** Celebration Europe 3 - 2016 - The Event Report PT5 **

Saturday 16th July 2016
Today was THE busiest day of the convention, as this was sold out from both the first set of tickets & then the second set released earlier this year.

Early start again, but I'd got the hang of this train business now lol.

First things first: battery power check, system's check and then a quick roll around by the Star Wars Live stage.

R5 meets another droid on the Star Wars Live stage

First Order Tie Fighter & Pilot with OT Pilot

Whilst taking pics of these guys, they asked if they could have R5 in their pictures.

See above. Then as the main crowds started to come in, we were swamped by people taking pictures, videos and selfies lol

Live on stage

 It was gettin busy by the stage area, so decided best to move R5 back over to the Builders area. This was easier said than done, as the crowds were busy flowing through & of course, taking more pictures and video's. These kids dressed as Jawa's were AWESOME!!! With Jawa sound effects too!

Driving back, I bumped into these guys,

 David M. Santana, Sandeep Mohan & Samantha Alleyne

Was great to meet these guys, as I 'follow' them on Twitter, it's nice to actually meet them in person. I know my daughter was excited to know that I met a female Stormtrooper :)

The rest of the day was more display work, where the droid que still went all the way around the stand! Lot's of people asking questions about building, which is good. [And since the event, lots of people have signed up to the forums www.astromech.net & also the UK corner www.astromech.info to find out more about how to build an Astromech Droid]

Friends who made it on the day were Karen, in her Boba Fett dress & Colin Barker. Tho didn't get much of a chance to catch up with either.

The place was packed all day! With most people going to the 'Panel' shows, there were quieter periods, tho as we were right next to the room (curtained off) we could here the cheers from the fans.

I didn't go to any of these panels as it would of meant missing out on supporting the R2 Builders, which was my own personal reason for attending the event. And I knew that I would be able to catch up on it all via the You Tube channel.

The builders were meeting up for food and drinks again afterwards, but I had to go and meet up with the family to pick up my Son who was joining me for Sunday's last day.

Train & tube into central London and back again to Barking. Stopped off for tea in KFC, when the walk back to my hotel.
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Sunday 17th July 2016
As today was the last day, I'd decided it would be easier to drive the car and park it up for the day, rather than train in/back/pickup car/drive back in, tho £15 for 24hrs.....wow!

So up at 7 and after breakfast, loaded up suitcase etc and headed off with one VERY excited (tho calm) Son, in his Han Solo costume.

Han 'JJ' Solo
In his escape from the Death Star cosplay

Had to get a pic of us together :)

We met up with the other builders and did introductions for him :). Then it was off across the convention to the South Hall.....

And one (of a few) with R5 :)

The morning I was attending the R2 beginners building talk. We passed the excellent 501st & Rebels displays & had to take a pic of Jay with R5 against the Tantive IV corridor scene.

R5 & Han Solo on the Tantive IV

And after stopping for more photos with people, we eventually made it to the talk, taken by Stuart Bone & Oliver Steeples, with me assisting. These pics were taken by my Son.

Yes, see that one there?? That's mine. lol

Olivers R5, Stuarts R2 & my R5-D4

The talk lasted about 45 mins, with a Q&A at the end. Then people could come up and get a closer look at the Droids & ask more questions. It went really well and the feedback was good from people there. Some didn't even know we had our own stand at the event, which was quickly sorted out with directions.

It was then another trek back through the crowds & photos' to get back to the builders stand lol.

Around mid-day, we had a special visitor to the stand, Mr Anthony Daniels himself. He had a guided tour round the stand, looking at the droids, Astromechs & BB-8's.

Anthony Daniels assessing the BB-8 stand

Anthony Daniels with Giles R2 & Alan's half scale R2.

Oliver, Antony & Lee

R5 managed to get in on most of the pictures lol. Anthony was most amused with the drinks on R2's tray. The tea bag in the tea cup, said 'Blue Milk' ;) lol

Then C-3P0 joined the stage and was introduced to his maker lol. Big shout out to Simon Wilkie who does an outstanding performance!

The afternoon half of the day flew past in no time at all. Whilst sorting things out in our rest area, Jay had his picture taken with Lee.

Jay & Lee Towersey

We had some smaller remote control R2's on the stand, from Bladez Toys, these were great for the kids to play with & the actual stand selling them, sold out of all their stock on the Saturday!! Jay & myself were helping Giles out on the Sunday. These great pics were taken by Felix of the European Builders.

These are the droids....the kids.....were looking for lol

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Guess who walked past me.....stupid focusing on ipad, wasn't quick enough :(

Katherine Kennedy!

Katherine Kennedy

Also re-met Jack E. Curenton, the winner of the fan made film: Star Wars Generations.

Video is here. Congrats on the win!

Jack E. Curenton

Jack had popped over to see the builders as he was helped out by Mike Senna, with his R2D2.

As the day drew to a close, we gathered up all the Droids for the now customary end of event group photo. Lots were taken, including ones by my Son. But this one is by far the best and now a standard.

C-3P0 is holding a love Emma sign for Micke, a club members little girl,

who was recently diagnosed with cancer.

Details can be found here.

Well, the day came to a close and the crowds drifted away as the Halls were closed to the public. Then the process of dismantling the display and saying goodbye to group friends began. After a few hours, we were all done, packed up and cars loaded for our journeys home.

