Sails and Splitties

After several long months in the wilderness, we both decided on Thursday last week that we really fancied doing a show.  We put it to our Facebook followers and had several suggestions, but one in particular caught our eye: Avoncroft Aircooled – a one day show taking place at Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings. 

   

I had vague recollections of going there as a kid; notably being frightened to death by one of the costumed staff warning me that “The whiter your bread, the sooner you’re dead,” when teaching us about the flour milling process.  To this day, I have residual guilt whenever I choose white over brown. 

Still, all I could really remember of the place was the windmill, so the prospect of being able to explore everything the museum had to offer in between trading, seemed like a fine plan.  A quick glance at the forecast suggested warm, dry weather until 8 pm, so plenty of time for us to pack up and head home before the rain.  Gaz made the call and we were booked in and ready to go. 

Typically, we can’t go anywhere without producing a souvenir sticker and so here’s the first ever show sticker produced for Avoncroft Aircooled.  Note the FLAT 4 number plate – a little nod to the organisers.

After a relatively dry Eurovision party on Saturday night (early start), we awoke to glorious sunshine.

On arrival, we were greeted by friendly staff and directed to an idyllic setting in amongst the trees, just in front of the Mission Church, a Victorian “tin chapel” rescued from Bringsty, Herefordshire.

The Mission Church and Wedding Bus

The whole vibe was low key and chilled out.  We took limited stock and downsized for the day.  After an initial downpour, the sun returned and the numerous green spaces were awash with picnics and ball games.

The Voodoo Street Stand

In readiness for this year’s Star Wars themed Vdubs in the Valley, we took along some flyers to help promote the show and our Steampunk Boba Fett helmet, which I could have sold several times over!  Coincidentally our neighbour was trading under the name OB1.

Trade was steady and we were the sole provider of music, courtesy of our BruteBox.  I recently replaced my phone and stupidly omitted to download the vast majority of my music to enable me to play it offline.  The one album I had remembered to download was the new Blondie album, Pollinator, so apologies to any visitors who can’t stand Blondie (can’t imagine there are many), but it’s all I had!!

The Privy

During one of our trading lulls, Cal and I discovered this 3 seater privy.  It was probably up there with some of the nicer festival toilets!

Ye Olde Festival Toilet

A must was a visit to the iconic post mill windmill, perched at the edge of the site, overlooking a sea of campervans.  Visitors to the museum and VDubbers mingled in the sunshine.  One elderly museum visitor made the priceless comment on a rat look split screen:  "There's one that they're going to do up!"

View from the Windmill

The 19^th century post mill – one of only three surviving examples in 

the Midlands – was rescued from Danzey Green near Tanworth-in-

Arden in 1969 and reconstructed at Avoncroft.

Having undergone an extensive programme of structural repairs over

many years, disaster struck the windmill in January 2012 when high

winds brought down one of the sails and damaged the supporting round 

house.  The sail was broken beyond repair and a new one had to be 

manufactured to replace it.  However, by October 2013 the work was 

completed and the windmill was restored to full working order.

Splitscreens were out in force

Spot the little rat skeleton on the roof rack!

One of the first to grab a show sticker was the owner of this cool rat look bus.

The day flew by and punctuated by a little Mobile BeerBuz cider 

(thanks Gaz and Hayley), left us with a rosy glow and a desire to do it 

all again next year – a perfect start to the outdoor show season.

Bikes, Boxes and Blogs

OK, so it’s been a while since I posted and today is the day that I make good on my new year’s resolution to bore you, sorry, blog more frequently.

Running a business, child containment, crappy day-to-day domestic stuff and maintaining sanity and fitness is a struggle many of us deal with.  Waiting for the perfect week to blog about is never going to happen and there aren’t enough hours in the day to labour over the words to write, so this week’s as good as any to let you in on the random events, irritations and lifestyle of the three of us here at Voodoo Street.

Monday dawned with the usual mixed feelings; a new week in prospect and all the potential that brings, coupled with the knowledge that we face the nightmarish back-bothering task of lugging our entire stock down from the loft (once quite a nice room, now a dumping ground for Voodoo Street’s growing collection of stock, skulls and curiosities) to the front room and again outside into our VW van ready for Bus Types this weekend.  An intense 30 minutes swim at the local pool helped reinvigorate the senses (or dull them just enough to cope with the week in prospect!)

