David Graham has a Special Assignment

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Voice artist extraordinaire David Graham is the latest big name to agree to attend Special Assignment, Fanderson’s upcoming convention that will mark the 50th anniversary of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons.

Fresh from reprising his most famous role as Parker, we hope David will be available to give us some insights in what’s coming next in Thunderbirds Are Go!

But let’s not forget the original series. One of the many highlights from Fanderson’s last convention, The Future is Fantastic!, was seeing David reunited on stage with fellow Tracy brothers Shane Rimmer (Scott), Matt Zimmerman (Alan) and Jeremy Wilkin (Virgil). As you can see from the video below, it was a fitting way to mark the show’s 50th anniversary. We are working to secure the attendance of Matt and Jeremy, but we’re delighted that Shane and his wife Sheila have already agreed to attend.

Watch: David  arrives pre-emptively on-stage with Marcus Hearn – a sign that he’s always keen to be interviewed! 

SIGN UP TODAY!

Tickets to Special Assignment start at just £55 per person for one day, or £90 for the whole weekend. We’ve managed to keep the ticket price the same as The Future Is Fantastic! convention in 2015 because we’re a fan club and no one is taking a salary. Note that Saturday-only or Sunday-only tickets do not include the Saturday evening meal or any other refreshments that are included in the weekend ticket. Ticket prices will, however, rise in spring 2017.

 Find out more and register now

Colonel White has a Special Assignment for you

As the Mysterons would say: ‘Are you with us, Earthmen?!’

As it is, it’s Colonel White who needs you – all of you – for a very special assignment this October. Watch his exclusive Spectrum recruitment video* and you will understand why it is absolutely vital that you sign up to celebrate 50 years of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons.

…Just make sure you don’t drink the champagne or gamble at the roulette table when you get reach the rendezvous point in Maidenhead!

Full details of your special assignment can be found here.

 

* Kindly produced by Mark Simpson Wedge

Angel voice artist Liz Morgan to attend Special Assignment

special-assignment-angels

Spectrum is Green!

How could we possibly celebrate the 50th anniversary of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons at our next convention without having a the angels on our side? 

So we are thrilled to announce that Liz Morgan has agreed to attend Special Assignment in October 2017 – the voice behind not one but two Angels: Destiny and Rhapsody.

We hope you’ll be able to join us at the Holiday Inn Maidenhead to share Liz’s memories of recording the series – it’s sure to be a great experience.

SIGN UP TODAY!

Tickets to Special Assignment start at just £55 per person for one day, or £90 for the whole weekend. We’ve managed to keep the ticket price the same as The Future Is Fantastic! convention in 2015 because we’re a fan club and no one is taking a salary. Note that Saturday-only or Sunday-only tickets do not include the Saturday evening meal or any other refreshments that are included in the weekend ticket. Ticket prices will, however, rise in spring 2017.

 Find out more and register now

Your Special Assignment for 2017

 

 

Spectrum needs you for a special assignment

Date: 29th September – 1st October 2017
Venue: Holiday Inn, Manor Lane, Maidenhead, SL6 2RA

The Programme | The Guests | The Charity | The Venue | Member Tickets
Non-Member Tickets | Traders Tickets | Terms and Conditions

Friday 29th September 1967: millions sat in front of their televisions, enthralled by The Mysterons – the first episode of Gerry and Sylvia’s Anderson latest creation, Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons.

Fifty years on, and Captain Scarlet fans will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of this ground-breaking series at Special Assignment, Fanderson’s convention for 2017. Plus, of course, over the weekend we’ll be looking at all the other amazing visions of the future that AP Films and Century 21 teams gave us in their productions, including Stingray, Thunderbirds, UFO, Space:1999 and more.

THE PROGRAMME

special-assignment-angelsWe all love listening to those who worked on the programmes, gawping at fantastic models, puppets, props and artwork, watching the programmes, playing games, dressing up and having in-depth discussions. You can be sure that Special Assignment will have all of this and more, though at this early stage we hope you’ll understand that it’s still coming together.

Our exhibition of models, puppets, artwork etc is being organised once again by long-time Fanderson member and puppet owner/maker/restorer Chris King, drawing on the generosity of fellow fans and private collectors, so you can be sure it’ll be a humdinger!

