Knights Of The Empire (KOTE) Waddington Air Show

Along with my new friends at the "other" costuming group, I attended the Waddington Air show on Saturday. I had originally signed up as crew only, with the intention of taking loads and loads of photos (unique opportunity and all that), but I was asked almost at the last minute if I could do a stint in armour, and take pictures later. I agreed, and was very glad that I did due to the biblical downpours in the morning - the weather improved in the afternoon, so I got my photo taking done then - including some amazing shots of the newly restored Vulcan, and Battle of Britain Memorial flight.

Anyway, back to the action. According to news reports later, there were 125000 people there on Saturday, despite the weather. The biggest crowd I have ever trooped at. What an amazing atmosphere, and such a responsive crowd as well. To watch wide-eyed wonder move from The Red Arrows, to a fighter jet on the ground, to "oh wow, STORMTROOPERS!". How we managed to navigate from place to place was a minor miracle due to the amount of photo requests - even in the rain. At one point it was coming down so bad we took shelter in a "Duke of Edinburgh Award" display trailer along with several members of the public... and they still came along wanting photos!

A huge highlight for me was walking into one of the hangars (this was in the afternoon when I was out of armour) to be met by the opening bars of the theme from you guessed it, Star Wars! You can see this in the last parts of the YouTube video. An amazing co-incidence, but such an impact for the people listening.

Videos are here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=waddington+kote&search_type=&aq=f

Jeremy Snape Testimonial

After promising to myself never to return to the NSC, I altered the deal slightly (this was not the big annual event) and went help at the "Moon Ball" event for Cricket star Jeremy Snape. No I never heard of him either, and didn't recognise anyone at all at the event. Several stormtroopers, a couple of scouts, tie pilots and bounty hunters entertained/harassed the crowd for the evening, eventually giving up due to a lack of interest at the charity auction. It was a bit different interacting with them in black tie and posh frocks, but as it was the Space Centre, they were more out of place than we were. In general it was a good night, including an off-the-cuff photo shoot on the red carpet outside, and a choreographed Jedi fight with Darth Maul. But no thanks to a broken sat nav system I arrived late, and got lost coming home :(

Meadowhall Starbucks - Sheffield Children's Hospital

(to come)

Ashbourne - The Show

This was my first troop with the Knights of the Empire (KOTE). And what a first troop that was. Scantily clad dancers, oiled-up "full monty" old geezers, a Spice Girls drag act, and us re-enacting scenes from the films. An amazing night.
Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=galUzIfjCbo

Candlelighters Christmas Party - Leeds

A shaky start to this one. After the company Xmas do the night before I woke up with a hangover-like symptoms, but no headache. Strange as I hadn't been drinking. I was supposed to be donning the brown robes for the event, but decided to downgrade myself to helper instead and took my camera. It actually ended up being 3 troopers, as poor Michelle forgot a major part of her Boushh costume :( The organisers were absolutely fantastic and couldn't do enough for us. I really enjoy troops like this as its the proper "charitable" side of what we do. And as some of the children present may not see another Christmas it was quite humbling as well. If we gave them (and their parents) an afternoon to remember then it was a job well done. Apparently we've all been invited back next year.

Tamworth Toys R Us

For the first time since CE I donned the armour and went on patrol with some of the Empire's finest. This time was for the opening of Toys R Us 2 blocks from where I work in Tamworth. A pretty uneventful day, the expected trouble didn't arrive and fun was had by all. The damn DJ could have changed CDs more often though, we heard the same music over and over and over and over.... Good fun and a pleasure to be back on patrol.

Squad Transfer?

Hey its all about choice right? I haven't left the 501st or the UK Garrison, I'm just expanding my options. Which is why TK6870 has joined the ranks of the 99th Imperial Garrison. They're new - they need a seasoned veteran like me to show them how its done :)