Tuesday was a race against time to supply our friend and super talented BMX rider Pinder, with some Voodoo Street tees.  He had been asked at short notice, to film a video for Rockermini BMX in India, but we all failed miserably with Pinder stuck at work in Birmingham after 9 pm having still not packed for his 3 am flight.  Thankfully he still has enough Voodoo swag to rep us out there and we’ll hopefully share some of his updates.

In between, I’ve been assisting the boy with SATS homework, babysitting tortoises (!), booking a ferry to the Outer Hebrides (more of that at a later date), talking Gaz down from finishing off our complete tool (not in a good way) of a printer with a lump hammer, tackling a gremlin on Facebook which has served to arbitrarily delete our posts, ironing stock, updating our web store and photographing an array of items we have accumulated in recent months, some of which might be on offer at Bus Types. This Packaway Stove might be on offer for example.

Bus Types is in Oswestry, one of Britain’s oldest settlements, and in keeping with Voodoo Street’s trading history, no doubt set to be the scene of apocalyptic weather for the next few days!

As I type, the living areas of our home have been sacrificed to boxes, filing cabinets, paperwork and our SMEG fridge door sticker display.

 

I have accepted that until Monday evening, our home is more likely to feature on TV show “The Horders Next Door,” rather than gracing the pages of Ideal Home magazine.

Today, with Gaz organising stickers, lifting boxes, ensuring Dr Jones, our tattooed mannequin, is ready for business, I’m wrestling with the more important business of what to wear.

Always keen to rep the brand, I shall be donning one of our logo beanies at the very least.  But those of you who know me, also know my penchant for vintage and that I like to mix things up a bit.  So, given the forecast is damp and chilly, these are going to be my key pieces:  Voodoo Street Logo Beanie, Doc Martens, ageing nicely and vintage faux fur jacket.  I might also throw in one of the maxi dresses acquired from our trader friends Kinky Melon’s Retro Boutique alongside my jeans.

If it ain’t nailed down, it’s going in a box or a suitcase!  Til next time. x 

Shiver by the River to Heaven by the Severn!

Last week was probably our craziest to date.  On a weekend road trip through Shropshire, we spotted a sign advertising the first VDubs in the Valley festival.  On a whim, we decided that it was the right time to unleash Voodoo Street onto an unsuspecting public and where better to start than our favourite local market town, Bridgnorth!  Only problem was, we had less than 7 days to prepare.  And so, fuelled by coffee and adrenalin, we worked a series of late nights labelling and finishing stock, finalising paperwork and packaging, designing a trade stand, buying a weather-proof trade stand, sourcing props and signs to furnish said trade stand and sorting transportation.  Oh, and we also designed and produced a sticker to mark the occasion.  At first we decided it should read "Shiver by the river" (still loving that!) but after seeing a more promising weather forecast, opted for "Heaven by the Severn."

With very little time to spare, Thursday (set-up day) arrived, literally like a damp squib.  In relentless drizzle, Gaz pitched up next to an old oak tree in the middle of a damp but beautiful field by the Severn....with literally no-one else in sight. Starting to fear the worst and experiencing something like first night nerves, he set up shop (with a little help - you know who you are, cheers!)  He needn't have worried.  By the time Claire rocked up at 7 (ish), the place was full and she was greeted by security staff and organisers grinning like Cheshire cats, chuffed that their humble little festival was taking on a life of its own.

COMPETITION TIME!!

The rest of the weekend went in a blur of amazing people, awesome vans, huge support, a raft of compliments, a little alcohol, delectable food, great music and a few rays of sunshine!  Our tattoo'd mannequin (aka "The Illustrated Man) proved to be a big hit, so much so that we have formally adopted him, which leads us to the point of this blog.  No adoption process is complete without a name and our man desperately needs a show name.  So, we're throwing it out there.  The person who comes up with the best name wins a free goody bag!  To enter, simply check out our website and like our Facebook page (to get a flavour of what we're about) and then put forward a name you feel befits such a handsome dude!  Please post your suggestions on our Facebook page and we'll pick our favourite and notify the winner on Monday 6th October.  Good luck and thanks again!