THE GUESTS
the-future-is-fantastic-convention-2We’ve got a long list of guests that we’ve invited to Special Assignment. The following have already confirmed their attendance:

  • Peter Hitchcock – AP Films SFX assistant, projectionist, lip-sync operator and ‘puppet hand’ in his first convention appearance
  • Mary Turner – sculptor and puppeteer
  • Nicholas Parsons – voice of Tex Tucker, the hero of Four Feather Falls
  • Shane and Sheila Rimmer – Thunderbirds’s Scott Tracy and Captain Scarlet writer
  • David Graham – the man of a thousand voices, including Parker from Thunderbirds
  • Mike Trim – influential modelmaker and designer
  • Mike Noble – TV 21 artist
  • Richard Culley – Head of Merchandising at Century 21
  • Liz Morgan – the voices of Destiny and Rhapsody Angels in Captain Scarlet
  • Alan Perry – Captain Scarlet and UFO director
  • Penny Spencer – SHADO operative in UFO
  • Georgina Moon – Skydiver operative Lt. Sylvia Howell in UFO
  • Martin Bower – model maker and special effects designer on Space:1999
  • Brian Johnson – special effects guru on famous for his work on Space:1999
  • John Lee – Terrahawks modelmaker
  • Judy Preece – Terrahawks puppeteer
  • Terry Adlam – Dick Spanner creator, writer and director
  • Phil Ford – New Captain Scarlet head writer
  • Mark Woollard – New Captain Scarlet director
  • Dominic Lavery – New Captain Scarlet Concept Art Director
  • Dee Anderson – singer, writer and daughter of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson
  • Graham Bleathman – prolific cut-away artist

Keep an eye on our website as we’ll announce each new guest just as soon as we receive their confirmation.

Here are a few comments from just a few who immediately agreed to be there with you:

Peter Hitchcock
Peter couldn’t make it to The Future Is Fantastic! but says he “Would love to be there in September 2017.”

Mike Noble
“Hoping to get along to Maidenhead in 2017 – with any luck!”

Shane and Sheila Rimmer
“Always a treat to meet old friends and new ones too!”

Mary Turner
“I think you are all amazing how you have kept the old series going all this time.”

Graham Bleathman
“Always a great atmosphere at Fanderson Conventions. Looking forward to this one”

THE CHARITY

Over the years Fanderson has raised funds for a wide variety of charities, including The Alzheimer’s Society, BBC Children In Need, Macmillan Cancer Support, Terrence Higgins Trust, Guide Dogs For The Blind and Diabetes UK.

We’re delighted to announce that our charities at Special Assignment will be Breast Cancer Care and the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund.

THE VENUE

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The Holiday Inn, Maidenhead was the venue for Fanderson’s The Future Is Fantastic! event in 2015. It’s set in a residential area one mile from Maidenhead town centre and has a complimentary car park for residents. The health club includes a large swimming pool, children’s pool, whirlpool, sauna, steam room and two gyms. The Junction Restaurant serves seasonal dishes as well as classics like steak and pasta, and there’s 24-hour room service. There is also a very large open plan cocktail bar that serves bar snack meals and is great for socialising.

The hotel is in the heart of AP Films/Century 21 studio-land:

  • 3.6 miles/12 minutes to Islet Park
  • 6 miles/12 minutes to Bath Road (AP Films)
  • 6.6 miles/13 minutes to Stirling Road (Century 21)
  • 12.1 miles/23 minutes to Pinewood Studios

The hotel has good transport connections to Heathrow, London, the West, the Midlands and the motorway network:

  • 1 mile (3 minutes) to M4
  • 9 miles (13 minutes) to M40
  • 12 miles (14 minutes) to M25
  • taxi from London Heathrow: 25 minutes/£35 one-way approximately
  • taxi from London Gatwick: 1 hour/£60 one-way approximately
  • train from London Paddington to Maidenhead: 37-47 minutes/from £11.10 one-way
  • taxi from Maidenhead railway station: four minutes/£4 one-way approximately

Rooms at the Holiday Inn are available to delegates at the special rate of £90 per room/per night (bed and breakfast) based on two people sharing. Just call 01628 506070 in normal office hours (9:00-17:00 Monday to Friday) and quote the reference ‘Fanderson’.

