Munroe and Lord Vader himself... David Prowse and of course, the troopers were keen to get their piccies taken with them!

I did Memah Roothes at this event and was very busy........ at times it was like being on the red carpet at a film premier with cameras flashing away all over the show - only the majority of the audience was children... who called me various names like "The Blue Lady" and the Blue Princess"  and they were extremely polite and well; behaved as well... I didn't have any trouble at all with any of them.

For anyone who doesn't know the Spaceport Centre has a Wallace and Gromit themed upper level for the children... and great for photo opportunities as well!

It was also great to see one of my Dreamflight boys and his brothers and sisters as well at this event.  I was meant to take a picture for him with me, it was one that we had drawn of him where we were on that trip to Florida  last year I but completely forgot... sorry!! You will get it one day... I promise!

There was one little boy who came with his mum who had recently gone blind.  He had seen all of the Star Wars films before he lost his sight and wanted to touch the characters to feel their costumes whilst his mum talked him through what he was touching...amazing!

We also did our now famous young Star Wars fan workshops which involved dressing the smallest child there in an adult's set of chest armour and helmet... the latter the wrong way around of course!, Stormtroopers dancing [Gangam Style - of course] and kissing and lots of wonderful questions from audience.

We were also joined by Paul Alexender - a member of the 99th who also sculpts and makes props, etc.  He brought some clay with him and by the end of Saturday had transformed it into Salicious Crumb.  It was a privilege to watch Salicious evolve from the clay and wires... a very talented man indeed and a huge credit to the Garrison!

Sandwiches were provided by the event organisers and after lunch I managed to stay out trooping for a while but I eventually had to go for a rest and chill and didn't last much longer after that... My feet were killing me and I was absolutely shattered!

I de-kitted and then went out as crew for a while but the centre was starting to empty so there wasn't that much to do.  We then waited and chatted for a while as we always do after a troop but then we all went off the a local pub for a drink and a bite to eat.  There was a bit of a competition between Mel and Dave about who could eat the most and surprisingly Mel beat Dave - or rather Dave was beaten by Scampi... perhaps we should now call him Scampi-trooper?!!

Whilst at the pub, to my surprise, we were joined Ian, Robbie and James who are three of our members from up in the North East.  They had already done an event during the day up in  Newcastle and had travelled down to Liverpool to do the rest of the Spaceport centre event on the Sunday... dedication or what?!

After a meal and two glasses of red wine, I was well and truly TIRED and glad to get home at about 11:00pm!

Now... here I go with my list... A huge thanks to Paul, Rhys, Darran, Jim, Paul T, Mel, James, Dave, Paul A, Ian, Chris, Dave, Andy, Mark and family, Ken, Vicky, Wayne, Gary, Glen, Claire, Colin and Eric and Stacey, Richard, Phill and Neil and the rest of the Mint Imperials.

The 99th Garrison attends LPUK's First Party with Warwick Davis.

The 99th was asked to attend a party to celebrate the LPUK - a new charity set up by Warwick Davis to help little people and their families.  This was their first annual birthday party at the De Vere Hotel in Dudley.   We were supported by our good friends the Mint Imperials.

We were asked to be ready to party by about 4:00pm so it was a leisurely journey down to Dudley courtesy of Dave who kindly offered me a lift on this occasion.  As I'd decided to do Memah at this event, we set off at about 12:00 noon so that I wouldn't have to rush to get ready!  We needn't have worried as we got there in plenty of time and we were delayed in joining the party anyway as they weren't quite ready for us.  We also seemed to be the only troopers who had the correct postcode and didn't get lost on the way... everybody else had got lost to varying degrees!

We were joined by Craig, Ken Paul, Darran, Jim, Gary and Alan and Stacey, Jake, Ken, Phil and Richard and its amazing how many troopers want the opportunity to help Lord Vader polish his helmet!

