posted 10-13-2007 10:04 AM               

Trading up generally with plenty of people through the door. Had one of those surreal nice to be there experiences last night, when Al Bean came to our stall as we were setting up for today.

We showed him an art project our daughter had done way back in 2000 (how time flies? She is at university now). He particularly liked the comment from the course tutor who compared him with Monet amongst others.

Show prices Gene Cernan (£75), Buzz Aldrin (£95), Al's Bean and Worden both £40, Scott Carpenter £50.

We will report back later.

posted 10-13-2007 12:41 PM               

Leslie pointed out the 30 minutes we spent chatting with Gene about Apollo and the future of space travel were absolutely priceless and very informative.

Met up with Brammers, Dave Sixsmith, Paul Prendagast, Derek Horne and Rick Mulheirn. Also caught up with Jerome, Mike from Moonpans and met Kev from Ireland.

Got all my stuff signed and headed home. Great to see everyone and look forward to the next gathering.

posted 10-13-2007 01:39 PM               

Some interesting idiosyncracies on pricing - mostly, it has to be said, down to the money-takers. I declined one autograph when £15 ($30) was added for a simple 5 word inscription, which is free on the astronaut's book. That is taking the proverbial.

Don't know about everyone else, but I'm glad there are no more shows this year. Having done three I need a break, but well done to Garry and Dave for assembling these astronauts.

posted 10-13-2007 02:03 PM               

All of the astronauts displayed a generosity of time and spirit with each individual that was to be commended given the good volumes through the doors. That said, the queues kept moving pretty well.

The day was all the more enjoyable when down time was spent with Paul Prendergast, Jason King's new friend Dave Sixsmith, Paul Cox, Brammers Senior and new kid on the block Brammers Junior. And that was despite the evident influence of "Broke Back Mountain" on Dave Sixsmiths' choice of footwear. Nice one boys!

Looking forward to the next one.

Regards,

posted 10-14-2007 10:44 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Rick Mulheirn:
And that was despite the evident influence of "Broke Back Mountain" on Dave Sixsmiths' choice of footwear. Nice one boys!

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posted 10-14-2007 11:47 AM               

My fav part of the day was when we all went to McDonalds, it was great to have a chat with all of the groovey gang. The show was good, Gene Cernan was very busy he was charming and had time to talk to all of his fans. He signed my photo of him feeding me at the show in Burbank and told me that he remembered the photo. I also had another 3 bits signed by him, he was chargeing £75 which is about $150 base fee, any thing else was extra. Al Bean was on his usual form, had time for everyone, got 3 bits signed by him his fee was £40, about $80. Then went to see Buzz he charged £95 base and to add a mission was another £10, in total about $210. I believe he will price himself out of the market and this will have an affect on the other astros. I ended today with speaking to Scott Carpenter and got his book signed, he charged £50, aboout $100, he said that this would be his last UK visit so I thought I would get it signed, he is a true great.

On a lighter note, it was good to see all the old faces on this club that we all belong to, meet new people. I look forward to keeping in contact with you all it was a great weekend.

posted 10-14-2007 12:37 PM               

Regards,

posted 10-14-2007 01:27 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by uk spacefan:
Where are all the pics of Buzz, Gene, Al & co. with you guys?

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Rick Mulheirn:

Andrew Munson:

posted 10-14-2007 02:33 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by pdpel3:
Well it was great to see all the gang again: Rick (David Bailey) Mulheirn, Paul (Ding Dong) Bramley, Dave (I am not Jason King's Lovechild) Sixsmith, Derek (Where are the girls) Horne, Paul Cox, also met for the first time Kevin Walsh who I sat with at dinner table. It was a great nite.

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McDonald's was great. I was so worried about my case when the hoodies come past but we did have the northern cowboy with us so what was I thinking.