Alternative hotels in the area:

TICKETS

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As a fan-organised event, the earlier everyone books for Special Assignment, the earlier we know how extravagant we can be in staging the show.

Tickets start at just £65 per person for one day, or £110 for the whole weekend. We’ve managed to keep the ticket price the same as The Future Is Fantastic! convention in 2015 because we’re a fan club and no one is taking a salary. Note that Saturday-only or Sunday-only tickets do not include the Saturday evening meal or any other refreshments that are included in the weekend ticket. Ticket prices will rise on 1st August 2017.

Book your place(s) online now or, if you’d prefer to pay by UK cheque or postal order, complete the registration form and return it to us with your payment.

 

Not a Fanderson member?

Anyone coming to Special Assignment who isn’t already a Fanderson member (even if you’re coming with a club member) must buy a Trial member ticket which includes a trial Fanderson membership at a special price of £10. The trial membership will start when you arrive at the convention and run until 31st December 2017. This will give you the latest issue of the club’s FAB magazine, membership badge, enable you to buy our merchandise at the convention at special prices, access our full range of merchandise online and access to the members’ area of the Fanderson Forum.

Special Assignment is being staged by Fanderson. The world’s only official Gerry and Sylvia Anderson appreciation society, Fanderson is endorsed by ITV Studios Global Entertainment, Anderson Entertainment, Gerry Anderson Productions and ITC Entertainment Group, with over 1,300 members worldwide. Based in the UK and run by a small unpaid committee of fans, Fanderson was formed in 1981 from several small clubs at the request of ITC Entertainment and Gerry Anderson, so that they could support a single independent fan body for all Anderson productions.

As a club, we can only sell merchandise to club members, which enables us to keep costs down and direct all our funds into our products and services. No one running Fanderson takes a salary, ‘mutual trading’ with our members means we’re exempt from certain taxes that would inflate our prices, and copyright holders are often willing to forego the expensive merchandise licences that commercial companies have to buy. And, because we’re fellow fans like you, we try to take time and care over the little details in our products that commercial operations often can’t or don’t bother about.

Join us at www.fanderson.org.uk

TERMS AND CONDITIONS (in addition to Fanderson’s standard terms and conditions)

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  • All deposits and subsequent payments are non-refundable.
  • It is your responsibility to pay the hotel bill for your room and any associated costs upon checkout, or to pay any cancellation costs due to your failure to attend the event.
  • The convention committee and/or the hotel reserve the right to decline registration for any reason whatsoever and, should your application for registration be declined, any registration fees that you have paid will be refunded in full.
  • The convention is not suitable for children under 5 years of age.
  • Any children in your party are your sole responsibility for the duration of the convention, and the organisers will not make any special arrangements for children of any age.
  • The organisers will make every effort to provide you with the contents of the programme of events as described, but changes to the programme may be implemented at the organisers’ discretion due to unforeseen circumstances that may arise nearer the date of the event.

Attending Fanderson’s AGM

Members still have time to let the club know if they wish to attend Fanderson’s annual general meeting on 19th March 2016 in Bracknell, Berkshire.

Last month a flyer was mailed with FAB 82, requesting members to confirm their attendance and raise any issues they wished to see voted on at the AGM. No issues were raised by the deadline of 31st January, but all members are still welcome to attend the meeting. Venue details will be emailed to confirmed attendees nearer the date. 

If you wish to attend, please email query@fanderson.org.uk 

The Cinema Store to hold closing down sale

The Cinema Store

Anderson fans may be interested to know that the last remaining film and TV collectors shop left in central London is closing down. The Cinema Store was established in 1994 and will be closing on Saturday 23rd January.

A closing down sale will run from now until then, so if you want to pick up some rare items at bargain prices – this is your chance!

How to get to The Cinema Store

The Cinema Store
Unit 4b Orion House,
Upper St.Martin’s Lane
London,
WC2H 9NY
www.thecinemastore.co.uk

Tel: 0207 379 7838

The nearest tube is Leicester Square

 

Join Sylvia and Dee Anderson at the Pink FAB Ball!

