Star Wars Fan Fun Day (SWFFD) returned in 2022 for its Thirteenth successive show but at a new venue in Ewood Park, which is home to Blackburn rovers football club. Organisers Neil Livesey and Paul Dunne offer an extremely unique opportunity for fans called “Dinner with the Stars” held at the venue the day before the main event.
After hearing so many good things from friends that had previously attended, this collector could not pass up on the opportunity to find out what all the fuss was about. I got tickets for both the dinner experience and the main convention event.
SWFFD has been hugely successful in raising money for the East Lancashire Hospice. In fact, since 2009 SWFFD has raised over £27,000 for the hospice and were aiming to raise a further £5,000 from this year’s event. It is so good when you can put a Star Wars event on that gives the fans the opportunity to meet guests and pick up collectables whilst raising much needed funds for services vital to the local community.
This year’s event was hugely successful with raising money and the organisers were proud to announce details recently.
Now like all other conventions, SWFFD is not immune to the inevitable guest cancellations. As a seasoned con regular I come to expect this now with any event. Guest signers are working actors, their day jobs are not Monday to Friday 9 to 5. Any of the guests booked for a convention do so with the provisor that they could get a call with a work offer any time before the event and will have to cancel. Unfortunately, this happened with a headline guest of the event Warwick Davis and his children Anabelle and Harrison as they were called up for Netflix shows. Along with the Davis family, Quintin Pierre also cancelled for an undisclosed reason, for those that attend cons regularly, this did not come as much of a surprise. However, the show must and will go on! SWFFD were quick to replace the cancelled guests and the rest of the line-up remained the same right up until opening.
Here is the full list of the signers and prices,
Dinner with the Stars
Now this really is exactly what it says on the tin! Making our way to Ewood Park football stadium, we were welcomed by members from Star Wars costumer group, the 5th Legion. As fans gathered outside the stadium taxis started arriving with the guests. First out was Spencer Wilding who was straight over shaking hands and greeting the fans. As we all walked into the venue, we were given directions by the attendant at the stadium who said with pride “straight up the stairs and turn right at the trophy” Not a lot of football clubs can say they won the premier league but that’s not the case for Blackburn rovers as they won in 1995 and their trophy cabinet displays this coveted cup.
As we entered the lounge, we were offered champagne and Buck’s Fizz (champagne and orange juice for those not familiar) the room held the bar, and approximately ten tables, all decorated ready for action. It was a unique venue as the room had a window right across the wall looking out on the football pitch, we walked around and started chatting to people. Everyone there was very friendly and up for a fun time. I quickly noticed that the guests just merged in with the fans. There was no pulling out autograph books, it just all felt very natural, if you wanted to talk to people you could, if you just wanted sit down and take it all in you could. We walked around looking for our table and discovered we would be sitting with Sean Crawford and Tim Dry who played Yak face, J’Quille and and Mon Calamari Officers in Return of the Jedi. Also on the table was Wayne Toddy along with his friends who run Echo Base Live and associated groups.
After a quick round of introductions, the conversations started to flow, and food service started. We had Bruschetta to start, Beef for mains and a chocolate dessert. It really was a unique experience sat with Tim and Sean with the others on our table discussing Star Wars and various themes as you would on an evening meal out with friends. A lot of laughter, banter and drinks were had, it really was a special and unique experience.
We all took turns getting rounds of drinks for the table and conversation really got interesting after a few beers and everyone loosened up. I could see some collector friends on the table next to us were sat with Matt Denton (Disney era Star Wars special effects and art director) and Spencer Wilding (credited as Darth Vader in Rogue One) and you could see they were having a good laugh. Once the meal was over there were a number of charity auctions and raffles going on, there were a band that played some background music and people started to move about the room and as you would expect, visit the bar. Walking over to the bar and see the Star Wars guests and other collectors was great. Everyone was there for a good time and to raise some money for charity.