We were asked to make our entrance into the party at about 4:30.  The delay was due to problems in being able to play the Star Wars music for our entrance.  The party was well on the way by then and the children were already suitably excited.  We entered the room to appropriate Star Wars theme music and then were on the stage for about half an hour posing for photos and mingling.  

Everyone was lovely and the children were great.  I had one little girl called Amy who according to her Dad is now a friend for life... she kept hold of my hand for most of the time and enjoyed telling me about a trip to Disneyland, Paris that she and her family were due to go on soon.

Once everyone had got their photos that they wanted we then had a group photo with all of the children on and one with Warwick as well.

We were then had a short break before going back into the hotel and mingling with the guests in the reception area again and Starbucks cafe which was on site.  The children still followed us around though and thought that it was good fun to attack the troopers with their toy light sabres!  I did have to ask them to do it a bit more gently a couple of times as they were getting carried away but they were well behaved and good fun!

We then de-kitted and had a bite to eat and something to drink before leaving at about 8:30pm and getting back home at about 10:00pm.

A huge thank you to the LPUK for inviting us to the party and to Jim, Craig, Ken, Paul, Darran, Gary [excellent crew as ever!], Alan and Dave from the 99th and to Stacey, Ken, Jake, Richard and Phil from the Mint Imperials.  A classic line from Jake came at the end of the event when he was looking for his bag... only to realise that it was on his back!  lol

The 99th Garrison collects for Dreamflight at That's Entertainment - 26th January, 2013

The 99th Garrison regulary collects at various That's Entertainment stores throughout the UK for charity - usually Dreamflight and this time around the location was Blackburn.  See www.dreamflight.org

The weather played a huge part in this event as many of our members from the North East were due to attend - some of them were even coming down in a mini bus.  However, sadly we had a large deposit of fresh snow on Friday night/Saturday morning which meant that they could not make it.  It was touch and go whether I would actually make it too.  I set my alarm for 5:00am and got up and opened the curtains and groaned loudly when I saw all the nice new  snow.  I got dressed and went out and spent about half an hour removing the snow from on the car and around it and then went back into the house thinking that my neighbours must think that I'm potty.  I then spent about an hour deliberating whether to set off or not and decided that I would have a go.

I managed to get off my parking spot but that was it.  I then had about 50 yards to go to get off my street onto the main road and had to basically dig myself out of the street. Finally, getting off the street [narrowly missing slipping into parked cars] at about 7:30am.  

Sat-nav then wanted to take me via nice scenic routes cross country to Blackburn but I figured that so early in the morning and before a predicted thaw had kicked in, that probably wasn't such a good idea.  I asked it calculate an alternative route and ended up going the long way around via the A38 and A50 onto the M6 and then the M65.  I finally got to the destination at about 10:25am.

Already there was Wayne with Vicki, Gary, Chris and James and we were shortly joined by Ken, Jim and Craig.  We were late getting out into the shop/mall but we got out there in the end and we were well received.  It was Scout for me today.  It was also good to see Paul again when he joined us after being at work in the morning and to see his Tusken Raider.

It was a fairly busy day with lots of photos taken and excellent crew support from our fairly new members Chris, Vicki and Gary.  They are such good crew that we don't really want them to buy costumes!   ... only joking!!!  This photo is of Vicki helping Wayne to put on his Snow Trooper costume.  It can be tricky business you know!

I had one lady talking to me about the weather and  when we were next acting.  I explained that this was our hobby etc and that we were not actually actors.  She came back to talk to me later and went onto to tell me about her appointment the following week with her GP on a very private matter. .. Its amazing what people will tell you when you're in your armour!!

The issue of "Gangum Style" came up again on this troop. Staff in a cafe in the mall asked if we would all do the "dance" so they could film it.  I said that they would so long as they made a donation to Dreamflight.  They offered £2.00..... I said that that wasn't enough to persuade the troopers to do the dance [again!] and sadly, they said that they had no money left.  Oh well... narrow escape but we would have done it £20.00!!  It was also nice to see Paul [a member of the 99th] who came to visit us with his young daughter Kaitlyn.

