Redditch, near Birmingham in the West Midlands once again become the focus for Star Wars collectors on Saturday 2nd April, with the tenth show organised by the team at the Echo Base forums.
The event goes from strength to strength, and taking heart from the first post-pandemic show in August 2021 the team delivered their finest show to date. Arriving bright and early for ‘Early Bird’ access there was already a sizeable queue snaking around the centre, and by the time the doors opened the queue had been forced to continue on one of the upper levels.
The venue this time was in one of the currently vacant shop units, and as it was one of the bigger shop units the show was more spaced out and even at it’s busiest it never felt overcrowded. There were a lot of trader stands catering for all aspects of Star Wars collecting, with a heavy focus on vintage naturally.
Our pals at Generation Skywalker were at the show and filmed this video of the days happenings.
Despite that, the show has something for everyone and there were a good number of traders with items to suit all budgets, even the pocket money of the next generation of collectors. There were also several artists displaying their wares, including show regular Topps artist Marsha Parkins who had a lovely show special print on offer for just £5.00.
And of course, no show would be complete without Star Wars guests, and in attendance were Femi Taylor, Paul Blake, Chris Bunn, Mike Edmonds, David Stone, Brian Wheeler, David Simpkin and Andrew Lawden, who was running the very popular Jedi Training academy as well as signing – and he should know having doubled for Liam Neeson in The Phantom Menace.
The Echo Live charity raffle has also grown as the show has over the years, and once again the collecting community were generous in both the prizes donated and the tickets bought. After what seemed like hours of winners being announced the total raised on the day was a wonderful £3,020 with a further £520 being donated online, all of which is being donated to the HEY Children’s University charity, and pushes Echo closer to £90,000 in fundraising over the years.
And never ones to rest on their laurels, the team have already announced that there will be an announcement soon regarding their next event, so stay tuned to Fantha Tracks, Desert Planet Discs and the Echo Base Live Facebook page for more information as it emerges.
Huge thanks to our pal Chocolate Chip Wookiee for generously allowing us to use his images from the day.
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