Come join us at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival 2022

After a hiatus of nearly two and a half years, Welly-moot is back with an amazing event in only a week's time. A lot has changed for everyone since the first lockdown, and certainly Welly-moot has seen a few changes. The first one is that Alex & I are no longer living in the Wellington area; we've moved to the Tararua district, and are now based in Dannevirke. That places us in the middle of Wellington, Palmerston North, and Hastings & Napier, so we can represent a far larger part of the North Island now.

Welly-moot still has good local representation in the capital though - we have forged a tight alliance with New Zealand's only fan-run LOTR museum, The One Room Fan Museum, run by Kathy Drysdale and based in Newtown. If you haven't visited her, do drop her a line and arrange a visit; it'll be the most LOTR fun you've had all year!

 But if you're keen to get your Tolkien-fix sooner rather than later, there's a VERY cool event coming up, and it's organised by Kathy herself. Her museum has been invited to take a stand at the upcoming Featherston Booktown 2022 festival, and as part of that, she is curating a fun LOTR-themed quiz on Saturday 11 June, 3.30-6.00pm at the Featherston School Hall. Tickets are only $10 ($5 for students).

 

Get your tickets here!

The Quiz Master will be none other than the fabulous longtime Welly-mooter Sadie von Scrumptious - hopefully some of you will remember her as the MC of the excellent LOTR and Silmarillion-themed Burlesque Cabaret shows in 2012 and 2014 respectively.

And if this wasn't awesome enough, let me sweeten the deal for you further - we've just had confirmation of two other special guests as well - Sir Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger, co-founders and co-directors of Weta Workshop will be there as well, with Sir Richard opening the quiz with a speech! Weta Workshop has also generously donated some of the excellent prizes for the quiz, so if you don't have tickets yet, get them now!

https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2022/celebrating-the-joy-of-fandom-with-the-one-room-fan-museum/featherston

The entry-fee gets you Richard's anecdotes, the quiz, prizes and Middle Earth-themed snacks - as well as a whole lot of fun even if you’re not a mega fan (you can even buy answers for questions with jewels provided on your table). Put a quiz team together OR just come as an individual and she’ll hook you up with a team. Great for ages 13-90+ (And there’s even a little something for the younger set if you want to come as a family).

If you can't make it to the Quiz, Kathy will be there both Saturday as well as Sunday, so come and say Hi! I'm going to be there on Saturday as well. It'll be great to catch up with all of you!

PS - one thing you should know about Kathy's LOTR museum - she has costumes - LOTS of costumes. If you don't come to Featherston already dressed up in your Middle-earth fineries, come and try on some of hers. She's bound to have something that fits the occasion! NB - there's a prize for best dressed, so it pays to get into the spirit of things!

See you all in Featherston next week!

  - Jack

Feb 1 Picnic yesterday - What a great day!

(edit 1 - 2020-02-02 9:30pm) - added more photos, courtesy of Dianne)

We started off with fairly uncertain weather yesterday for the picnic - it was windy and cloudy here in Johnsonville in the morning, with a bit of light drizzle - but as we drove north of Upper Hutt to the Pakuratahi valley, it started to fine up as we got closer. Sure enough, the sun broke out, and the picnic couldn't have gone better!

caption: Alex and Jack

 I think we had a record breaking group size; I counted more than thirty people (and three dogs!). Really good turn out, and thanks to everyone for making the day a success. A few people who had cancelled ended up coming as well (thanks, Brian & Harrison). A few faces we haven't seen for a (long) while, as well, and two people from my running group turned up, always up for a good walk (thanks Cameron & Sarah). Well met and well done!

caption: Getting into costume, and getting into character

But the biggest thank you, once again, goes to Kathy for bringing her fabulous costumes. Her collection of costumes has become really something. If you want a personal cosplay session, drop her a line, or visit her at The One Room LOTR Fan Museum in Newtown. She'd love to host you!

( http://www.theoneroomfanmuseum.nz/ )


The park was starting to get a bit busier with other visitors, and we had more than a few sets of curious eyes cast at us. One young mother with her two kids wanted to take photos of us, but I convinced them to join us on the walk, in costume. Nice going!

Brand new members! (© Dianne)

Alex took a few photos of the walk and the picnic - here's some (if you're only seeing one picture here, you may have to click on the link to get back to www.welly-moot.com for the rest).

[edit: Also included are Dianne's pictures (as marked " © Dianne"))

caption: Crossing the swingbridge

(© Dianne)

(© Dianne)

(© Dianne)

(© Dianne)

(© Dianne)

(© Dianne)

Picnic

My costume didn't have pockets, so I didn't have my camera with me. I'm relying on other people to send me the best pictures. Contact me on facebook or send them to me here on jack@welly-moot.com - I'm more than happy to post them here.

Reminder - Welly-moot Picnic at Rivendell is only a week away (Feb 1)!

Get your picnic sets ready, dig your costumes out of the closet, and come and join us next week, February 1st, at the Kaitoke Regional Park (north of Upper Hutt), where the group will join up at the Forks carpark at 10:00am.

It's only a week away at this stage, and the long range weather forecasts are still looking good, so it's all on!

