Crewe Steampunk Convivial - May 2016

The inaugural Crewe Steampunk Convivial on the late May Bank Holiday weekend was a good fun-filled weekend with the unique, over-riding theme of music. There were bands and groups performing during the evening entertainment but the organisers of this event had set up places where street artists and buskers could perform such as in the marquee in the Market Square, a stone's throw from the Lifestyle Centre. It was a nice touch that they brought them into the Steampunk Market to perform too!

Town Crier

A Street Performer

Bagpiper

It was a last minute decision to go to the Masquerade Ball on Sunday night but we're glad we did but not only because we got to see Crimson Clocks' last performace. There were a number of groups / bands we hadn't seen before but the stand-out performance was by The Wattingers (not to be confused with The Wottingers from In the Night Garden). It was a shame they were on so late because we had to leave part way through their performance - we wish they'd had an earlier slot!

The Wattingers

The Wattingers

BB Blackdog

The floor-space we had in Crewe was a bit smaller than at Comic Con and WGW so we had a similar set up as at those events and after trying it at a few events now we've come to the decision that its  not working as well as we thought so it's back to the drawing board we go!

For anyone who was asking about the black pagoda umbrellas, we have some on the way so we will have some for the Suffolk Steampunk Spectacular and The Asylum.

WGW April '16 - Remembered for the wrong reasons

There are only 4 words that can describe this WGW event, damn cold and quiet. It's easy to forget how cold the wind is when it blows straight in off the sea. We even had a smattering of snow on Sunday morning and we were told by someone who had driven in over the tops they were covered in snow.

The main talking points of this WGW are the new rules for entering the venues, which basically boiled down to no weapons of any description -  a point picked up in Steampunk Journal's article and the petition for the closure of the graveyard during both events. The article by Steampunk Journal also raises some interesting points that should be kept in mind when designing a new outfit or accessorising an existing one. We're not sure about con-safe ones though as we must admit we forgot to ask!

Embed from Getty Images

The biggest talking point after this event is the petition set up to close the graveyard for the duration of both events. We don't how or why it's suddenly become such a big issue, perhaps WGW is getting more popular with both visitors and photographers and its become the 'thing to do' and this event was the tipping point. There are plans to create a mock graveyard so people wanting photos don't go into the graveyard itself.


 Nevertheless we enjoyed the weekend and broke tradition by eating at the moon and sixpence instead of the magpie. We highly recommend it and think it's a local's secret spot because the other people didn't look like they were in Whitby for the Goth Weekend, so we'd say it's recommended to book in advance.

After doing Comic Con in March, we thought that the floor space was the same as WGW so we thought we'd try a similar set-up. We thought it worked really well for us but it's difficult to get a good idea because it was really quiet, it probably didn't help that Easter was really early this year so it didn't fall in the school holidays as it usually does. I think a good indication of how quiet it was is that we had a choice of tables in the Elsinore at 8pm on Saturday! Usually people are spilling out of the door and onto the path outside.We're back in November so we'll try the same set up to see how it goes then.

Highlights of the weekend...

For all the wrong reasons © Rob Grey

For all the right reasons

So onwards to our next event Crewe Steampunk Convivial