Day 808

Day 808...

And today was all about the Star Wars, with another day of trooping for charity.

The day started relatively early for a Sunday and after some breakfast and a kit check we loaded up the car and were on our way by about 9am. Thankfully we only had a few miles to travel to support an event called Greasley Gathering.

The organisers of the event had asked if the East Midlands Garrison, the Star Wars costuming group that we are part of, could attend the event in exchange for a donation to the charity we support, PASIC. It is a local community event that has run for a number of years and has been supported by the Garrison in years gone by but because of the pandemic had not taken place since 2019.

Although we'd been invited at short notice we were able to gather together six of us to wander around the event, join in the fun and have lots of photos taken. Although the weather forecast was not great for today and I had feared that the day could have turned into a washout. Thankfully the site where the event took place was a sports centre and a good portion of the stalls and activities had been brought inside out of the cold and the rain.

The attendance seemed to be pretty decent although it was such a shame that the massive outdoor area could not be used as I would imagine with better weather it would have been even busier. But we still managed to entertain with lots of photos and even some dancing...yes dancing! There was a great live band playing 'rock n roll' and it was just too good an opportunity to pass up for our Stormtroopers, but by the end of the afternoon I think we had all stepped up for a bit of a boogie.

But thanks to the kind generosity of the events organising committee, and of those attending we raised just over £120 for our charity PASIC; this is a charity that supports families of children with cancer and at all our troops we raise money for them as well as helping out with any events that they organise.

Stormtrooper & Governor Pryce

After a full day on our feet it was good to get home, have something to eat and to put our feet up...well we will do once this blog is written and our kits have been checked over and stored away ready for another day.

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 795

Day 795...

Monday...our non-working day of the 'working week', and the start of my last week at pre-school.

Around 9am I had a phone call from my deputy manager who called to let me know of a change of plans. Tonight was supposed to be my 'leaving doo'; nothing fancy just a meal out at a local Indian restuarant but due to circumstances outside of my control that was now not happening.

One of my team had been ill over the weekend and so wasn't in work and therefore could not make the meal tonight. Another colleague had pressures in her personal life that simply meant she wasn't in the right frame of mind for having a night out. So with a third of the staff unavailable (we are only a team of seven) it was decided to cancel tonight and to rearrange for a couple of weeks time when hopefully everyone will be fit and well.

We then decided to make the best of the day and take a walk out over the fields to a local cafe called The Cowshed. It's just over two miles which we managed in about 48 minutes and after a lovely coffee we headed back. A slightly different route of 2.5 miles in 52 minutes, so plenty of steps and exercise achieved this morning; almost 50 minutes of fat burning, apparently!!

Once home we were straight back out the door to stop by my dads house in the hope of seeing my brother. Glen and his family have worked hard over the last couple of weeks to clear the house of any obvious 'rubbish' and had managed to fill a skip. Today the skip was being collected and so Glen was working from there while waiting for it to be collected.

Glen was able to take me through what they have managed to do and we discussed what needs doing next. There are quite a lot of things that need new homes and I think one of my jobs over the next couple of weeks will be to catalogue what's there so we can have a better idea of what to do with it all!

Although today we did manage to bring home all my mum and dad's photo albums; there are lots to go through but my aim is to get them all digitised so that we will be able to enjoy them so much more easily. It will also mean that anyone else in the family can also have copies should they so wish.

Back home and we decided to give our Star Wars cosplay a complete try on ahead of trooping this coming weekend. Simon's stormtrooper kit fitted perfectly and it was good to have a run through to remind us of the order that it all has to go on in. I will be going as Governor Pryce from the animated TV series Rebels and thankfully I too was able to get into my imperial officer uniform although I am in desperate need of some new trousers. They have never been the most comfortable of fits (let's just say a high waist without enough length!) so I really ought to figure out a way to get a better pair.

I also took the time to go over my make-up as it is over two years since I last applied it. Thankfully I still have all the relevant colours needed and so was able to gather everything together so that I am prepared for the weekend.

And with that I will see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 47

Day 47...

And Happy Star Wars Day...May the 4th Be With You!

Sorry it had to be said and quite appropriate in this house today as most of Simon's day has been spent with the next stage of his Mandalorian helmet mold making process. He is now beginning to make the outer shell of the mold which is made from fibre glass but unfortunately he needs more fibre glass to complete the project so at the moment the outer shell is only half completed.

He's also been working on some of the detail work for the mouse droid by assembling some of the 3D printed parts.

It is five years since we got into this cosplay malarkey which all stemmed from plans for Simon's 50th birthday to go to Star Wars Celebration in July 2016. This resulted in a year spent making Mandalorian costumes for both us so that we could attend the event in style. As a result we became members of the Mandalorian Mercs and then as we attended more troops and met more like minded people we became members of Joker Squad and East Midlands Garrison.

Simon and I as Mandalorian's at Legoland Winsdor, May 2018

Over the past five years we have made lots of new friends, we have attended numerous conventions and events, we have trooped twice at Legoland Winsdor for their Star Wars Weekends, we have helped raise money for a number of charities, we have given out too many high-fives to count and made people smile. We even got to meet one of the creative forces behind the various Star Wars animation series, Dave Filoni - such a lovely guy, a fabulous experience and one that resulted in a new tattoo for me! See my post - My Disney Sleeve

Meeting Dave Filoni at Star Wars Celebration, July 2016

Star Wars tattoo inspired by meeting Dave Filoni

I now cosplay as one of the characters from his series Star Wars Rebels, Governor Pryce and Simon has fulfilled a life long ambition and is now a Stormtrooper.

Governor Pryce & Stormtrooper - December 2019

The Star Wars universe has opened up a whole new world to us, one where we have made new friends, helped charities and one that has become an integral part of our lives.

The rest of the day has been fairly quiet; a few odd jobs done around the house, a couple of work emails and phone calls and a little more jigsaw completed. We managed to squeeze in a quick two mile walk out this afternoon in between coats of resin and fibre glassing as well!

So all in all not a bad day...May The Force Be With You...

xx