Come on Dave where's your input.

posted 10-14-2007 02:36 PM               

I had a good time on Saturday, got my flown page framed and had a pic of it with Cernan, managed to get my two books signed by Cernan and Bean, and another signed by Carpenter. Didn't have anything signed by Worden and Aldrin as there's nothing I need signed by them.

Had a chat for a while with Derek Horne, I think I saw Paul Bramley and Dave Sixsmith while I was in queues but can't ber sure ! I'm terrible at remembering faces so if it was you guys, I apologise for not coming and saying hello !

posted 10-14-2007 04:14 PM               

Sorry I missed you, Adam. You should see the 16x20!

Ding-Dong!

posted 10-14-2007 05:07 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by gliderpilotuk:
We could even have a Paul-fest with Cox, Prendergast, Williams, Bramley...

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posted 10-14-2007 06:25 PM               

Regards,

posted 10-15-2007 06:04 AM               

Good to see all the regular faces again, plus some new ones.

Highlight for me was Gene Cernan coming over to the Moonpans table for several minutes, to point out several interesting facts in the Apollo 17 panoramas, such as: The Rover antenna was at a much more shallow angle compared to Apollo 15 and 16 where the antenna pointed straight up. This of course was because the Earth was lower on the horizon on 17 than most of the other missions where it would be directly over head.

He also spoke about how far the LM was away in the Tracy's Rock panorama. It can just about be seen as a small dot. He estimated it to be about 4 miles away, but well within walking distance if the Rover had failed.

A very nice chap indeed, who has the same enthusiasm about Apollo as all of us Space Geeks do!!

Bean was great too as usual, as was Worden. I was very plesantly surprised to get a free signature from Scott Carpenter for helping out his wife.

The queues for Aldrin were big to start off with, but if you leave it untill the afternoon, especially on the Sunday you could walk right in.

The dinner was great, although I cant really remember much of it now!! Lots of funny moments, including an Oompa Loompa running around with a model plane, shouting 'Low Flying aircraft"

Me with Buzz after the Dinner

Once again thanks to Garry and Dave, they have a huge task behind the scenes getting this show organised, that most people dont realise.

Mike Constantine
http://moonpans.com

posted 10-15-2007 12:28 PM               

Thursday at Pontefract to hear Al Bean talk was just wonderful and the length of the queue for signing that night after his talk, you had to see it to belive it.

I went to the show on Sunday, met some of the cS gang that were there. Nick (and family) Yvan, Jonno masters (thank you mate) Rob and Jill, Ollie, Derek with a digi camera that's been hammered big time and the three Yorkshire Tykes Proc, Paul and Dave.

I didn't see much of a queue at Carpenter's table, I heard this might be his last show over here. As always Scott had the time to say Hi. I got my book signed by him last time but I wanted to shake his hand and just thank him (a true gent).

I didn't see Buzz, as the pockets were a bit deep this year. Gene and Al's queue was no stop all day.

Gene was my 3rd moonwalker that I had met. Despite the length of his queue he made sure you had time with getting a photo with him right etc.

Alan Bean. What can I say about this guy what others haven't already put. Watching him take the time to choose while queuing on which pen to use for the dfferent photos people brought to him just made me smile.

I had 2 photos signed by him to both my daughters and later what he did to Alice and Emily's pencil drawings they brought him left me speechless. He is one great guy.

My only (small) gripe was it was a shame you couldn't go round Al's table for a better photo. But other then that thank you Dave and Garry and the gang.

The other guests, Jonny Johnson always a pleasure to talk to a war vet, and Bond girl Maddie Smith was most charming to be in her company.

looking forward to next year.

posted 10-15-2007 12:34 PM               

Hard to pick out highlights, there were so many. The Al Worden talk on Sunday was fantastic - I can’t remember when I last laughed so hard. It’s always a very particular privilege and pleasure to meet him. What can anybody say about Alan Bean except that he is a very, very special person and it was lucky that a person with his talents and perceptiveness was sent on our first set explorations off our homeworld. And was he popular – big lines were in front of him all the time and everybody got friendly, warm attention and each walked away from his table with a beaming smile. It was a nice scene to watch.

