News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Events; Saturday 8th-Friday 14th February 2020

Saw my first bumble-bee today, and the mirabell started to flower, god knows what either of them will make of the two day storm they're promising us, but the viewing of them both, was a good sign!

Let's buy toys . . . 

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Toy Fairs

Saturday 8th February 2020

Chester - Tony Oaks Toy Fairs

The Cheshire Country Club Sports Club, Plas Newton Lane, Upton, Cheshire, CH2 1PR

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01270 652 773

Mob. - 07825 631 323

10:30 - 14:30hrs

Admission £2.00

Free Parking

Hawkinge - SRP Toy Fairs

Hawkinge Community Centre, Heron Forstal Avenue, Hawkinge, Kent, CT18 7FT

Web. - http://srptoyfairs1.co.uk/

eMail - srptoys1@hotmail.co.uk

Mob. - 07739 998 012 (Paula or Gerry)

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission charge unknown

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Sunday 9th February 2020

Birmingham - Barry Potter / BP Fairs - 'NEC'

Hall 18, National Exhibition Centre, Birminham, B40 1NT

Web. - www.bpfairs.com

Tel. - 01604 846 688

Mob. - 07966 527 177

Fax. - 01604 771 070

Hours unknown (probably 10:30-15:00hrs)

Admission £7.50, early-bird (from 08:00hrs) £12, OAP's £7, Children £2

Free parking

 [Which also made it into Waitrose magazine this week, which either means BP Fairs are becoming an institution, or the editors were short on event-dates?!!]

Kirkby-in-Ashfield - Townsend Toy & Train Fairs (Malcolm Townsend)

Festival Hall, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, NG17 7DJ

Web. - www.tttf.co.uk

Mob. - 07951 072 790

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission fee unknown, aaccompanied under-16's free

Free parking, refreshments

Orpington - SRP Toyfairs

Crofton Halls, Orpington, Kent, BR6 8PR

Web. - www.srptoyfairs1.co.uk

eMail: srptoys1@hotmail.co.uk

Tel. - 07739 998 012 (Paula or Gerry)

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission charge unknown

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Tuesday 11th February 2020

Elsecar - Newcomen Fairs Ltd. - 42nd Elsecar Toy & Train Fair (evening fair)

Elsecar Heritage Centre, Elsecar, Nr. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S74 8HJ

Web. - www.newcomenfairs.co.uk

eMail - sales@newcomenfairs.co.uk

Tel. - 01226 744 425

19:00 - 21:00hrs

Admission £1.50p, children 50p

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Wednesday 12th February 2020

Burton-on-Trent - Townsend Toy & Train Fairs (Malcolm Townsend) - Evening Fair

The Town Hall, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, DE14 2EB

Web. - www.tttf.co.uk

Mob. - 07951 072 790

18:00 - 20:30hrs

Admission unknown, accompanied under-16's free

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Thursday 13th February 2020

Theydon Bois - Joe Lock Fairs (evening fair)

Village Hall, Coppice Row, Theydon Bois, Essex, CM16 7ER

Internet presence unknown

Mob. - 07866 641 215

19:00-21:00hrs

Admission £1

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Auctions

Saturday 8th February 2020

Bury St. Edmunds - Lacy Scott & Knight

Web. - www.lsk.co.uk

eMail - oleggett@lsk.co.uk

Tel. - 01284 748 600 (general enquires)

Tel. - 01284 748 623 (Oliver Leggett - auction)

Toy and Collectors Models

Poole - Cottees Auctions Limited

Mannings Heath Road, Poole, Dorset, BH12 4NQ

Web. - www.cottees.co.uk

eMail - info@cottees.co.uk

Tel. - 01202 723 177

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Wednesday 12th February 2020

Stockton-on-Tees - Vectis Auctions

Fleck Way, Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 9JZ

Web. - www.vectis.co.uk

eMail - admin@vectis.co.uk

Tel. - 01642 750 616

Sales commence at 10:30hrs

Toy & model soldiers & figures, kits & AFV's

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Other Events

From Thursday 6th February (yesterday) - until Monday 20th April 2020

Manchester - Nathan Sawaya (Lego builder) - The Art of the Brick

Great Northern Warehouse, Peter Street, Manchester

Web. - www.aotbmanchester.co.uk

[Seems to be a re-hash of the show which actually started 19th Jan and was flagged-up here then - Fri. 10th Jan.?]

