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.



 

Keele University Observatory - Open Evenings

If you're looking for something different to do on a Tuesday evening, can I suggest Keele University's Observatory?  It's open to the public every Tuesday evening, from 8pm - 10pm, and is a genuinely unique experience.  It's not fast-paced, it's not high-energy, it's not for everybody, but if you're looking for a complete change of pace, and a chance to see the night sky in a new way, you're going to enjoy this.

Keele Observatory is part of the university's astrophysics department, and it consists of two telescopes (the second was brought back into use in March 2022), two domes, various classrooms and teaching aids, and - as with the biology and invertebrate days at Staffs Uni - a team of experts.  The experts are a combination of teaching staff and students at the department, who will set up the larger of the two telescopes, and point it at various night-sky objects.  At the moment, there are no planets visible in the night sky (they're hiding near or behind the Sun), but there are still many objects and interesting stars to look at.  

The main telescope, aiming for the Orion Nebula

We've been twice since the post-Covid re-opening, and have seen the Pleiades; M35, M54, the Orion Nebula, and the star Castor.  Castor is found in the constellation of Gemini, and it's relatively easy to find at this time of year (look straight up and slightly to the south).  Stars aren't exactly interesting by themselves; they still look like dots through a telescope because they're so far away.  However, Castor is a double-star - i.e. two stars close together and orbiting each other (it's actually a total of six stars - three pairs, but the other four are fainter).  Using the telescope it's possible to see the two component stars, and it makes for a fascinating view.  The team do a great job of showing a different variety of objects each week, so there's something new to see each time you go.

The experts are on hand to answer all your questions, and I'd like to call out the Keele University Director, Jacco von Loon, who does a great job in not only setting up the telescope, but commenting on what we're looking at, explaining its relevance and importance and then answering questions about it (and about anything else in space).  

The second telescope, recently brought back into use, is controlled by motors and can be programmed using a computer below the observatory (mind your head) from a warm control room.  It's only just come back online, and when we visited it, the team were taking some test shots; in this case, of the Orion Nebula.

The 'new' motorised telescope.  It's pointing up and to the right; the block near the camera is a counterbalance weight.

The image (right screen) of the Orion Nebula.   The bright smudge is the nebula; the central bright area are the stars within it.

There are activities to do and the team give short presentations for times when the weather is poor and the sky is cloudy, but this is definitely something that's best in good weather.  And clear skies at night mean it's going to be cold, so dress up in warm clothing - the dome roof is open to the elements and it can be freezing standing waiting for your turn to look through the telescope!  It's well worth it, though, so keep an eye on the weather forecast, and on a clear Tuesday evening, head to Keele for a truly out-of-this-world experience.

There are various learning resources around the observatory teaching room, including smaller telescopes; posters and models.

Staffordshire Invertebrate Science Fair 2022 Review

I've mentioned before that the Staffs Invertebrate Science Fair is an unmissable event in our house.  But in March 2022, the bug people reunited in a post-COVID world - how would it all go?  Could it still be as good as it was in 2019 or early 2020?

And the answer is that it was even better.  Maybe it's the maturity of my children; maybe they understand more about what they're seeing (maybe they're more likely to look into petri dishes at the creatures inside, instead of trying to set them free) but March 2022 was a good time to be a bug enthusiast.

I have previously mentioned that the experts are key to the success of the event, and this year they returned with even more enthusiasm and even more facts.  Even the scientists who are perhaps less accustomed to working with the general public were talkative, chatty and happy to share their knowledge, while working double-time to make sure that they were making things easy to understand.  No, a six-year-old may not know the difference between a flea, a fly or a genuine bug, but the entomologist who was running the stand on insects was more than happy to help to explain in words that we could all understand.

The butterfly expert, John, was a real gent, drawing butterfly outlines from stencils and then sharing them out for young enthusiasts to colour in with their own designs.  He was tireless, enthusiastic, energetic and engaging, which is just what young bug fans want from their grown-ups. 

Similarly, the Staffs Wildlife stand was manned by an expert in centipedes and spiders, and had plastic child-friendly microscopes with creepy-crawly specimens lined up.  These critters look weird enough at actual size, but when viewed through any kind of magnification they look alien, and very scary (and very exciting for young and older viewers alike).  Great stuff!