First, you can decide if you want to join us in costumes - Kathy will be there from The One Room Fan Museum, with a good selection of LOTR costumes that are available for a gold coin donation. Costumes are absolutely not compulsory, but Rivendell seems like a totally appropriate location to don them one more time.

Once we're ready, we will go for a good walk through the forest across the swing bridge, traversing the roughly 45 minute track in a counter-clockwise direction, which will take us right in to the grass field beside Rivendell and its archway. The carpark is close by, so feel free to leave your picnics in the cars during the walk. If you don't want to walk, no problem there either - you can look after the picnics until we get there (I hope we can trust you with the food!).

Closer to 11:30 / noon, we will start the lunch. At some point I'd love to get a nice group photo.

That's the plan - and it's all of the plan. Nice and simple!

If anyone has questions, or needs a ride, drop me a line at jack@welly-moot.com, I'm sure something can be arranged.


See you at the carpark at 10:00am on February 1st!

Directions: https://goo.gl/maps/d1UVJQm9tLpmiEie8


NB - if the weather turns sour on Saturday, we'll postpone till the next day, Sunday 2nd of February. If they're both rubbish, we'll decide further, and watch this site (www.welly-moot.com) for more details.

  - Jack

Rest in Peace, Christopher Tolkien.

It is with great sadness that I have to write this - it's just come to my attention that Christopher Tolkien, the son of J.R.R. Tolkien, has passed away, at age 95. Without him we would not have the Silmarillion, or any of the other reference works, or more recently any of his full tales of the best Middle-earth backstories. He was a protector and staunch defender of all his father's works, for some 91 years. Famously he protected it even from his father:

"I (then between four and five years old) was greatly concerned with petty consistency as the story unfolded, and that on one occasion I interrupted: ‘Last time, you said Bilbo’s front door was blue, and you said Thorin had a golden tassel on his hood, but you’ve just said that Bilbo’s front door was green, and the tassel on Thorin’s hood was silver’; at which point my father muttered ‘Damn the boy’, and then ‘strode across the room’ to his desk to make a note."

His work is at an end. We shall remember him.

The Welly-moot sends its deepest condolences to the Tolkien family.


"He was strong in life - may his spirit find its way to the halls of his father"

Next event - Picnic at Rivendell, 1st of February

Welly-moot, in association with The One Room Fan Museum, presents:

Rivendell Picnic 2020

We haven't had an event for a little while, and I think it's high time. What better way to celebrate the new decade with a Picnic at everyone's favourite LOTR location - Rivendell!

We're all getting together on February 1st, (with Feb 2 as the Plan B bad weather day). We're basically using the same plan as last year, since it worked so well.

Here's the outline:

• Meet at the Kaitoke Forks Carpark (by the swing-bridge), at 10:00am
• Adjust costumes (Hell yes! In costume through the rainforest!) (*)
• At 10:15 or so, we cross the swing-bridge, and walk the main track. It'll take about 30-45 minutes, although possibly a bit longer depending on costume.
• The end of the walk will get us to the Rivendell grassy lawn, where we unpack our picnics
• After the picnic, all join for a Welly-moot group photo by the Archway.

Plus anything else we can think of on the day, or before. We're open to ideas, so drop us a line anytime!

The final plans will be published here as the time comes closer, so check back here often. Please share on your social media as well - the more the merrier!

  - Jack


(*) Bring a Middle-earth costume of your own - or if you're stuck, Kathy will be here with The One Room Fan Museum's amazing costume collection, which you are welcome to wear on the day for a gold coin donation.

Public Announcement - The Roxy is showing the LOTR trilogy on Sept 21,21, 22

Just to let everyone know - the LOTR trilogy is once again being shown by Miramar's The Roxy cinema. They'll be shown one movie at a time, and they're "only" the theatrical cuts rather than the extended versions, but to make up for that, they'll be projected in glorious 35mm film format. They do sell out quickly, so book in as fast as possible.

Get your tickets here: https://www.roxycinema.co.nz/the-lord-of-the-rings

  - Jack

Come join us for the Tolkien movie this Monday (June 3rd)

A reminder that on Queen's Birthday (yes, the day after tomorrow!), we're meeting at 2:00pm in the lunch area of the Penthouse Cinema on Ohiro Road (Brooklyn), to enjoy a little lunch and conversation before the 3:15pm session of the Tolkien bio-pic. The movie is getting favourable reviews.

Everyone is welcome, but can you please let me know approximate numbers so I can prepare the good folk at the Penthouse for our group. They are holding a lunch-table for us, or more than one if we have the numbers.

There are also still a small number of seats held for us there - give them a call. Their phone number is (04) 802 5086,when booking remember to tell them you're part of the Welly-moot group and they'll seat us all in the same block of seats.

https://www.penthousecinema.co.nz/movie/tolkien/
 

Also a quick reminder that Kathy from The One Room Fan Museum has costumes available, but get in touch with her soon.

http://www.theoneroomfanmuseum.nz/contact/
https://www.facebook.com/theoneroomfanmuseum/


Hope to see a lots of you there!

  - Jack