Added interaction/participation building?

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Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th February 2020

Exeter - Westpoint - Antique & Vintage Home Show

Web. - www.westpointexeter.co.uk

Antiques, collectables and vintage - 400+ dealers

Sheppton Mallet - Bristol Classic - Great Weastern Classic Car Show

Bath & West Showground, Sheppton mallet, Somerset

Web. - www.bristolclassiccarshows.com

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Saturday 8th - Sunday 23rd February 2020

Norwich - The Forum - Norfolk Makers Festival

The Forum, Millennium Plain, Norwich

Web. - www.norfolkmakersfestival.co.uk

Crafting, spinning & weaving, printing, painting, drawing & sculpting, knitting, crochet & embroidery etc . . . workshops, displays and traders.

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Overseas Events

Saturday 8th February 2020

Schertz (USA) - Attic Antiquity Dolls - Hill Country Doll Show & Sale

Schertz Civic Centre, 1400 Schertz Pkwy, Schertz, TX 78154, Texas USA

Web. - http://www.dolldr.com/5.html

eMail - dmeredith@dolldr.com (Dorothy Meredith)

Tel. - ++8306 065 868

09:00-16:00hrs

Admission $6.00, children $2.00

50 dealers, dolls, bears and miniatures

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Sunday 9th February 2020

Wallingford (USA) - Classic Shows - Model Railroad Show

Zandri's Stillwood Inn, 1074 South Colony Rd, Wallingford, CT 06492, Connecticut, USA

Web. - http://www.classicshowsllc.com/Zandris-Directions.shtml

eMail - LSpinelli49@aol.com

Tel. - ++2039 261 327 (Lud or Tina Spinelli)

09:00-14:00hrs                                                                              

Admission $5, children 12 & under - free with accompanying adult

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If you are an event promoter/show curator/auctioneer and you want your toy, model, collectable, military, historical or popular-/youth-culture type sale/exhibition/event listed here -  FOR FREE  - or linked to; please eMail me -

maverickatlarge[at]hotmail[dot]com

- stating the date/s of the event, address of event, contact details, opening/viewing times, admission pricing and any other relevant facts/details or features - parking, travel notes, disability access, availability of refreshments, event subject matter &etc. And a link; if the event or your organisation has a web-page.

And please mention any flyer-art or poster-/leaflet-scans but send by separate eMail, in case they go to the 'junk' folder, from where they can be recovered and marked safe, but only if I know they're there!

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Link

I hate Funko and the horse it came in on, but how can you not like this!

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H is for How They Come In

I found a new old Charity shop, or that is - one which has been closed every time I've been past it, but which was staffed this time, and not just staffed, two ladies were running-out of places to put stuff. They had a drawer of mixed figures for 20p from which I selected this little lot!

The weird insect with a prehensile tail looks to be from that McDonald's set of Smurfs we looked at the other day; I think the two girls are from a board-game (looking at the bases) and possibly Barbie-related, although they look a little younger and more anatomically realistic than Mattel's Miss.

The Sci-fi's are a Hasbro whatsit (seen 'em here before) and a small rubber Cyberman who may be from those advent calendars from which the Philosophical Toad gave a Dalek to the Blog years ago.

A [probably] Kinder kangaroo and an Indian made up the group, I got him because although he's a common enough looking figure (from Timpo Swoppets) in PVC-rubber material, he's not the expected Hong Kong marked offering, but clearly marked 'China'.

Also in the shop was a shelf of what had been someone's fairy collection, of which this one around the 54mm mark joined the growing pocketful.

The Asian importer gave up what I think is another from that Ubisoft lot we looked at a few years ago, although it's unmarked . . . the fact that it involves a mushroom (with a pair of eyes pocking out) and a weird sluggington sitting on it, might have something to do with my assumption!

The evilBay lot arrived, very useful stuff, two or three posts should be the result.

Invicta Plastics for the British Museum (Natural History); I know, I've got one; but I thought it had a slightly chewed tail, so considered this an upgrade! In fact; there was nothing wrong with the last one and I think I might have three, but the others can make for useful swaps.

