Apologies for the following short blogs...been too busy going here and there but here's a quick catch up...
16th July
A couple of short catch ups (apologies for not being on the ball with these)
Sheffield at Crystal Peaks – a fun troop, me craig n Nigel travel down in car, eventually after wandering the car park we found the centre, on dragging bags through the shops we found the escalators to which as we were going up, Nigel said ‘I’ve been dripped on by Crystal Peaks’…..much sniggering by me and Craig before we eventually found the shop, the staff I have to say were very welcoming, couldn’t do enough to help us, mind you, we weren’t too impressed with the stairs, nothing wrong as stairs go but my god there seemed a lot of them. I got ready on floor in front of mirror (paint to apply) while the others and staff got ready behind me, once we were all ready, come 11 we made our way out into the shop, we were well received by the people in the shop and of course out of it, it got very busy at one point, the mall was crowded, but all went well, we had sandwiches and drinks laid on by staff for our lunch (thanks to the staff for being on the ball) it was a busy day, lots of people, happy children and happy ‘big children’ !!!
All too soon though it was time to pack up and go, we all had a great time, as did the shoppers, I think they enjoyed us, I know the staff working out there did. Hopefully we’ll return someday, I’d like to say my memory was great, but it’s not, so this is short and sweet, I do though, remember that there was a lot of innuendo, all good fun stuff though and lots of laughter..fab day guys…
Hmm, I seem to have no photo's of this one!!! sorry peeps....
Rotary Club 30th july
Well, this was a funny one, up in Blaydon in some Pub that I can’t remember the name of, when we finally found it, we weren’t sure what to think, but onwards and upwards, we met with Craig, Nigel, Claire and EvilBetty, we were shown to our ‘room’ the passage at the top of the pub stairs in their private quarters, but having asked for a mirror were shown to a bedroom which obviously belonged to the owners sons, I had my mirror which I put in front of window on the floor, but needed more light, on opening the curtain, one side of the pole came out of the wall and fell down! I had to climb up and push the screw back in, this after getting Craig to sit on arm of chair I was on (so it wouldn’t tip) and cause more damage!...And anyway, after having the stairs cleared of bits and pieces, we finally managed to struggle down the stairs, through the pub and outside, much to the delight of the local children, we got some very strange looks, but all in all it was good fun, the guy across the road from the Pizza shop asked us over for photo’s and as usual we complied, never one to turn down a photo opportunity! After we stood around outside a while, getting people’s interest in the pub etc, it was time to wrap it all up and get changed, the staff were great, after getting changed it was all downstairs into the bar for a drink before leaving, oh and a dance of course (that was just me on my own though) complete with normal day to day clothes and still purple face! But what the heck. Maria from Rotary Club was very impressed with us and is wanting us to do more for them, which we look forward to.. yet again, a bit of a quickie, my brain can’t remember everything, must take a noteboo from now on….but great work everyone involved in this one…….
13th 14th August, Spaceport
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
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.
This was great fun, Ian and I arrived on the Fri night at our Hotel where we later met up with Paul who was with the rest of the WWG people, we had a great night, friendly chat and some banter with one or two of the others.
Sat morning we met up with Paul who we followed through town over to Spaceport, thanks for that Paul, arriving at the car park it seemed we were locked out, Paul went off to find someone to unlock the barrier, only to find that it wasn't locked in the first place hehe, oh well, gave us a giggle ;O). Once inside we were shown to our changing room, bit of a mess once we were all in getting changed but was good to mix in with the others, then of course out we went all ready to troop and wow, what a busy day it turned out to be, I do believe they normally get 150 people through their doors on a Saturday, they got something like 800? Great for us and fab for Spaceport themselves, we went down a storm as did the 'How to be Jedi' talks, I missed out on that one, but from what I've heard they were tremendous fun, well done to Paul for those, and of course Craig.
Keeping this short as I know Sue/Craig already done a blog, just wanted to say a big thanks to everyone who attended this, and sorry that we didn't get to troop the Sunday (due to the car break down) honestly, never a dull moment!!! But a successful weekend, well done everyone,.....
99th Wedding at Whitworth Hall Country Park Hotel Spennymoor 18th June
We were requested to do a wedding at Whitworth Hall for girl who’s husband to be is mad on Star Wars, it was to be a total surprise, here’s how the day panned out. Ian and I left for Spennymoor, having only one small detour after Sat Nav sent us into a closed off road, we should have had our Sat Nige in, sure he’d have managed! Eventually we got there, and shown into the Duncombe Suite! Ooohh poshest changing facilities I’ve been up to now,so we dumped our gear and headed outside into the grounds to wait for Craig and Nigel, who turned up in usual style, Nigel with head in his mobile, Craig giving us the sign as he drove up the long driveway, great stuff Craig! We were to be ready for 11 as the Groom was arrived for then, we did cause quite a stir when we finally were ready and outside, the Groom arrived and what a happy face he had on seeing us, he loved it, so after the usual ‘on the knee’s’ photo for both him and his best man, we had a chat for a while until guests started to arrive, again, lots of photo’s and plenty of attention from the people from over the field who’d been in feeding the Deer.. yes, I said Deer, they have loads of them up there! Gorgeous place to go for lunch and a wander with the Deer, but you need to like flies! After the guests had arrived, it was time to wait for the Bride, we didn’t get any photo’s with her, but a few with the car and then it was time to leave, we were given our donation and a big thank you for a great day and off we went to get changed.
Mark, my son was with us, he took the photo’s, and he did a cracking job of that too!! We headed off into the field (in costume) with the Deer, a great photo opportunity that could not be missed, that was good fun and some great pics taken by Ian too… after all the fun and frivolities though, it was out of costume and off to the pub for lunch, I can and I’m sure the others agree, recommend a trip out to Whitworth to that pub, the meals are fantastic and it’s lovely to go in to spend time with the Deer…