I had the most fantastic time & an experience I will never forget! This group of people are a family and I am proud to know them all! I know my Son had a blast for the day as well.

Some were already looking forward to Celebration 2017. Something I won't be able to attend, but still, look forward to it. There's a few more things that I will no-doubt remember later and will post up later lol. But for now, thanks for reading.

** Celebration Europe 3 - 2016 - The Event Report PT3 **

End of our first day, Thursday for us. The droids that where there ready for Friday morning, were all set up and ready. Food was ordered and we all made our way outside to await its delivery. Pizza all round lol.

Group pizza

After dropping off our droids, we had to park up. This was something that was an extra cost i didn't need :(. £15 for 24hrs was ok, but I didn't need this as would be staying at a hotel which had parking. One of our members, also concerned about cost savings, found a website called Justpark. This is an online website where parking spaces are advertised, fantastic! Me and Andre T, used the same church car park for the few hours needed, total cost was £3.10. (available from 8am - 9pm) Bargin!
(Recent large financial outgoings meant that I was/am on even more of a tight budget unfortunately).

Once pizzas were done, others were heading for drinks. But i had to find my hotel, check in etc, as wanted to be fresh for the day ahead. So i said my goodbyes and headed the 5 min walk back to my car. I also needed to check my route to Barking train station from the hotel, which was about 10-15 mins walk.

I arrived at my hotel without to much traffic hassle......i joke. But the Ibis hotel was a great relief. I unpacked and got what i needed for the day ahead, ready.

Friday 15th July 2016:
I woke up at seven and after breakfast, made the walk to the station. Its been a few years since i last travelled on the London transport system & first time using contactless travel. It was so simple tho and after my three short train journeys, i arrived, along with a few others at The Excel centre.

My R5-D4 trading cards I picked up Thursday

Mine & JJ's passes

As I walked in, I thought, oh....not such a big que forming in the main hall way. Then I remembered the actual que hall, lol. As an exhibitor, tho because I had bought passes, I wasn't technically issued with one of these, you were allowed through the bag check point via a separate que line.I had to then wait for Oliver to pop down to 'clear me' through into the North side of the Centre, where our stand was in section N9.

I/we all were checking over our droids, batteries charged etc and generally all hyped/nerves for the opening day ahead. Because it was a Friday, the initial crowds were slightly less than expected, but that was probably a good thing lol.

I was asked if I could move R5 to be infront of our iconic Sandcrawler display, made by Paul Wiz, to be next to Giles' R2 & the Jawa's. Around 10am as I walked back round I saw a mini film crew, not an unusual sight, but his time I recognised the presenter lol. I was more surprised that he moved into position right behind my R5!!

Sandcrawler scene

Alex Zane & crew

Short filming complete

So keep your eyes out for something Star Wars related on the TV featuring this man lol

More builders arrived during the morning and the crowds started to gather around the builders stand. So long in fact that it went almost all the way around it!! And stayed this long for most of the day!

Friday's R2 Builders Club stand - ques

Lots of questions were asked about how to build a droid, how much it costs, materials used etc. And lots of happy faces, both old and young :)

More to come of the day in Part 4.......

** Celebration Europe 3 - 2016 - The Event Report PT1 **

A day by day event report of my time at CE3, starting from Wednesday night (13th July)
This will be in a few parts....

Wednesday 13th:
Was basically loading everything into the Zafira. The wheels on the platform made life a lot easier. Both R5 & R0-D4 domes were loaded in, plus a suitcase, transmitter box, tool box & food (sweets lol) for the journey.

Thursday 14th:
After dropping my two youngest's off at school, as I wasn't now going to see them till Saturday evening, I set off up to London.

I eventually arrived about 2:30pm & met up with other builders who were also unloading at the same time, Brad, Matt, Giles to name just three. We all then helped set up where our droids would be displayed etc. Here we met up with Oliver Steeples. Once done it was time for a wonder around to get bearings of the venue.

This was still all being set up...

Checkout he AT-AT & Tie Fighter

lol, had to be done

Was so blown away with the Star Wars Falcon stage set, that I didn't even realise the gorgeous Andi Guttierrez sat a foot away from me :D She turned & smiled, I froze and smiled politely back lol

Falcon stage set

Setting up of the R2 Builders area:

James X-Robots R6 3D printed droid

Brad's BHD droids

Astromech's group shot

Simon's Boba Fett Droid

Just a few of the droids. And R5's temp display area.

R2-D2 & R5-D4 display area

Next then was a scout around. First thing I noticed in the main walkway, was the Death Star....

Death Star @ Celebration Europe 2016

This would be a rare sight as it wouldn't last long....no, the Rebels didn't blow it up (tho they might of blew it up in the first place lol), but due to technically difficulties (apparently) it had to be taken down! So if you saw it up, you are special!

Part 2 to follow.....

** Celebration Europe 2016 - New Polo shirt**

With only weeks left before Celebration Europe, I needed to get on the next run of logo'ed up tops from the UK R2 Builders Club.

Big thanks to Giles (Artoojayzero) for sorting these quality items.

Got my name on it like before, so I know who I am ;D

Also picked up these very classy 'gold' UK Builders Club patches.

So if your coming to the event, don't forget to come say hi :)