Bricktastic 2023

I am almost afraid to write about how good Bricktastic 2023 was in case it persuades more people to visit the Lego show in 2024 because it was BUSY!

Our daughter and I have visited Bricktastic every year that it has run. We were delighted when it returned last year and so as soon as tickets were made available for 2023 we immediately booked once again.

For 2023 the event had been moved to a bigger room in Manchester Central. This was much better, but it still needed to be bigger. The queuing was a problem last year (not sure why) but this year it was brilliant getting in. We pretty much walked straight in. We made use of the cloakroom facilities this year. I don’t know if they were there before but this was a very welcome service which meant we weren’t roasting as we walked around the room.

There was food inside the gallery but we decided to go elsewhere to eat. So we used wristbands to show that we were returning guests when we came back.

I think I’d have liked to see a few more shops. Due to personal circumstances we were not looking to spend lots of money, but there was nothing that gripped us at all this time. Our daughter bought a kitchen fron One More Brick (without a doubt, the best stall at the show).

The exhibitions were amazing. Our favourites were The Tower Zoo and The Great Ball Contraption.

The Tower Zoo is… a zoo in a tower. There were so many details included in this build that we had to visit it twice to take it all in. We had a chat with the builder and he was a lovely guy.

We loved the Great Ball Contraption. I didn’t film it this year as it was so busy and I didn’t have the patience to stand with my phone. We visited it twice to take in all of the different contraptions. This is an exhibition worth watching – if you get the chance you must visit and watch the balls being transported in creative ways using imaginative contraptions.

Our children were disappointed that there were no Harry Potter displays this year. We couldn’t really find anything at all. I think there are probably reasons for this due to JK Rowling’s views on trans people and Lego builders working togther to make a stand. I don’t know if this is the reason, this is pure speculation. Last year, our favourite build was a Harry Potter rollercoaster and we were hoping to see it again.

The mosaic felt quicker to get to this time. We enjoyed our builds and adding our tiles. The people who worked there were very patient with everybody.

We didn’t spend long watching the master builders. I thought I would enjoy this as I enjoy Lego Masters. But I think it proved why these programmes are edited as I did not have the patience to stand there and watch.

Bricktastic is a brilliant event and I would recommend anyone to visit!

Wells-next-the-Sea

We have returned from a fantastic week staying in Wells-next-the-Sea in North Norfolk.

We stayed at a lovely cottage called Harbour View. Although the name of the cottage wasn’t entirely accurate, it was a really lovely place to stay. It was a perfect distance from the town centre and harbour.

Before going, we didn’t know anyone else who had ever been to Wells-next-the-Sea. Well now, we will be recommending it to anyone. It is beautiful!

It wasn’t perfect though – I’ll start with some of its faults before telling you why I love it!
The traffic is pretty horrendous. There are cars everywhere. This makes parking a problem. The beach is a mile’s walk from the harbour and so people always choose to drive up. That walk is horrendous! We tried to park up at 9.30am and were sent away as the car park was full.
The pubs seem to shut early – even at the weekends. It was so weird – by 9pm there was barely anywhere to go!
The other drawback about Wells is that it is miles away from everywhere else. Anywhere else you’d like to visit is at least half an hour away.

Really, if these are the only flaws, then they pale into insignificance compared to everything else!

Harbour
The Harbour is beautiful. It really is picturesque. There are stunning boats and yachts to look at and there always seems to be something on the move. The buildings that overlook the harbour make it look very quaint – I love the Granary building in particular. There is a horse statue in the harbour. Apparently it is placed in a slightly different location each year. As the tide moves in, you see a little bit less of the horse until you can just make out the top.

Crab fishing
The harbour is a great location for crabfishing. We caught loads! A great way to fill an hour!

Park
Although we didn’t use it on holiday, there is a nice looking park for the children to play in, just next to the football ground.

Chips shops
As someone who is gluten intolerant, I was delighted to see that both of the chip shops sell gluten free fish and chips. They were delicious. The rest of my family don’t need to be GF and they loved theirs too!

Shops
There are a range of different shops to visit. There was an art gallery which was due to open just after we left. You could buy lots of nice souvenirs from the shops along Staithe Street. There was a nice deli and a sweet shop. We all managed to find something we liked from the various store.

Pubs and food
Although the pubs didn’t seem to open late, every pub was really smart and most served food. The food in The Crown looked particularly nice! There was a pizza place, a seafood restaurant and a delicious gelato shop!

Arcades
We won thousands of tickets in the arcade by the harbour. I’m not exaggerating. On one game I won over 1,200 tickets in one turn! There was something for everyone in there!

The Maltings
The local theatre and community use building was really smart. The people who worked there were friendly and welcoming. We went along to the family bingo one evening and had a great time.

The beach
The beach is absolutely stunning. The beach huts look brilliant. It really feels like a unique place. The sea is really shallow there so the children could paddle for miles.

Lifeboat Centre
The new lifeboat centre was due to open after we visited. But it looked really smart.