One thing that really makes these events, though, is the freebies :-)  Apart from our own collection of photos, drawings and pictures, we were the grateful recipients of assorted stationery courtesy of the Harper Adams stand (rulers, pens, wristbands, and so on), and spider leaflets from the British Arachnologists Society's stand.  We may not exactly like spiders, but seeing close-up pictures of eight legs and multiple eyes was fascinating (from a safe distance) and we ended up fielding all sorts of questions from our youngest - what's this called, why is it called that, and so on. 

Being held in Staffs University's Science Building meant that there were local amenities on hand - toilets, a snack bar and plenty of space to sit down and take a break - which is a big winner too.  The fair was well-attended but not at all overcrowded (we're not quite over the pandemic yet) and is a very bright and airy location.  My big hope for 2022 events is that we'll get the Big Biology Day in the autumn - the other half of Staffs Uni's science events for the year... then we really will be back to normal.

We had a great time (in case you hadn't guessed) and we are very grateful to all the experts who gave their time, patience, energy, leaflets, quiz sheets and freebies and who once again made this a great day.

Staffordshire Invertebrate Science Fair (SISF) 2022 - preview

Just over two years ago (remember those times?), I published a preview of the Staffs Invertebrate Science Fair, in March 2020.  I had fully intended to post a review of the event, as I often do, but things went slightly awry shortly after, and I never took the time to write it (in fact, I didn't have the time, as we were all rapidly introduced to homeschooling).

Anyway, now is the time to fix that miss, because this year's Bug Day is at Staffordshire University's Science Centre (although it might be at the new Catalyst Building, which I assume is nearby) and it's on Saturday, 5 March from 10:30 - 4:00.  Did I mention that it's free admission?  This is the event that keeps on giving.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating:  the Staffs Invertebrate Science Fair (aka 'Bug Day' in our house) is one of the highlights of the events diary each year.  There's the Big Biology Day which typically falls in October, also hosted at Staffordshire University, and Bug Day which falls in April - six months apart, to keep all your budding scientists engaged at the start and end of the year.  

We visited the most recent one in March 2020, and even though there was some general apprehension about COVID (we didn't even really know what it was at that time) there was a great turnout of staff and visitors.  At the time, our children were three, eight and ten, and they all had a great time:

The two things that consistently stand out about the Bug Day are the experts and the number of hands-on activities.  This is not a walk around a series of glass cases, peering inside dank, mouldy, dimly-lit tanks looking for a glimpse of some heavily-camouflaged creepy-crawly.  Oh no, on the contrary: providing it's safe for the bugs, and for the little hands, there is a multitude of opportunities to touch, stroke, hold, and get up close and personal with all sorts of insects and other creatures.  If necessary, you can look at them down a microscope, or see a TV screen hooked up to a camera-microscope, and see the hairs on a bee's knees. Yes, it really is the bee's knees.

The hands-on activities are particularly well thought-out.  Apart from interacting with the real, live invertebrates, there are opportunities to participate in craft sessions - draw, colour, cut, stick, make, decorate and produce your own wonderful butterflies, ladybirds and so on.  If your little ones are a little shy about getting too close to the bugs (and this is understandable, some bugs are easily five or six inches long and tend more towards creepy than crawly), then you can take time out and do some cutting and sticking.

And the second most amazing thing about Bug Day is the experts.  I'm always surprised - and I should have learned by now - that when you get people talking about something they're interested in, they will keep talking and talking about it.  People - and Bug People in particular - love sharing their knowledge about bugs that spread disease, bugs that eat crops, bugs that have eluded quarantine and eaten crops in other countries... These experts know how to make their subject appealing to a younger audience too, with gory details where appropriate, or how to scale it back for a very young audience and keep it simple.  

The experts come from a wide range of disciplines and some are from industry rather than education - they all get together and participate, they all talk fluent science and they're all very engaging.  Everybody has a slightly different angle - is it worms, is it bees, is it other larger creepy crawlies?  Is it ecological?  Habitats?  Microscopic?  There's far more to see and do here than you'd think from 'invertebrates'.  Everybody is delighted to talk about their particular niche, and absolutely nobody said, "You can't touch that," and when you're five or six years old, that's very important.