The FAB Pink Ball

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You are invited to the ultimate red carpet event of the year!

Brought to you by the creator of Thunderbirds, Sylvia Anderson and her daughter, Dee Anderson, The Pink FAB Ball will take place in the heart of London, at the luxurious 5 star Landmark Hotel on 6th May 2016.

Due to popular demand, the table plan has been extended. However, fans should book as soon as they can to guarantee their place at this prestigious event, which will be held in support of the charity, Breast Cancer Care.

The Pink FAB Ball will be an exciting ‘A’ List event. Sylvia and Dee will be in attendance, as well as famous celebrities from the world of film and television, and members of the original Century 21 team. Exclusive memorabilia from The Andersons’ iconic series will be on show, plus raffles and a ‘What Money Can’t Buy’ auction.landmark415

The evening will kick off with a champagne reception on the Landmark’s terrace, followed by a three course dinner in the Ballroom.

There will be fabulous entertainment throughout the evening, raffles and a ‘what money can’t buy’ auction followed by the chance to dance the night away to an iconic band.

Breast Cancer Care

Proceeds will go to Breast Cancer Care, a charity close to the hearts of the Andersons, who have lost friends and family members to the disease, with Sylvia herself having recovered some years ago.

Breast Cancer Care is the UK’s main support charity for sufferers from diagnosis to recovery, and raised money last year with the Pink Rolls Royce FAB 1, with sponsorship from the Anderson family.

Famous faces

Well-known personalities from film and television will be in attendance on the night, as well as original puppets, memorabilia and members of the Andersons’ original creative team.

The legendary Andersons have many famous followers themselves over the years, including Simon Cowell, Jonathan Ross, Richard Branson and The Rolling Stones.

So, come and join the Andersons and friends on the red carpet and celebrate with them at this iconic event. This is a one-off, not-to-be-missed opportunity for all fans!

Click here to book now!

A message from Peter Hitchcock

When the lovely Peter Hitchcock was unable to attend The Future is Fantastic!, he sent us a video message to play at the convention. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties we were unable to screen this during the weekend, but we’re delighted to be able to show to you all here now!

Peter, who is now based in Toronto, Canada, worked on the special effects in Thunderbirds. He has a couple of great stories to tell in the video – particularly the one about his famous on-screen hands!

Enjoy, and thank you Peter for the video!

The Future WAS Fantastic!

The Future is Fantastic!It’s been five years since the last full-weekend Fanderson convention – and it was certainly worth the wait. We look back at The Future is Fantastic! – an event featuring unforgettable guests, mouth-watering merchandise, beautiful puppet and model exhibitions, heart-warming reunions and new friendships and that damned Saturday night quiz…!


When fans reflect on the whole weekend, many will say that the highlight was undoubtedly Sylvia Anderson’s first-ever appearance at a Fanderson convention. She received a standing ovation and a film-star-like entrance, with camera flashes going off for several minutes as the interview started.

Sylvia Anderson

Sylvia Anderson entertains the audience

In a wide-ranging interview with Ian Fryer, Sylvia spoke about the early days of working for Roberta Leigh, the financial troubles of AP Films that culminated in Lew Grade bankrolling their productions, and overhauling Ed Bishop’s dress sense for UFO! She also talked about her relationship with Lew Grade, and the great man’s softer, humane side, which came to the fore as her personal problems developed. According to Sylvia, Lew was honest – he didn’t understand scripts, and wanted to see finished the finished production before making a judgement about it. He trusted the team to deliver them and make the creative decisions. The only advice he ever gave Sylvia about Lady Penelope was not to make her too posh!

Shane Rimmer on the big screen

The Tracy brothers reunited

Before this, the Tracy brothers were reunited for a highly entertaining interview with Marcus Hearn. Voice artists Shane Rimmer, Matt Zimmerman, David Graham and Jeremy Wilkin talked about wrangling with Polgram for Thunderbirds royalties, why modern actors can’t speak their lines properly and the new Thunderbirds Are Go! series. Incredibly, Matt and Jeremy also discovered that they had appeared in the same production of Twelfth Night back in the 1950s…This was just the kind of oddity to come out of a Fanderson convention!

Fanderson Sales

FABs!