Whilst it was acknowledged that the guests would not be signing at the dinner, Tim Dry offered us a cheeky signed picture of himself and I think a collector friend of mine did get the dinner menu signed by the guests at his table. There is just no stopping autograph collectors sometimes, especially after a few beers! What I did noticed was that the guests did seem happy to pose for pictures with the fans
One guest that was very friendly at the event was Amanda Lawrence, Amanda was really enjoying herself and this was her first experience doing a UK convention, let alone a meal with fans. Fans in attendance were all on good form, it was so nice to catch up with many I’ve not met before, as well as some of the UK convention regulars.
As the event drew to a close, I got a sneak peak of the convention set up from organiser Paul Dunne, everything was in place for the fans that would arrive the following day. As a few of us left around 11pm we got together for a quick picture outside and made our way back to our hotels.
Star Wars Fan Fun day – main event
Arriving with a slightly heavy head from the boozy night before we returned to Ewood Park stadium. There were lots of fans outside and many more cosplayers walking around outside. This convention is pure Star Wars and seeing everyone in their costumes really added to the atmosphere.
When we got inside it was very busy, we did a quick lap of the stalls, although it was difficult to get close to the dealer’s tables as there was a large number of people in there. This place was buzzing though, full of collectors looking for deals and items to add to their collections.
I made my way over to the signers and first up was Dermot Crawly. Having attended the dinner, it was nice to ask the guests how they found the previous night, and it was a good way to connect and open conversations. Dermot was in good spirits, I had him sign an official pix metallic blank I’d picked up a few weeks prior.
I quickly bumped into some of the collectors I’d enjoyed drinks with the previous night, they told me that Adam J. Smith had an official pic image on his table and the image also featured Dean Mitchell’s (who he was sat next to) character. I do not usually collect prequels but at £15 per autograph on an Official Pix image I could not resist picking one up. I spoke to them both about Revenge of the Sith, which is my favourite of the prequels. They were in good spirits and offered their insight into the set and working on the film.
I went over to see Sean and Tim and we reminisced on the previous evening shenanigans. I had Sean sign a retro re-released figure of Yak Face
Just after Tim signed for me, he was approach by a J’Quille cosplayer, this surprised Tim as he has never seen one before in all of the conventions he has attended over the years. It was a special moment to see the look on Tim’s face and he got up to pose for pictures with the cosplayer.
Food options where a little limited upstairs with hot dogs and chips but had a suitable selection of drinks, as you would expect from a football club. We did find the space nice to be able to chill out away from the crowds and chat to various cosplayers walking around.
I headed back down stairs to pick up my last autograph for the day, Joe Gibson. Around 2pm things had settled down a bit and got a little quieter now, and there was more room to move around freely and spend a little longer chatting with the guests.
I asked if Joe Gibson if it would be OK to trace his hand and have him sign as Luke’s hand from Empire Strikes Back. Joe doubled for Mark Hamill toward the end of the film as the medical droid 2-1B was working on replacing his freshly severed off hand, Joe happily obliged.
I had organised to interview Tim Dry, and I got a really good recording with him. It is clear Tim has a huge love of music and is an incredibly talented performer, he writes, records, photographs as well as his talents for mime.
You can find an edited version of the interview on the latest Star Wars Autograph News podcast
I also had the opportunity to interview Stuart Harper from the Star Wars Autograph News pod cast. We recorded our thoughts and review of the convention.
Both the full version of Tim’s interview and my review with Stuart will be posted on social media and uploaded to an audio player soon!
Overall, I really enjoyed SWFFD, and I can see why this is a fan favourite. It is a dedicated Star Wars convention, and these are rare as these days. Conventions are everywhere now pull in a good mix of pop culture so there something for everyone. There is something incredibly special about everyone getting together to celebrate Star Wars and have fun time. Prices for autographs were decent and the range of stalls and dealer merchandise was good. This event usually runs once per year, if you get an opportunity to experience it, jump on it, you will not regret it!
To learn more about Star Wars Fan Fun Day visit their website HERE and their social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter.
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