The favourite activities amongst our little people were looking at the leaf litter (finding insects in the dirt... I mean, show me a three-year-old who isn't up for that?) and investigating pond life with the oversized pipettes.  The experts are on hand to help you identify the creatures you discover, while the parents are standing close by to make sure that the pipettes, water and creatures stay where they're supposed to!  It is genuinely fascinating to look at the small water-borne insects, and my photographs do not do them justice - you have to see them for yourself. 

For older children and adults, there are informative lectures and presentations - these vary each year, but cover a wide range of topics.  I must confess that these were a little advanced for our children, and while we started listening, we soon realised that we were better placed among the more interactive activities (we left quietly and the lecturer was not at all offended).  This does show the range of activities that are available at the Bug Day, and how it very carefully and thoughtfully caters to all ages, abilities and interests (you don't even have to be a biologist to find the view down a microscope interesting).

There isn't much more to say:  Bug Day is excellent; suitable for all age ranges and interests, and is highly, highly recommended.

Stoke Con Trent, October 2021, Review

After months (or years) of waiting, Stoke Con Trent 2021 finally happened!  So, how was it?

I'm pleased to say that the buzz of attending a comic convention hasn't been dissipated by the gap.  I was uncertain about how I'd feel, but that doubt didn't last long.  We pulled onto the car park and saw Boba Fett, a DeLorean, and the Jurassic Park jeep.  Yes, this was a convention and it had the attractions to prove it; it was fantastic.

This Con was the first I've attended that wasn't at Staffordshire University (I missed the one in King's Hall Stoke) and I have mixed feelings about the relocation.  Previous cons have enjoyed the wide open spaces around the Staffs Uni campus.  In particular, the last Con made use of Staffs Uni's Sports Hall which was excellent - large and bright (great for looking at merchandise and for getting photos of ... well, everything) and carpeted (the acoustics were brilliant - it was possible to hold conversations without sound bouncing off every hard surface in the room).  Yes, sports halls (especially carpeted) are significantly better than night-club type venues for conventions.  Staffs also has the London Road Venue and Brindley building, which are both good for Cons (the LRV with its stage, the Brindley building providing additional space).

I mentioned the outdoor attractions; let's start with them: 
    The Fall Guy Truck (that was a novelty)
    Transformers Grimlock car (also unusual, and a change from Bumblebee, who I've seen elsewhere)
    An American police car (I don't know if it was from a specific show, but the lights and sound were awesome)
    An American muscle car
    The Jurassic Park Jeep (with scenery)
    Lightning McQueen 
    Back to the Future DeLorean (first time I've seen this at a Con)

...which were all excellent.  It was great to see something different and familiar, and the organisers had done well to choose a variety of vehicles to appeal to all age ranges; I've mentioned this before, and it's something they did well here.

There was a very good mix of professional and amateur cosplay, with the East Midlands Garrison providing a small but varied troop of characters, and a wide range of other characters (some I recognised, some I didn't) which meant that there was a photo opportunity round every corner.  The Staffordshire Tardis was open for photos, and it was good to see it again (and with all the cosplay Doctors taking a moment for a quick photo).  

The Cosplay competition was well attended, with prizes offered by the Convention's sponsors, and the Cosplay community did a great job of bringing the convention to life, and adding to the experience.  They were also fantastic at providing entertainment outdoors, for those who are still a little edgy about being inside with crowds of people (there wasn't very much social distancing going on, but masks and sanitiser were available to all attendees).

The headline attractions at Conventions are the celebrities (I probably should have started with them).  Unfortunately for Stoke Con Trent, a number of celebrities that were booked to appear had to cancel for various unrelated reasons.  The remaining celebs were - again - a good range and appealed to a very wide audience.  Will Mellor (Hollyoaks, among others) made an appearance and was very chatty throughout.

Star Wars fans saw Mike Quinn (Nien Nunb), Tim Rose (Admiral Ackbar) and Ross Sambridge (body double for Supreme Leader Snoke).  It was a slightly comical moment when we met them, as we saw the large and small of Star Wars - Mike Quinn is about 5'3" tall (my guess), while Ross Sambridge is 7' tall (according to Google).  We didn't see Matt Tyler, but such are the vagaries of Conventions.