The weekend also saw the launch – or imminent launch – of several exclusive new pieces of merchandise. Fanderson’s very own 3-disc CD soundtrack of Captain Scarlet was flying off the shelves, as well as the third installment in the club’s successful sweet cigarette card book series. Fanderson and Robert Harrop ran a sales presence all weekend on the ground floor of the hotel, while a separate dealers room was run upstairs. In particular, fans were wowed by Robert Harrop’s Parker and Light-Fingered Fred, commissioned exclusively for the convention and limited to just 150. Meanwhile Modiphius demoed their Thunderbirds Co-Operative board game, which is due out in December, and Alan Shubrook was selling signed copies of his Century 21 FX Update book, which was inspired by a trip to the old Century 21 film studio on the Slough Trading estate, prior to its demolition.

Light Fingered Fed and Parker

Thunderbirds co-operative boardgame

Alan also ran two presentations over the weekend to celebrate Thunderbirds’ 50th anniversary, and to share his experiences of revisiting Stirling Road. The new books didn’t end there. Marcus Hearn and Mike Jones provided fans with an overview of their stunning, lavishly illustrated new history of Thunderbirds, The Vault, as well as the 50th anniversary bookazine. The Vault in particular was full of photographs of rare merchandise and never-before-seen production stills. By showing slides of the finished book, they let the pictures tell their own story.

Just Preece

Mary Turner and Lady Penelope

Alan Shubrook and Parker

Brian Johnson and Eagle Transporter

Mike Trim and Brian Johnson discussed model and special effects, while Mary Turner and Judy Preece revealed some of their puppeteering secrets from their work on the Supermarionation series and Terrahawks respectively. The Terrahawks theme continued on Saturday afternoon with modelmaker John Lee talking about his favourite model on the series – the Overlander, a replica of which was on display.

Keith and Gwyneth Shackleton, with Marcus Hearn. Picture by Sharon Ankin
The headline attraction of Sunday was arguably Marcus Hearn’s interview with Keith Shackleton, head of AP Films (Merchandising) Ltd, and responsible for the licensing of merchandise for the Anderson series during the 1960s and 70s. Making his first ever appearance at a convention, and with his wife Gwyneth in attendance, Keith provided some great insights into the business decisions behind some of our favourite shows, including the setting up of the SuperCar Club, which received  70,000 members in its first three weeks, and the creation of TV21, which he regarded as one of his proudest achievements. He also spoke movingly about the deteriorating relationship between Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, his resistance to selling AP Films to Lew Grade, and his disappointment at the failure to secure a network deal for Thunderbirds in America. Keith’s appearance proved so popular that an episode of UFO was cancelled to extend the interview.

Earlier, Terry Adlam (writer/director of Dick Spanner) helped to shake off a few well-deserved hangovers from Saturday night with his memories of starting off in the film industry. His first job – on  Raiders of the Lost Ark – saw him confronted by a python and come away with Steven Spielberg’s autograph. He was followed by Anderson super-artists Mike Noble and Graham Bleathman, who discussed the challenges of rendering complex models such as the Eagle Transporter with Mike Jones. Dust clouds help to reduce the need to draw elliptical wheels on the SPV, apparently!

Paradise Peaks - Graham Bleathman

The Sunday interviews ended with a Space:1999 theme. Supported by Ian Fryer, writer and story consultant Christopher Penfold provided a live commentary on one of the show’s most sophisticated episodes – Black Sun. This was followed by an interview with actor and stunt artist Roy Scammell, who regaled fans with his memories of a young Sean Connery, horrific injuries to his stunt colleagues and a future film project.

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tracy-brothers

space-1999-fashions

joe-90

lady-penelope

father-unwin-puppet

captain-scarlet

captains-of spectrum

In the best tradition of Fanderson conventions, plenty of other things going on away from the main features room during the whole weekend.

The model exhibition room was something really special this time, outdoing previous Fanderson conventions. Co-ordinated by Derek Eaton, Chris King and Chris Trice, but with contribution of many talented model makers, the exhibition featured many highlights, including an original Stanley Unwin puppet, a veritable fleet of Eagle Transporter craft, a host of replica and original puppets from Captain Scarlet and Joe 90, and beautiful reproductions of the Thunderbirds craft.

