Connect at 4, St Thomas Church, Mow Cop, 28 January

 Coming up later this month, and on the last Sunday of every month, is Connect at 4.  This is a short event held at St Thomas Church, Mow Cop, ST7 3PJ, from 4:00-4:45 and is designed for children aged 5-10.

It's awesome. Entry is free, and there's a wide range of structured and well-thought-out activities which fill the 45 minutes. There's a quick intro and a prayer, then a multiple choice quiz with 10-12 questions on the topic for the month. This has varied from Pancake Day to the Coronation, from Advent to Easter, and there are prizes for the highest scorers.  This is followed by a choice of activities - we've taken part in an Easter Egg hunt, a leaf craft with air-drying clay, pin the crown on the King, and a "How high can you toss a pancake?"!

There are drinks provided throughout, and a quick wrap-up at the end.  We always come home with a craft, and sometimes a prize for our efforts.

This is highly recommended for all sorts of reasons, and one event which has permanent residence on our calendar!

RAF Museum (Midlands) Cosford

One of our favourite places to go during the school holidays is the RAF Museum at Cosford.  We've been a few times - we even went during the pandemic -  and each time we go we find something new, or see something in a different light.  My children are now 14, 12 and 7 and they're now becoming more interested in what they're seeing.  There's a visitor centre (with a cafe and toilets) and four hangars full of military exhibits (most of them aircraft) and plenty of interactive exhibits too - and a 4-D simulator (although we've never been on it).

During our most recent visit, our youngest child thoroughly enjoyed classifying the historical planes into goodies (British and American) and baddies (German), and admiring their paint jobs and colour schemes.  Cosford isn't just about aircraft, and the older two were particularly interested in the history of the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, and with the Berlin Wall and the end of World War II.  I might say this was educational, but they were interested in all the exhibits just for the additional background it gave them for their history schoolwork.

In the school holidays, the Museum sometimes puts on 'Open Cockpit' events - these are well worth a visit, although you will need to be patient as the queues can be long.  You have the opportunity to sit inside the cockpit of a real aeroplane and see all the controls and dials.  Our youngest was more patient (or determined) than his two siblings, and was rewarded with a seat in an RAF Phantom cockpit, which he thoroughly enjoyed.  

Cosford may have more than just aircraft, but it's the aircraft that people go to see, and there are plenty here.  Many - if not most - of the aircraft in the museum have specific historic significance: there's the Fairey FD2 (the blue one) which held the world record for fastest airspeed; there are prototypes of the RAF's Harrier and Typhoon aircraft, and even a TSR-2 (the big white one with droopy wings).  The significance of these aircraft may be lost on younger visitors, but they will still enjoy looking at the diverse range of aircraft and even decide on their own personal favourites (often based on the way they look).  

The Cold War Hangar is my personal favourite - there's a wide range of aircraft and other military vehicles on display, and whoever though to dangle a BAC Lightning vertically from the hangar roof was inspired!  My children loved the interactive science demonstrations - how aerodynamics work, how planes turn, and so on - there's plenty to keep everybody entertained.

Cosford has exceptional facilities - there are multiple toilets including baby-changing facilities on the site; a cafe, which is reasonably priced and serves hot and cold food and drinks; plenty of picnic spaces outside if the weather is good (and plenty of indoor seating if it isn't).  

Above all, Cosford has a large amount of wide open space.  The exhibits are well spaced out - even the larger aircraft aren't cramped into the hangars - and with four hangars to visit, there's plenty to see and plenty of walking to tire out even the most energetic legs.  Younger children who have exhausted their attention span can also run around on the green fields, and make use of the aircraft-themed playground.  This is a relatively recent addition and adds even more to a great day out - it's been designed for children aged 3-9 and also has plenty of seating for parents!

And did I mention:  entrance to the museum is FREE?  You only  need to pay parking, which is around £5 per car, and then you spend as much time as you want in the museum.  There's a guidebook available from the visitor centre; this is frequently updated with more information and newer exhibits and is good value instead of paying an entrance fee.  If a guidebook isn't your thing, then there is plenty to see in the gift shop.  This has a core range of aircraft merchandise (books, models, toys, pictures and so on) and on occasions has an additional range of pre-owned books, some of which are very interesting and often hard to find elsewhere, and is always worth a look.  Prices are reasonable, and there's enough to cater to every budget.