Gene and perhaps Buzz were to give a talk later on Sunday – but I had to get to my plane alas. These talks were a tentative arrangement and I don’t know if they took place? If they did – how did they go?

Good job Garry and Dave for pulling this one together.

posted 10-15-2007 12:49 PM               

Send me a pic of the signed 16x20 I'd love to see it in it's finished glory.

It's about time you and Dave S got yourselves websites so we can all see you items (and what the hell you look like, so I can remember next time!)

posted 10-15-2007 02:12 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Kev:

Gene and perhaps Buzz were to give a talk later on Sunday – but I had to get to my plane alas. These talks were a tentative arrangement and I don’t know if they took place? If they did – how did they go?

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When my wife Jill spoke about the lecture with others afterwards the word inspirational was used several times and I definitely agree.

He spoke about his spaceflight experiences and his thoughts whilst in space, he shared his frustration at the progress in space exploration that followed his missions and gave us his thoughts on the future of space exploration. He put over the emotional experience of being in space and looking back at Earth so brilliantly you could almost imagine being there with him.

He talked longer than scheduled and despite running over time he answered questions from the audience and asked the people who had come to escort him back to the signing room to give him a few more minutes to do this. The audience showed their appreciation with a very warm round of applause at the end.

It was a real privilege to have been there and was the defining moment for me of what had been an excellent weekend in the company of the astronauts and fellow space enthusiasts.

posted 10-16-2007 05:04 AM               

I was told by Al Bean when I asked him about did he regret throwing the timer away "Hey,thats a great question" which brought a huge smile to my face we then discussed his art especially my Favourite Apollo 12-The Fantasy to which he gave my daughter his business card (which has this particular painting on) and shook her hand and dedicated my WSS to me and my little girl, Superb.

And with Gene Cernan he was great too, when he asked who's this I just said "shes my little punk" which got a huge smile from him and his assistant and I had to laugh when he announced to the gathered crowd that Al Bean was going to signing half price for the rest of the afternoon, .

And I must also put out big up respect for Jerome who turned up on Saturday mid-day to give me and various others there items that was held up in the post thanks to the strikes, above and beyond to be honest but Thank you Jerome.

Cheers,
Alex.

posted 10-16-2007 02:37 PM               

A GREAT week-end again!

Really enjoyed meeting everyone there, had a great evening at Gene Cernan's table and through diverse occasions very interesting discussions also with Buzz (found him once again very friendly) and Al Bean. Al Worden's talk on the Sunday was in the same time very informative and also as funny as the best stand-up comedy..

It was good to meet again Yvan, Derek, John Masters, Carl Walker, Blackarrow, Steve Procter, Paul Bramley, Robert Synge and a lot of other now familiar faces.

When the crowd cheered as the rugby result was announced, Gene Cernan shook my hand and told me that he was very sorry for me but that in truth he could say now he was in favour of England! A funny moment despite the result..

Congrats again to Garry and Dave for another succesful show.

Oh, and of course one thank you also to Mrs Claire Johnson who has been really helpful and friendly this week-end.

Looking forward to more of those

posted 10-20-2007 02:16 AM               

That's Katie Downes on the left and Rhian Sugden on the right... the guy in the middle is a moonwalker I heard though I didn't really care...

Florian

posted 10-20-2007 05:15 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by gliderpilotuk:
Saturday and I was told to leave my mailing address - although I don't trust Royal mail to deliver them, either this month, or bend-free.

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posted 10-20-2007 05:20 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by spaceflori:
That's Katie Downes on the left and Rhian Sugden on the right... the guy in the middle is a moonwalker I heard though I didn't really care...

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posted 10-20-2007 06:43 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by pdpel3:
Your getting cheeky Brammers you know that we offer the best postal service in the world, for the price and we are the only service that delivers six days a week and to the door direct.

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