Space 1999 - Eagle Transporter

Troy and Marina

Terrahawks - The Overlander
Expertly co-ordinated by Katie Bleathman, there was also a packed programme of workshops that allowed fans to explore more specialised aspects of the Anderson universe, including learning puppetry techniques, hearing from a wide range of professional Anderson artists and discovering how to ‘dirty down’ your models.

With so much going on, there was also a separate screening room was running throughout the weekend for anyone who wanted a quiet moment away from the main features area.

As usual at a Fanderson convention, Saturday night was a chance for everyone to unwind with food, prize-giving, some friendly competition and a few drinks!  A raffle was drawn by the irrepressible Matt Zimmerman, followed by a buffet dinner and a fiendishly challenging quiz compered by chairman Nick Williams. Some people made a special effort to dress the part, while Lady Penelope, Grandma Tracy, Marina and Captains Scarlet and Magenta were also in attendance!

Throughout the weekend, fans donated generously to the cub’s two convention charities, Children In Need and The Alzheimer’s Society. Thanks to a host of puzzles, raffles, a blind auction, buying anniversary stickers and other donations, an incredible £1,278 was raised, to be split equally between both charities.

Phew! So there we have it. Nick Williams’s closing speech helped remind us just how many people have played a part in making this convention possible. Without your contributions – large or small, this weekend or six months ago – the future wouldn’t have been quite so fantastic. Thank you!

Thank you to Mark Simpson Wedge, Sharon Ankin and Mike Burrows for use of their photos in this report.

Thank you!

The Future is Fantastic!We wanted to repeat our thanks for everyone connected with helping to make The Future is Fantastic! a reality over the weekend. So, for any one who had to leave early, couldn’t make it to Maidenhead, or just want to be reminded of who did what, here is Nick Williams’s closing speech for The Future Is Fantastic!


Right up front, please accept my apologies if I leave you off this list. It’s certainly not intentional, and I’ve been wracking my brain for hours to try to ensure I’ve included everyone.

First, a lovely bit of feedback that that club secretary Stuart Drummond received on Saturday night:

When I first signed up for the “Future is Fantastic” I did wonder what I was letting myself in for. I have taken my Star Wars crazed son to a number of Comicons and presumed it would be a similar experience. Being a Gerry Anderson fan (but especially Thunderbirds) all of my life, I thought this would be my time to experience what my son has.

I attended today and spent over 5 hours at the Holiday Inn and had a truly fantastic time. I am old and cynical and I was concerned about what it was going to be like and the people that might attend, but I truly had a brilliant time. My only regret is that I did not sign up for the whole weekend.

Like everyone I have a few hero’s, albeit some our just stars of a television show of my childhood. However today was very different because I was able to meet a few of them and what truly great people they were.

I have you and your colleagues to thank for that and I am very much in your debt, unfortunately I was unable to stay long enough to see Sylvia which will be a regret I shall have to live with.

So I Just needed to say that I really appreciate all the work that was put into today’s event, memories of which will last me for a very long time.

Thank you very much indeed.

Kind regards

Craig Johnson

I hope everyone’s had a great time this weekend.

I’m delighted to announce that through your entries into our puzzles, raffles, the blind auction, buying anniversary stickers, donations etc, you’ve raised an amazing £1278 (plus the small change which we haven’t counted yet) for our charities, Children In Need and Alzheimer’s Society. Thank you all so much for your support.

Various people have been asking this afternoon what’s going to happen to the wonderful posters around the convention, and we’re happy for members to take them in exchange for a donation to the charities. In fact the only one left to go is the Eagle Transporter (with which Graham Purkiss immediately put up his hand and the poster had a new home!).

Before I get to the thanks, a bit of prize-giving for the two puzzles that were running through this weekend.

The winner of John Wilkinson’s fiendishly hard Top 50 music quiz with 94 out of 100 is Richard Yelland. Richard wins a copy of the brand new Captain Scarlet soundtrack CD which, if he’s already bought this weekend, Steve in Sales will exchange for something else of equal value.

There are two winners of Mike Jones’s 21 Object Of Adventure quiz, as they both got every one right. They both win a copy of The Vault book and new ITV DVD boxsets of Stingray, Captain Scarlet and Thunderbirds, and they are Jack Knoll and Mark Simpson Wedge.