On the way back out after lunch we were stopped by a young man who asked us if we minded him asking a few questions about our work and charity collections.   Apparently this was for his degree at university. We agreed and I was to be the spokesperson before I then realised that he meant that he intended to film the mini interview.  So there I am in my armour and balaclava with no helmet [very fetching] talking to a complete stranger on camera about the 99th's collections for Dreamflight.  Hope its of use to him in getting his degree!

We de-kitted at about 4:15pm and then it was time for the journey home which took two and a half hours this time and was thankfully less snowy!!

Sorry about the eyes being shut Gary!!

The collection pots/buckets were reasonably heavy albeit not up to Trafford Centre levels but we collected £247.30......  not bad really given the weather!

Huge thanks to Wayne, Craig, Ken,  Jim, Paul, James, Alan and to our excellent crew Vicki, Chris and Gary.  And huge thanks to to Rachel - the manager of the That's Entertainment Store for inviting us.

Rachel from That's Entertainment mentioned that when we all walk around with our suitcases we look like a sketch they use to use on the Fast Show where there would be a family running through an airport with their luggage... she has a point!  lol

The 99th Garrison at the Chester Music Hall for Will's 8th Birthday Party in aid of Dreamflight.

You may remember from one of my previous posts that the 99th attended a Ball at Chester Race Course in aid of Christies Cancer Trust and that at the Ball there was an auction which included the opportunity to bid for the 99th's services.  The lady who won that auction wanted us to attend her son's [Will] eighth birthday party which was in November, 2012.  Sadly the 99th was already busy with other pre-booked events in November so we weren't able to attend his party that month but what we did do was to have Will attend our troop at the Trafford Centre Christmas Lights Switch on and we made him an honorary member of the 99th with the intention that Will would have another Birthday early in 2013 where the 99th would be able to attend.  Well, that was last night, at the Chester Music Hall.

We were to be in costume for 6:00pm.  I was undecided about whether to do Memah Roothes or Biker Scout.  Will, and his sister Daisy had seen me as Memah Roothes at the Trafford Centre troop and I didn't want to disappoint them if they were expecting to see her again.  So, I loaded the car with both costumes and set off just after 2:00pm arriving at the venue about 4:15pm.  I was so early though that it was still locked but I didn't have wait too long before Will's mum arrived, then the buffet food and then the lady to open the venue!  I spoke to Will's mum about which costume Will would like me to wear and she confirmed my suspicion that it should be Memah.

I then got changed into Memah and was ready in time. On Daisy's insistence, she and her mum came to visit me as I was getting ready as she was so excited.  We were joined at this event by Chris, Wayne, Gary, Alan, Paul, Mel, Jim, Simo, Mike and Vicki.   It was the first troop with the 99th for Chris and Vicki and it was lovely to meet them.  Vicki and Gary made excellent crew. 

Now this event was a childrens birthday party and that meant about 30 very excitable children, all in fancy dress [including alot in Star Wars costumes] who couldn't wait to see us.  Paul had agreed that we would do the "Star Wars experience" show for them and this went down a treat.

We came out to the see the children first of all about 6:00pm and stayed out for about 15 mins for photos and general mingling before going for a short break. We were then back out for a Q&A session which turned into the children asking us to do various things which included stromtroopers singing, doing the splits and waltzing to romantic music and of course, we were asked to do Gangum Style! Hilarious!!!

We then had a by now much needed break again, before going back to allow the children to show us their light sabre skills and to show how a Stromtrooper is dressed which included putting Will in some armour and helmet, back to front of course, very simple but very funny!   They could also have face paintings done by Mel. The children loved it.  Paul then dressed one of the children as a Jawa as well. -- again simple but they loved it.  The children then had a chance to all wear a Stromtrooper helmet and have their photo taken.

