On Friday morning, in a field far, far away (well, Arley -
about 20 minutes’ drive from here), Episode IV of VDubs in the
Valley dawned. Gaz and Hayley Aulton
and their crew had been hard at it since the previous Monday, battling high
winds, unseasonable temperatures and heavy rain (thankfully no Sith lightning), to turn what had been a field full of sheep the previous week, into a weekend
haven for Vdubbers.
The day was spent going backwards and forwards to the site. Gaz had already driven a fully loaded van
over to Arley (seriously, not even a ferret could have squeezed inside our T4
on Friday). I followed later with yet
more boxes, before leaving him to set up so that I could manage our online
store and enquiries and to be on hand to cook tea at school kicking out time.
With plummeting temperatures on Friday night, BruteBox, our
neighbours on one side, took Gaz and his man flu in hand, providing a fire and
dispensing their own special brand of medicine (a rum hot toddy – rum, lemon,
rum, honey, rum, a dash of hot water, some rum).
Saturday was manic.
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| The sun shone and the crowds came! |
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| Great to see our 2015 designed tees are still going strong! |
There were Star wars costumes aplenty and geeks ruled! (For me, the word “geek” is a term of
endearment).
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| Spot Hayley, far right, on a rare break. |
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| Cookie |
Some folks started earlier than others (Cookie!) We met Cookie Simon Cooke), his wife Vikki
and son Alfie as customers at our first ever trade show – the first ever VDubs
in the Valley, pitched up next to a solitary oak tree. A different field, a different time. Four years on and Simon, fresh from his
appearance as a finalist on E4’s Tattoo Artist of the Year, was a fellow
sponsor and trading neighbour, adding his own unique artwork to various coveted
items and getting dressed up at 10.30 on a Saturday morning! (Sadly, I didn't get a photograph of him in his awesome costume, but here's an oldie!)
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| Mouse Droid lurking behind Boba |
We were privileged to be custodians of this incredible Mouse
Droid, built by Simon Flack. Simon
reminded us to include a Mouse Droid in the design for the official tees and
beady eyed regulars may just spot our dedication to him in
the artwork.
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| "Leia No Buns" an obscure Star Wars character |
I managed a token effort.
I was aiming for “Hoth Leia” but with theme appropriate leggings, a
padded body warmer and cherry red Doc Marten boots, the link was tenuous. I didn’t even have time to attempt the
famous Leia buns. Caleb donned a Boba
Fett knitted hat. Gaz had just been too
busy in the weeks leading up to the show.
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| Under the Fridge in action |
Saturday night we managed to squeeze in a little socialising
- accompanied by a cider (Gaz, standard) and a rather nice local beer from the
BeerBuz (me), Under the Fridge providing the soundtrack. With Autumn beginning to kick in, the
temperature dropped as rapidly as darkness descended and…with no dead Tauntaun
to shelter in, it was soon time to hit the sack and we headed 20 minutes down
the road to our own beds. We also
wanted to collect the P6, which has made an appearance at every VDubs in the
Valley show to date, but with a flat battery and no fuel, this was not going to
be straightforward.
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| The Beast and Gaz's stickerbombed unicycle |
Gaz decided to redeem himself on Sunday morning, having
failed to cobble together a Star Wars inspired outfit. Therefore, he drove on site in the P6
wearing a Darth Vader helmet, but even the shocked photographer scrambled his
camera too late and failed to get a decent shot. So if anyone did witness Vader driving a 1970s Rover - Mrs Vader
on the roof - into a farmer’s field early on Sunday morning, no you weren’t still
suffering the after effects of a heavy Saturday night.
We hit the ground running on Sunday, fuelled by sausage sandwiches from BruteBox. By 11.00 am, we had sold out of show stickers and were running low on tees.
Our dancing Coke can (a late 80s/early 90s craze, which had been sealed away in Gaz’s Mini for at least a decade) was a reminder of a more simple time. Really simple. We didn’t have to get our entertainment YouTube clips or from sharing memes on Instagram – oh no! We were laughing hysterically at a moving soft drinks can in sunglasses!
Sunday was all about the vehicles and they were varied, sometimes outlandish, but always stunning.
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| Gaz fell in love with this Chevrolet Corvair |
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| A beautiful splitty |
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| The arse end of a Beetle. |
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| VW Bugs |
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| Love this Beetle! |
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| Scooters |
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| Far Out! |
We judged the Show n’ Shine's "How the hell did it get here?" category on Sunday and awarded a mummified skull (what else?) to Mark and his unique rat bus.
Gaz as usual, got carried away and tried to re-brand everything as Voodoo Street.
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| Mark's Bus |
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| BruteBox Bus? Are you sure? |
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| Powered by Voodoo Street |
Express & Star photographer, paid the show a visit and captured this excellent shot of our rat bike and picked some unsuspecting child to model one of our steampunk hats, which ended up in Richard Guttridge’s online coverage of the event.
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| Photo courtesy of Express & Star Newspaper |
Show ‘n’ shine over, prizes handed out, rain clouds gathering and rumours of thunder storms heading over from Dudley, we started to pack away. Once the Golf was full of boxes, I took Boba Fett home, knocked up a roast dinner and started to trawl through the emails. Meanwhile, Gaz was failing to dodge the rain and I felt a disturbance in the force. A phone call confirmed my suspicions. He was drenched and returned home an hour or so later, bedraggled, with a look and mood to match a snow beast.
Thank f*$k for Celia’s brownies, our VDubs in the Valley mugs and a night in front of the TV.
THE END.