There was so much to do that we didn’t quite manage it all, as we wanted to visit other places. We missed out on Holkham Hall, which I believe is very much worth a visit, and the light railway. The great thing is, that we have reasons to visit again in the future.

Day out at New Brighton

New Brighton is about an hour away from where we live. Today we enjoyed a day out at the seaside and New Brighton had all we needed.

The children were desperate to visit the seaside. By this point in the year we have usually visited at least once, but the weather has been so rubbish this year we’ve not even come close to considering. But half-term arrived and the glorious weather seemed to coincide. We had to visit the beach!

We decided to head up to New Brighton rather than sit in traffic on the way into Wales. New Brighton has flaws, but it is a lovely day out. Here’s a quick guide!

Parking
We parked in the Morrisons car park. This was free and there was no time limit. Also, of course, it was handy for Morrisons!

Food
Although there are lots of places to eat (check out the Perch Fish ‘n’ Chip Shop) we usually buy something at Morrisons and take it to the beach.

Toilets
There were toilets at the arcades, Morrisons and in the local cafes.

The Beach
The beach is gorgeous. I love sitting on the beach but looking over and seeing what is going on in Liverpool. We were on the beach near to the Fort Perch Rock and the lighthouse.

Here’s a picture of the inside of Fort Perch Rock!

Ice Cream
There are ice cream vans all over the police, but if you’re prepared to queue, the ice cream at Caffe Cream. Fantastic!

The Arcades
These felt like a covid-breeding ground. There were no restrictions on entry, barely any sanitiser, no one noticeably cleaning anything, hardly anyone wore masks and that’s without the place feeling like it hasn’t been cleaned since the day it opened. I don’t recommend the arcades.

What else is there?
Check out the marine lake, visit the Floral Pavillion Theatre, walk through the Tower Gardens, go bowling, play crazy golf and walk along the promenade.

At the other end of the promenade there seems to be lots of grass where thousands of people seem to spend the day. I don’t know what this is all about. I can’t recommend that.

Astbury Mere

Living in Cheshire means that we are never far from a beautiful place to go for a walk. Yesterday afternoon we went to Astbury Mere in Congleton.

Astbury Mere is a former sand quarry and is now a beautiful nature park. It is great for walks.

The car park was 50p (you need cash). There is a nice looking cafe to buy a drink from. There were loads of parking spaces. The park was well maintained and it felt really loved by everyone who was there.

Back To The Future: The Musical

Back To The Future has always been one of my favourite films! Of course, it’s full of pot holes and strange quirks, but it’s a classic! Over the years there has been talk of a reboot and I’ve not been sure about this. So when it was announced back in May 2019 that they were going to reboot it in the form of a musical, I was really excited. This would be something different!

It was either going to be incredibly brilliant, or incredibly bad. So when I managed to find bargain tickets for just £13 each it was worth a shot.

BTTF: The Musical opened at the Opera House in Manchester about a week ago. We went to watch it last night (what a way to remember the bonus day of 29th Feb!) and I am pleased to say that, not only was it incredibly brilliant, but it exceeded all of my expectations.

The show is more than just a musical. It’s an education in special effects. The things they managed to do with the Delorean were magical.

The show starred Olly Dobson as Marty McFly. He was so believable as the main character that you didn’t notice it was Michael J. Fox. He had the same voice traits as the actor! He was superb!

Roger Bart, who we recognised from loads of different things, was Doc Brown. He was hilarious! A knowing performance, he paid homage to the original performance whilst bringing something new to the character. He managed to include all of the silliness of the movie performance with great singing. He was sensational!

Hugh Coles as George McFly was phenomenal, as was Rosanna Hyland as Lorraine Baines. Aidan Cutler was great as the bully Biff Tannen. The character of Goldie Wilson was expanded for the musical and Cedric Neal was show stealing in the role!

The music was refreshing – funny, sentimental and catchy. But, for me, the best songs came at the end and were the classic songs from the movie – Earth Angel, Johnny B. Goode, The Power Of Love and Back In Time.

I don’t want to spoil the show by telling you what they manage to do with the time travelling car, but it is worth going to watch it just for the last twenty minutes alone!

There are some pictures and a review of the show here.

I sneaked a photo of the cast at the end!
Woah, this is heavy.

The Art of the Brick

Ever since I heard that Nathan Sawaya’s The Art of the Brick Exhibition was coming to Manchester, I have been desperate to go. Today I was in Manchester for a course so was able to visit afterwards.

As a Lego fan I am always in awe of amazing designs. But I am unbelievably impressed with the exhibition. As pieces of Lego the work is impressive. As pieces of art they are fantastic!

The exhibition is at Great Northern Warehouse in Manchester on Deansgate. It’s not cheap to get in. At £14.50 it’s not cheap. I was on my own – in fact I saw two other people in there whilst I was there. If there were others to talk to I think my visit would have been longer. I was there for around 35 minutes.