Now, an event like this doesn’t just happen without a lot of help, so there are a lot of people to thank – especially as everyone’s given up their free time to make it happen. I have quite along list of people to thank, so please bear with me.

First of all, our wonderful guests (and their families):

  • Mike Trim
  • Brian Johnson
  • Mary Turner
  • Judy Preece
  • David Graham
  • Shane Rimmer
  • Matt Zimmerman
  • Alan Shubrook
  • John Lee
  • Terry Adlam
  • Mike Noble
  • Chris Penfold

Plus new guests that we’ve not welcomed to a Fanderson convention before:

  • Roy Scammell
  • Jeremy Wilkin (and special thanks to Sheila Rimmer for putting us in touch with Jeremy)
  • Keith Shackleton (with special thanks to Marcus Hearn for putting us in touch with Keith)
  • Sylvia Anderson (with special thanks to Dee Anderson for making that possible too)

Now, someone that long-term convention go-ers will know who couldn’t be here. Len Davies moved to Los Angeles a few years ago and has carved out a successful career there, and was hoping to arrange that he could be with us this weekend. At the last minute his plans fell through but he wanted to contribute so provided our wonderful opening title sequence.

Thanks to the technical team who have made the event run smoothly:

  • Troy Hess
  • Glenn Pearce
  • Tim Mallett

And special thanks to Martin Phillips who stepped in at short notice when Glenn had to leave us temporarily on Saturday.

Thank you to the hotel staff, especially:

  • Jennie Jones
  • Kasia
  • Mirela
  • Andy
  • Luis
  • James

Thanks also to our security team, headed up by Mark Wallis and Matt Cruz.

I hope you’ll agree that our exhibition was amazing. There are loads of people to thank for that as everything up there is owned by private collectors and it’s taken a lot of organising:

  • Chris King (and special thanks to Chris’ wife Georgina and sons Alex and Leo for allowing their Dad time away from them to help us)
  • Chris Trice
  • Anna Tilbury
  • Andy Rolfe
  • Helen Rolfe
  • Glo Thorogood
  • Barry Davies
  • Annette Davies
  • Toby Chamberlain
  • Larry Peterson
  • David Sanford
  • David Sisson
  • Simon Rhodes
  • Martin Willey
  • Chris Potter
  • Pete Hutton
  • Peter Thornley
  • Derek Eaton

Thanks to:

  • Ralph Titterton for the music and soundtracks part of the programme.
  • Jeff Smart for making it possible to show his Spotlight on Captain Scarlet and Launching Thunderbirds documentaries
  • Giles Ridge at ITV Studios Global Entertainment for providing the Thunderbirds Are Go programming.
  • Thanks to Matt and Dan Buckley at Robert Harrop for sculpting two special characters just for us this weekend – Parker and Light-Fingered Fred.

Thanks to Richard Smith for absolutely understanding my vision for the ‘design’ of the convention, the posters, the convention book etc. Also, thanks to Sam Denham for stepping in at the eleventh hour to write much of the convention book and, again, perfectly understanding my vision for the style – especially Sam Shore’s introduction.

Special thanks to Lee Elliott, who has just stepped in the help with anything needed over the whole weekend.

Very special thanks to Graham and Katie Bleathman. To give everyone an idea of the kind of Katie’s wonderful nature, she asked that I make sure to thank everyone who participated in the workshops too. So thank you.

Finally, thanks to the Fanderson committee. The club is a fantastic team effort. It’s not always easy-going and fun either, and they’re all great support when times aren’t going so well. In addition to their ’normal’ duties for the club:

  • for their interviewing and all other duties – Ian Fryer and Mike Jones
  • for publicity in all its forms – Jay Mullins
  • for looking after our guests – Lynn Simpson, Jackie Dear and Mel Rowlands
  • for permanently manning the Fanderson Sales table – Steve Brown
  • for looking after registrations, both leading up to the event and during it – John Wilkinson and Stuart Drummond.

But most importantly, thank you to all of you for making it such a special weekend.

I’ll leave you now with a reminder of the fantastic futures that Gerry and Sylvia Anderson brought us.