I'm an aircraft enthusiast and have been since I was about five years old.  I understand the details of the aircraft, their historical relevance, I can identify them on sight, and I've been building Airfix models since I was about nine.  If it was my choice, we'd probably go to Cosford during each and every weekend (it's only an hour's drive for us), however, we do have other commitments and it's not everybody's cup of tea.  Having said that, whenever I do suggest going during a school holiday, the kids are always up for it (even through teenage apathy) and each of us always has a good time either seeing something new or getting a fresh understanding of something we've seen before.  Not only that, but it gets them off their screens (and they take loads of photos of everything, too).  

Cosford is also the site of an active RAF base (which hosts a full-scale airshow each June), and a base for the Midlands Air Ambulance so you might occasionally see some aircraft flying around (typically light aircraft), and occasionally see a visitor the RAF base's engineering department - there was one occasion we saw this Tornado on the car park (I don't think he'd paid and displayed, though).

Highly recommended.  It's free to enter, so you can take a picnic and dodge the gift shop (and spend only on parking), or take your wallet and be prepared to come back with armfuls of valuable aircraft merchandise! 

2024 Events Preview - First Half of the Year

 Happy New Year!

It's been a while - raising young children is more time-consuming and demanding than blogging about events for them - but here's a preview of the main events we'll be attending this year.

There are probably other links for these events, so it's worth doing extra research if you're interested in them, but here are a few to get you started, roughly in chronological order.

Connect @ 4,
St Thomas Church, Mow Cop 
Last Sunday of every month, 16:00-16:45
I'll post more about this throughout the year, but it's great.  The content, speed and delivery are all suited for children aged 5-10, with a quiz, a game, a craft, refreshments and activities that are perfectly suited for primary-age children.  It never over-runs, so you know exactly how long it'll take, and every time we've gone, we've come back with photos, a craft model and a prize from the quiz.  Massive recommendation.

Collectibles, Antiques and Bric-a-Brac Fair
Endon Village Hall, 10:00-14:00, monthly
This is a new event for 2024.  In 2023 (and previous years) it was the Antiques, Books and Collectibles fair at Bradwell Lodge, which ran six times a years, but the Bradwell Lodge team aren't running it any longer, and instead it's moving to Endon.  I have these dates for it - typically the first Sunday of the month (nothing for January or April):
4 February; 3 March; 5 May; 2 June; 7 July; 4 August; 1 September; 6 October; 3 November; 1 December

I can't say how good it'll be, but the one at Bradwell Lodge yielded some classic Star Trek books, some genuine G1 Transformers toys and comics; Lego (boxed and reduced price); and so on.  Don't think pottery and "antiques", think retro collectibles!

Staffordshire Invertebrate Science Fair, aka Bug Day
2 March 2024, 10:30 - 16:00, Staffs University Science Building.
Free entry
I've reviewed and previewed this event a few times over the years, and it's still a highlight.

Hanley Comic Con
6-7 April 2024
This debuted last year (we missed it) but is organised by the same team that run Buxton, Ellesmere Port, Nantwich and Northwich Conventions.  It's held in the Potteries Shopping Centre, with the old Next shop as its epicentre.

Northwich Comic Convention
20 April 2024, 10:00 - 16:00, Northwich Memorial Centre
Free entry

Sandbach Transport Festival
Two-day event, 20-21 April (first day clashes with Northwich Comic Con)
Free entry, Sandbach town centre.


Nantwich Comic Con
1 June, 10:00-16:00, Nantwich Civic Hall - celebrating its 10th year (where did that time go?)
Free entry

RAF Cosford Airshow
Sunday 9 June
Advance tickets (online) only - adults £34, children (0-15 years) free.





Events pending more details

There are many events we attend each year, but which haven't (as yet) provided any more details:

Stoke Con Trent - it's not as good as it used to be, as it used to have a stronger sci-fi contingent but has degenerated into wrestlers, horror and Gladiators, with a stronger dependence on cosplay guests; and when you're paying for tickets you're paying for the guests - if the guests aren't to your liking, then why bother?  We might attend this year, if the guests are better.