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This Week I Are Been Mostly Sortin' . . .

. . . Hay! And Straw!

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Other Toy Stuff

Chocolate

Look what I found in my suit-jacket pocket! Another freebie from Toy Fair 2020! A chocolate I shall enjoy (well . . . I already have!) and the Hornby Group posts (three I think) are in the long queue, that's the tardy queue!

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Barbie

I saw a story about the ethnic Barbie's (mentioned here passim), but which added that there will be disabled Barbie's as well, already there is an African-American Barbie with Vitiligo (the contrasting skin-patch thing) and another with a prsthetic, while plans are afoot for wheelchair and hair-loss Barbie's.

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Other Stuff

Spot the 'deliberate' mistake . . .

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No; look properly . . . !

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One of the snowdrops picked up a 'hat' made of a hollowed acorn shell! Skin? What are the chances of that happening? Probably not that great in a snow-drop wood with lot of oaks! Indeed the way they open and then drop the flower may be a mechanism for shedding such collected empty acorns or hazelnuts? I blame the squirrels!

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And finally;

Whaaaaat?!! Sometimes I need a box . . . aaaaand sometimes . . . I don't . . . have you seen it? It's far too big; I could easily fit in it . . .  and now you've emptied it! Where's the fun in that?

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Spring is sprung!

Well, once the snows had passed (Bets we have another lot?...mid March?), and underneath were all sorts of pretty things...

A far better spread of Snowdrops than the other day, there seem to be three distinct types in the garden and I'll try to find out what they all are! There are big 'drops' that hang down, medium ones that may open in a day or two, and smaller traditional one's that have opened and are touched with little green flashes and edges. These are all the big 'Drops', I don't know if they open or hang, time will tell!

Off to one side of the same patch (under the twin Hornbeam's) is this little patch of bright yellow aconites, which are better in the flesh than the photo, and shine from the other side of the meadow. We had snow for nearly a week after the rest of the south, and even the bottom of the hill, but when it did melt, these were out in 24 hours.

Finally some Crocuses, these are a small 'Old English' breed, and have come out first, but that's first for the Ridgeway, down the valley in Chieveley or over the hills in Wantage, the commercial yellow and purple ones have been open for a few weeks already!!

B is for Bits and Bobs

The recent snow and stuff has slowed work in the garden, pruning has come to a complete standstill and we have to be careful were we walk so as not to tread on the snowdrops and other bulbs as they come up through it. So a few miscellaneous shots taken over the last few days.

This was the by-product of my 5-week bonfire, the orangey-pinkish stuff is the soil that went through the fire with huge forkfuls of wet leaves and the stuff I raked out from under the shrubs and boarders. It makes the ash 'heavy' so that it doesn't blow away and can be spread more easily on the land. So far, twenty barrow-loads have come out of this heap and have gone on all the roses, the veg garden and the tomato trench in the greenhouse. The raspberries have also had a bucket load or two, as have the currants.

The Tomato trench has also been half-filled with home made compost, after which it was topped-up with new soil, taken from a path-straitening project elsewhere on the grounds. Here you see last years compost on the left and this years ready to be covered on the right. I have put a lot of peaty leaf-mould on top to speed up the process and prevent a dry layer of half-composted stuff needing removing from the top when we uncover it next autumn. There is no Laylandii, Yew or similar fir/evergreen cuttings as they take forever to rot and tend to puddle an oily slime like Amoco-crude! Not many shrub cuttings get in either, but lots of grass mowing's, moss and weeds, shrub-bed raking and the scrapings from the kitchens. No meat or fish, no bread (only because it all goes on the bird-tables) and no fat (same reason), finally a couple of layers of old carpet are thrown on, fur side down, and the whole left to sweat through the year.

A couple of trees I photographed up on the Ridgeway path above Wantage the other day, it was bitterly cold, and we found a monument to the 'Barron Wantage' who seem to have got a VC in the Crimean war, but having been without a computer for a week I haven't managed to look him up on Google yet!

The first bunch of Snowdrops to poke up, taken a couple of weeks ago, we now have loads of them but they are all under snow at the moment.