This took us to 8:00pm at which time it was time to de-kit and head off home on my two hour drive.

Huge thanks to Chris, Wayne, Gary, Alan, Paul, Mel, Jim, Simo and Vicki.  An excellent first event for me with the 99th for 2013..... oh.... and a donation of £500 will be made to Dreamflight by Will's parents... a ginormous loving Thank you to them!!

The 99th collects for Dreamflight at the Trafford Centre - Saturday, 8th December, 2012.

It has become a bit of a 99th Garrison Christmas tradition over the past few years that we have a Saturday in December to collect for Charity at the Trafford Centre and for the past two years it has been for Dreamflight.  If you don't yet know what Dreamflight is and what a fantastic charity it is then you obviously haven't spent any time with me yet and shame on you!!  You need to go to www.dreamflight.org and watch the three minute introductory video straightaway to fill this gap in your knowledge base!

This year was no different from previous years in that our spot for the day was at the Bandstand in the Orient area of the Centre and our base was in the centre management suite but this was the first time that I decided to do Memah for this event.  This meant a very early start though so with a jump, I was rudely awoken by the alarm clock at 04:30 am!  It was then a quick breakfast and off to pick Darran up before heading off to the Trafford Centre and getting there for about 08:15 hours.

We were the first to arrive but were soon joined by Jim and Craig and then I went off to the ladies loo in the Centre's management suite to start to get ready.  This is normally a very quiet and lonely affair but on this occasion I was able to spend some time with first of all Claire a new member of the 99th, Heidi [Mrs Vader!] and then Gabi [The Group Doctor for the Dreamflight Pirate Group].  It made a pleasant change!

We were out in the Centre for 10:00am and initially it was very quiet... but by lunch time the crowds were starting to arrive and it was a steady stream from then on really.

We were joined at various times of the day by Nicola with Eddie and Frederick, Emma [Pirate Group Physio] Neil [Pirate Group Camera man], Zoe [Pirate Group Escort], Wendy [Pirate Group Escort] and Gabi - Group Doctor.  Also, what really made the day special for me was that the two boys that I looked after on this year's trip [Chris and Regan] came along as well.  It was lovely to see them and their families again and for them to be involved in the collection.  I got quite sad when they left.

One member of the public said that he would donate £5.00 if the troopers posed a la "gangum style" for a photo so of course we obliged!

We were told at one point that Sky News were in the Centre and wanted to come along and film us, but they never made an appearance, which was a shame really as that would have been brilliant publicity for Dreamflight if they had done so.

The centre got busier and busier and regular breaks were required and by the end of the day my feet were killing me but it was well worth it AS WE COLLECTED £879.80!!!!!!!! in just 6 hours.  This is an amazing amount and a credit to all who attended and donated.

Once we had de-kitted and I had de-blued, we went for a bite to eat at Gourmet Burgers [we know how to live it up in the 99th] As we walked into the restaurant the staff behind the bar were looking at us in a quizzical manner so I went over and explained that we were the Star Wars characters that they had seen around the centre earlier.  Then when I went up to the bar to order and pay for my burger, someone who | assume is the manager came over and said that I could have a discount!!!  Whoosh!!   Then all the other troopers who went to the bar after me got a discount as well and the offer of free monkey nuts!!!!  ohh... the high life!!!

It was then the long journey home and I got back in at about 09:00pm.

This was a brilliant day for me and one that I had so wanted to be a success and I am so pleased with the total raised of £879.90.  It was great to meet new members of the 99th and I can't thank all of those who came along enough, we could not have achieved such a wonderful total without the help of all those who watched our backs and cajoled money off the public.  So, huge, ginormous festive thanks go to Jim, Craig, Darran, Ken, Wayne, Dave P, Dave R, Alan, Glen, Claire, Gary, Steve, Heidi from the 99th and to Emma, Gabi, Nicola, Neil, Zoe, Wendy, Regan and Chris from the Pirate Group.