Time flies and over the weekend we headed back to Great Yarmouth for the return of one of the most awesome Sci-Fi festivals with Sci-Fi Weekender 13 (SFW XIII). The three-year break thanks to the pandemic may have seemed like an eternity, but as soon as we arrived at the Vauxhall Holiday Park and saw the SFW flags flying it only seemed time had slipped by quickly.
SFW XIII saw the return of the much anticipated SFW Awards, a great selection of guests including the return of the one and only Brian Blessed, entertainment from Sci-Fi Weekender regulates Professor Elemental, John Robertson’s The Dark Room and Level Up Leroy banging out his geek based DJ sets.
After starting out at 4:45 am on Thursday morning the Blazing Minds team arrived at Camp SFW at around 1 pm, we caught up with the SFW team for a good catch-up, grabbed the accommodation key (and map) and headed off to get settled in before the evening’s entertainment started.
As with the last SFW Awards, I joined Simon Dunkerley (SD Photography) on the Red Carpet to take photographs of the Awards attendees walking into the event and getting shots of them on the carpet before they took to their tables for the evening’s Awards ceremony. We also took photographs of the winners with their awards on the carpet after they had been presented with them.
Sci-Fi Weekender 13 SFW Awards 2022 Winners
The SFW Awards was yet again a fantastic night and John Robertson brought us lots of laughs as he introduced the nominees and presented the awards to the winners, one thing that you can guarantee about John is that he really knows how to bring so much laughter to an audience.
- Best SFW Author – Bryony Pearce
- Favourite SFW Artist – Glenn Fabry
- SFW Master Act – Electronic Sonic Machines
- SFW Most Terrifying Monster – Action Man with a Giraffe’s Head
- SRW Dinosaur Hunter – Andrew Lee Potts
- SFW Best Haircut – Captain Picard
- SFW Party Animal – Adam Colclough
- SFW Hero – Level Up Leroy
- SFW Ambassador – Karen Woodham
Special Accolades at the SFW Awards 2022
After John had finished, Jonni came to the stage to announce special accolade awards, these awards are for those that have shown so much to the SFW events over the years and it would be interesting to see who would be getting such a prestigious award.
Then there was shock on my behalf, as I watched the big screen and listened to Jonni about the SFW Ambassador Award and how that is for someone that has been a big supporter of SFW, as I looked around the room to get a clue of who would be getting the award, I started watching the big screen that announces the nominees and winners.
Holy moly! It was me, I stood in shock, tears appearing in my eyes and wondering what the hell was going on and who the other nominees were, nope just me. I headed to the stage with no idea what to say or what was going on, Jonni took to his knee and gave me the award, I was lost for words, so I quickly thanked SFW, Claire Lloyd who set me on the path back in SFW 4 and to all the amazing SFW fans that have supported the Facebook group that I set up to support SFW events, then I headed off stage to the red carpet for a photo with Simon.
Sci-Fi Weekender 13 a Weekend of Geek Awesomeness
Some of you that read the website will know that over the years I#ve brought you updates on the SFW events and will no doubt know that the Weekender is not a Comic Con, but it’s far from it. Each SFW brings more than just people signing at a table, the guests mingle with people during other things that are going on, there are far more Q&As at an SFW than other events and adding to the excitement we et live music acts and much more, SFW is a celebration of all things Sci-Fi and other genres, it is a festival that celebrates the love that fellow geeks and nerds scream about.
This year saw some great interviews with Andrew Lee Potts, Michael Jayston, Ian McNiece, Graeme Harper, Madeline Smith and a return of the one and only Brian Blessed. This year also saw a great collection of authors including Samantha Lee Howe, SFW Award winner Bryony Pearce, Paul Finch, Noelle Holten and Katheryn Evans bringing us not only a chance to get their books signed but also a chance to chat with them and listen to some of the wonderful stories of their careers in the author panels that have become more and more popular over the years.
If you were a fan of art then you could chat with and enjoy some discussion with Boo Cook, Simon Bisley, Si Davies and Jeff Cummins.
Saturday also saw the return of the brilliant “Just A Minute”, this year featuring Noelle Holten, Bryony Pearce, Ian McNiece and Andrew Lee Potts with David J Howe attempting to keep some sanity in one of the best Just a Minute quizzes that I have seen for years.
There is so much amazing stuff going on at a Weekender that it is very hard to pick out the best moment as everyone puts in so much to bring us a weekend of fun and entertainment, John Robertson always delights fans with his The Dark Room and even though it’s been three years he still has what it takes to pack out the venue and to keep the show fresh and fun.
Professor Elemental is always a pleasure to see performing and it’s great to see him on the stage doing interviews as well (although he didn’t get to say much when he introduced us to Brian Blessed) and Level Up Leroy put on some amazing DJ sets and the last night set is always one that you don’t want to miss as he plays us out of the event.
We also had the amazing Blues Harvest giving us a stellar gig with their outstanding performance on Saturday night.
Having two areas is perfect for having several things going on at once and yet again the Main Void beamed in so many folks to enjoy themselves and the Space Port, which is smaller, certainly kept the spice flowing with plenty of Q&As and on the last night a chance to kick back with the house DJ.
Sci-Fi Weekender 13 Cosplay
You can’t have a Sci-Fi event without Cosplay and SFW XIII was no exception this year, it’s always great to see the effort that goes into the cosplay, this time many that have attended over the years have had that extension to sort out their cosplay, this years winner was awesome.
But the guys that always have me in stitches are the Half Arsed Avengers and this year they certainly brought us some special with Korg, Iron Man, Loki, Thorse and Korg’s half-brother.
A massive congratulations to all the Cosplayers that took part and a big congratulations to this year’s winner the Flamboyant Xenomorph Queen.
The Memorial Puppet Parade
A rather sombre moment but also one to celebrate an SFW Family member was the memorial puppet parade that took place on Saturday morning, this was in memory of the wonderful Fiona Agwin whom many had become friends with over the years, it was a wonderful sight to see as friends and fans came together with puppets to walk to the Main Void to celebrate such a wonderful lady who was sadly taken by COVID, the parade ended with everyone taking to the stage in the Main Void and a few lovely and emotional words from her lovely husband Richard.
Sci-Fi Weekender’s welcome return after the three-year break has been packed to the rafters with so much, I was talking to so many newbies to the event and they have enjoyed their time at Great Yarmouth and many will be back in March 2023 and 2024, as always I will be back in March as well and can’t wait to catch up with everyone and meet new faces. You can find out more about the dates and more on the official website.
See you there.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
