When I first saw the ‘Return of the Garrison’ mentioned in a national newspaper, my first reaction was joy – a Star Wars event that was slightly nearer than most, and not having really ‘done’ a dedicated SW event I decided to take the plunge. My next reaction was ‘where?’ – I didn’t know the UK even had a National Space Centre, let alone that is was the other side of the Midlands. So with tickets duly booked, I set off with my trusty padawan “Ahsoka” in tow for a day of discovery.
Upon arrival, the queue to the entrance of the NSC was winding from the distinctive rocket tower back to the car park, but members of the UK Garrison and Rebel Legion were on hand to make the time pass a bit quicker with plenty of photo ops for the waiting crowd.
Upon entry to the NSC we set about a quick tour to familiarise ourselves with the layout and work out where we needed to be and when. My daughter signed up for the UK Garrison’s Droid Hunt and a Jedi Masterclass, and we then joined the queue for the signing table.
From the outset we were treated to Kenny Baker, Jeremy Bulloch and David Prowse at the main table, with Peter Burroughs and Ray Griffiths appearing to help raise awareness of the work done by the charity Little People UK. As we already have David Prowse’s signature my daughter went for Kenny’s autograph, whilst I plumped for one of the limited edition copies of Jeremy’s book ‘Flying Solo’ which he duly signed. I have to say of all of the “famous” people I’ve met over the years, Jeremy (and his wife) were among the nicest people to meet and exchange a few words with and were very appreciative of the fans taking time to wait in line for picture and audience with their heroes.
My daughter, being a big Ewok fan, also got Peter Burroughs autograph and he too was a lovely chap, and only too happy to answer her questions about being in the Ewok costume.
View over the main concourse area, with the queues already building for the signing table.
With the queuing out of the way, we had a more leisurely browse around the other stalls, with the R2 Builders club putting in another very popular appearance (one of the must have photo ops of the day), a replica prop display and the guys and gals from ClothEars showing examples of their fantastic costumes.
With lunch fast approaching we took a break outside (as it had turned quite warm) and managed to catch more of the UK Garrison obliging fans for more pictures and a few special appearances among them.
We took the opportunity at this point to visit the Galactic Academy stand and the full size replica of Anakin’s pod racer. We also bumped in to another familiar face…
Meeting Master Yoda was timely as we then moved on to the Jedi Training Academy (and got caught by the Imperials searching for the droids in the process!).
The padawans were all taken through some basic lightsaber craft – learning a suite of defensive moves (A jedi uses the force for knowledge and defence, never attack) and once they had passed their training received a certificate from their instructor, signed by Master Yoda.
By now the queues were building for one of the biggest attractions of the day, a guest appearance by Peter Mayhew. By now the signing areas had been split so the little and large of the galaxy far, far away were in one area whilst the imperial contingent remained in the main concourse.
Sadly at this point we had to make our own jump into hyperspace and return home, so missed some of the other activities, which included a Darth Maul workshop, a talk by the 501st on costuming and a Q&A with some of the stars and of course the final parade.
We also never got to spend much time in the fantastic retro gamer room, where all manner of PC and console games from yesteryear were available for the avid SW gamer to try their hand at, but this seemed a popular attraction, if a little out of the way.
On the whole it was thoroughly enjoyable day and we both had a great time. Credit to the UK Garrison and Rebel Legion for organising such a varied and interesting day, which had something for fans of all ages and I hope lots of money was raised for the chosen charities.
Here’s hoping for the next instalment in 2015 – after all, there’s not much else happening is there!!!
Review by Carl Bayliss. For more of our event coverage click here.