The exhibition is in Manchester until 20th April and you can find further details and book tickets here.

Yellow
Probably the artist’s most well known piece

Reminding me of my dad

It’s funny how something catches you unexpectedly. There were two pieces that made me thing of my dad. Hands shows a grey sculpture whose hands have disintegrated. This reminds me so much of how my dad lost the feeling in his hands as his condition became worse. The expression and body language of the sculpture was just like him and the way he would look at his hands and the way he couldn’t understand what was wrong…

And Disintegration made me think about how his dementia completely eroded him away. It was actually very moving. I stood and looked at this for ages, thinking about how his life just faded away.

Hands
Disintegration

Board Beans Cafe

We finally got to try to Board Beans Cafe in Northwich today.

The Board Beans Cafe opened in 2019 and we’ve walked past it on many occasions but not actually tried it, for no particular reason. Today we finally did and it was great!

We were there on a Saturday afternoon. It was fairly busy but there was a spare table for us. It seemed like a great way to keep the children busy. We ordered drinks and an ice cream sundae. We were charged £3 per adult to play games – this would cover us for three hours, although we never planned to be there that long.

The was a huge choice of games. Because we had the children with us we only really focused on the children’s games, but we could see shelf after shelf of more adult games. The website says there are over 350 available!

We played a few games but the children made it a little difficult as they couldn’t agree on games and couldn’t agree on rules! But the staff were really friendly and patient, even explaining the rules for a balance a penguin game!

The food and drinks look great and I’d like to visit again but without the children so that we can play some decent, unusual games. There was one called Cash and Guns which sounded and looked fun on a nearby table!

This is a unique cafe in Northwich and, in fact, unique in the local area – there’s nothing else like it that I’m aware of. It’s well worth a visit if you’re passing.

Museum of Science & Industry

I would give the Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester, a miss at the moment.

We visited on Sunday January 5th 2020 – to be fair, it was the last day of the Christmas holidays. That might explain the poor museum, but I’m not sure.

The Museum is free and it has always been a nice day out. We were keen to take our little boy as this would be his first experience of the museum that he would actually remember. “There are trains, planes and lots of games to play,” we told him.

The main entrance is really impressive. The staff were really polite and friendly. We visited the Experiments part of the museum. This is really interactive and fun and was the most popular part of the museum. Our children loved it, but I couldn’t help but feel that it needed some TLC and investment. It needed a good clean. Many of the exhibits were not looking their best. For instance, there is a bike to ride which lights up a skeleton riding a bike. The skeleton’s leg had fallen off. There was an emphasis on sustainability on some of the activities, which was ironic as the picnic area didn’t offer many facilities in the way of recycling.

The cafes, as we walked past, were really impressive. They are clearly assets and the part of the museum that generates a lot of money. The shop looked great too, but we avoided this – it was January.

The textiles area was very quiet and there wasn’t much going on at all.

There was an exhibition about the sun, but this had a charge to go in, and the children weren’t particularly interested.

There was a science show – this was actually the last day of the show. This was great – our children really enjoyed it. The guy presenting was fun and interesting. It was interactive, funny and the children learned some good facts about the sun.

We went over to the Air and Space Hall. We noticed a sign that said the roof had leaked due to the heavy rain a few weeks ago. This might have explained why many of the planes and vehicles were covered up and why some of the paths were closed.

The 1830 Station and Warehouse were pretty much empty. There was a very old exhibit about connecting Manchester. A few years ago these buildings were thriving.

The Power Hall where the trains were was closed for refurbishment.

I am being harsh as it seems that the museum is undergoing lots of developments which will perhaps make it a better place to visit in the future. But sadly, at the moment, to be honest, it’s not a great day out.

Nativity Rocks!

The poster for the movie doesn’t include most of the key actors. I wonder why?

Yes, it is January. And I’m reviewing a Christmas movie. I know, it is weird.

It was our little boy’s fourth birthday today. Our children are obsessed with all of the Nativity movies every Christmas. Lisa and I adore the first Nativity and the songs at the end – especially Sparkle and Shine! We went to see the musical in 2017. The children love Nativity 2 and Nativity 3. I thought both were pretty poor, but after watching them about twenty times each this Christmas they have grown on me to the point where I, dare I say it, like them…

We missed Nativity Rocks in the cinema but we decided that going to the Kids Club at the Odeon cinema near us (£2.50 a ticket) would be quite good fun. It wasn’t just us – the screen was pretty busy, to be fair.

The trailer

Starring Simon Lipkin, who played Mr Poppy in the musical in 2017, Nativity Rocks was actually brilliant and we didn’t miss the ‘original’ Mr Poppy at all.

It was a real return to form for the film series. The last couple of movies became really silly and, whilst this is totally crackers, it manages to feel just about believable.

We were close to tears a few times thanks to some touching plots and we laughed lots and lots thanks to laughs that appealed to adults as well as jokes that suited the children too!

We will look forward to watching it probably twenty times next Christmas!