The Gladiators were again due to attend - not in the numbers they have before, but even so I was particularly looking forward to seeing Jet again.  In the end, I think I either took a wrong turning, missed her completely or she didn't turn up.  The one minor disappointment I have from the day is not meeting any of the Gladiators, who are always a great crowd-pleaser at conventions.  There were other celebrities too, all ready to sign pictures, have photos and so on, but none that my children were interested in.  It turned out that they were far more interested in the traders' tables.  I attended the convention with two of my three children, and they both enjoyed it.  We particularly liked the range of stalls, and the good supply of Funko Pops (there were bargains to be had on the day, that's for sure). 

  
The kids had photos with the Star Wars characters, liked watching the Cosplay Parade, and came back with some new Funko Pops.  Keele has the advantage of a Co-op literally next door to the Students' Union, which was great for unplanned snacks, and the size of the Keele Campus meant that we had no trouble finding somewhere quiet and indoors to sit and have a quick food break.

The event was extremely well organised, with stewards and security on the doo.  The layout was shared on social media in advance, and there weren’t many signposts around between the different rooms and locations in the venue, but the enthusiastic photographer was frequently circling and leading people to the various parts of the convention.  It’s all small steps back to normality, and it’s all good.

It would be untrue to say that this was as big as the pre-pandemic Cons, but it would also be unfair to criticise.  I am certain that the next Stoke Con Trent (and if they keep to the usual two-per-year schedule, then we're looking at the next one in April 2022) will be as big as the previous ones, as guests; features; stall-holders and exhibitors will all be back to their normal capacity and Covid will be a thing of the past.  This was a significant step on the road back to normality, and I am most certainly looking forward to the next one already, anticipating a return to greatness (and a move back to Staffs Uni, please!).

*I was granted a press pass to cover the Con, share previews, a review and photos, and to Tweet throughout the day.  I paid for my children's tickets.

 

Hanley Town vs Wolverhampton Casuals, Tuesday 5 October

Fresh from their fantastic draw against Brackley Town at the weekend, Hanley Town FC will be taking on Wolverhampton Casuals on Tuesday 5 October at 7:45 pm, as part of the Midlands Football League Action.

This might not seem significant, but this game will be the first in Hanley Town's scheme to offer free match tickets to parents with low/no income and their accompanied children.  To claim the tickets, please be prepared to show proof of your income or benefits at the ticket office on the night.  

Contact Hanley Town on chairman@hanley-townfc.co.uk for more details.

There are three pilot matches in this scheme, they are:

Tuesday 5th October Vs Wolverhampton Casuals 7;45pm Saturday 9th October Vs Lichfield City 3pm Tuesday 12th October Vs Stone Old Alleynians 7;45pm

What's on this weekend? 2-3 October 2021

 I'm really pleased to see more and more events coming up in the future, as event organisers are able to make plans following the easing of Covid restrictions earlier this year.

What's on for this weekend?

Firstly - Northwich Comic Con market.  Not the full indoor convention that they've held in the past (it's too soon to get everybody and everything organised), but an outdoor market of all things geek, nerd and sci-fi.  There's likely to be a good contingent of cosplayers there too, making it worth the trip up the M6.

My review of a previous Northwich Comic Con.

Official Facebook page for Northwich Comic Con.

Next up, and a little closer to home, there's Apedale Valley Light Railway's Steam Gala weekend - on both Saturday and Sunday.  This is their sixth Steam Gala weekend, so they are a well-oiled operation.  There's plenty to see and do indoors and outdoors (there's a steam shed converted into a museum, as well as all the train activity on the tracks) and if the weather holds this will be a particularly good event.

They aim to have six steam locomotives running during the weekend; four of their own, and two visitors.  As ever, with machines of this age, there's the possibility of last-minute mechanical hitches causing changes – we are dealing with 100 year old machines, and they can be grumpy.  The loco shed will be open for visits, and the WW1 Trench will be operating.

Admission is £5 adults, £2.50 children, £12 family (2+2) and the admission ticket includes the first train rides – further rides can be purchased at our normal fares (adults £3.50, children £1.50). Trains will run from 1100 to 4:30 on both days.

Apedale Valley is near Newcastle; not easy to find but enter ST5 7LB in your satnav, and follow the signs.



 And finally (for now), Crewe Heritage Centre, also known as Crewe Railway Museum, are holding their first toy and train collectors' fair on Saturday 2 October, 10-3.

More details: Crewe Heritage Centre website.