15 December 2018 - Picnic at Rivendell

Hi Welly-Moot crew, just a reminder about our upcoming picnic at Rivendell (aka Kaitoke) on Saturday 15 December.

The plans are:

• Meet at the Kaitoke Forks Carpark (by the swing-bridge), at 10:00am
• Adjust costumes (Hell yes! In costume through the rainforest!)
• Kathy's bringing along costumes from the One Room Fan Museum too, so there will be plenty for everyone
• 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!

Afterwards, if people have any energy left, Emily has invited us to her place for a cuppa, chill out and debrief! Details provided on the day.

We've prepared a poster (thanks Kay). Feel free to circulate it or post it anywhere someone might be keen.

See you Dec 15th - hopefully the weather gods and all the Ents and whoever will give us glorious weather! Cheers, Kathy

Announcement! - Next Event: Walk to Rivendell - December 15, 2018

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

- Walk to Rivendell, 2018 -

We've got a fun event coming up for everyone - another visit to Rivendell in Upper Hut's Kaitoke Park. We haven't met there as a group since the official opening of the Elven Archway, courtesy of LOTR Tour operator Ted Guise. I personally haven't been there for over a year, and I feel like a good walk! Who will join us?

The archway

 Here's the plan:

• 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

 In the meantime, here's a few photos from the original opening, to whet your appetites.

Fish-eye lenses are awesome

The event was well-attended!

The last stragglers on the path

Four heroes, ready for battle

The professor himself, and Lord Elrond

Where there's a picnic, there'll always be hobbits

Using Legolas' White Knives as picnic cutlery? Sure, why not!

Looks like meat's back on the menu. We don't want to exclude anyone. Baby-food anyone?

Alex on the bridge with Gandalf. She did pass.

ROTK at the Roxy Saturday 22 September

Hi fellow Wellymooters

Just checking in to remind you about The One Room Fan Museum's first birthday party next Saturday, 22 September, at 6pm, 4 Corunna Ave, Newtown, Welly.

Some of us are going to dress up in costume and go to ROTK at the Roxy, screening at 1pm. The show is sold out, but I have two tickets left if you contact me at theoneroomfanmuseum@gmail.com (first in ...). Some of you may already be going - in costume I hope - and we'll see you there!

If you are coming to the movie in our party, come to the Museum around 11 and we'll robe up together and have a laugh, maybe some photos ...

I remember going to that Hobbit and LOTR marathon that Jack organised in 2016 (I only went to the LOTR films, though). I couldn't believe how many people were there in costume - and that's what started me on the pathway to the Museum. So it will be nostalgic and so cool to be part of Wellymoot now.

After the Museum birthday, what should we do next? Emily, you talked about a walk at Rivendell and back to yours - shall we fix a date?

Hope to see you at the cinema and/or the party next Saturday. Here's a couple of nostalgic photos from Jack from the last session - thanks to whoever provided the photos to Jack. Best wishes, Kathy

The One Room Fan Museum turns One!

Greetings Welly-Mooters. Kathy here on my first post, courtesy of Jack. I’m inviting you all to join me in celebrating the one-year birthday of The One Room Fan Museum.

You’re welcome to join me by going in costume to the 1pm screening of ROTK at the Roxy. I have pre-bought 9 tickets (and one for me) – first in first served - let me know. Meet at the Museum at 11 for morning tea and robing (happy to provide costumes if you don’t have your own), and on to the Roxy by 1pm.

Then, from 6pm (or once we get home from the Roxy), there will be a bit of a party to toast the Museum’s birthday. You’re welcome just to come to the party if you prefer.

And if you can’t make it, just raise your glass to the Museum at the same time as you wish happy birthday to Bilbo and Frodo.

Best wishes, all Kathy

General update

As some of you may know, I've gone back to full-time studying this year, and as a result I'm finding that I'm not able to dedicate as much time as I would like to Welly-moot. I have been looking for a way to alleviate this, and I think a solution has been staring me in the face for a while.

At the last meetup, the Welly-moot paid a visit to Kathy, who owns and runs Wellington's newest museum, The One Room LOTR Fan-museum. Her and I have been in talks about the direction of Welly-moot, and she's able to dedicate a lot more of her time than I currently can.

As a solution, Kathy is going to be doing some of the updates here for a while. We're hoping to organise a few more meetings as well, and there is one very cool event coming up - the Roxy is once again showing the LOTR trilogy, in less than a month from now, in fact. Yes, they're the Extended editions.

Kathy has been busy making costumes, and proposes that we all turn up as a group, and in costumes (she has spares, if anyone needs one). What do you all think? Sounds like something we can be part of? Of course it does!


Comment on this post, or reply via email if you got this from the mailing list, or leave a comment on the facebook page - however you're reading this, let us know your thoughts (except via Google+ - I don't think anyone's reading that). :)


  - Jack

Welly-moot #7.1 - a date at the museum (May 20th, 2pm)

It's high time for a meetup, people, and I've got just the occasion! If you've been following my Facebook page lately, you may have seen the rumours that Wellington has a new Museum - and no, I'm not talking about Peter Jackson's "may-happen-soon" film museum. This one is a dedicated LOTR Fan museum!

The One Room Fan Museum

http://www.theoneroomfanmuseum.nz/

 

In Wellington's suburb of Newtown, a small privately run museum has opened its doors last year. Two huge fans of the LOTR movies, Kathy and Liz have dedicated a part of Kathy's house to showing the fans journey during the making of LOTR. They have props, they have costumes, and they certainly have enthusiasm to burn. A lot of my personal collection has made its way there, and on top of that, they've even turned their experiences into a professionally made 30 minute movie!

Now, they need our help. They need people to hear about it, online and offline. So here's the plan. Kathy has invited us all as a group to the museum, on Sunday May 20th, at 2pm. They'll provide coffee and tea, if we can provide any other refreshments. It's not a cafe, so if somebody wants to bake some cookies or a cake or something, that would be most appreciated.

It's not hard to find (although parking can be tight, so be prepared to walk a block or so. Trust me, it's worth it). Full instructions are here: http://www.theoneroomfanmuseum.nz/contact/ but in brief, the address is 4 Corunna Avenue in Newtown. It's close to the Wellington Central Hospital, and nestled against the hills (where LOTR was filmed, incidentally).

If anyone needs a ride, let me know, we have space for two (or three small) people, leaving from the Johnsonville area.

Now, I know we haven't had a meeting in quite a while, so I'd REALLY enjoy seeing lots of you this time. Lots has happened around the world on the subject of Tolkien as well - like the upcoming 5-season LOTR TV show - so let's get together.

 It's business as usual!


  - Jack & Alex

Developments for Welly-moot, and myself

Hello everyone. It's been a while, but things are looking like they're settling down to some sort of normality again. A lot has happened since the last post.

For starters, I'm no longer a LOTR tourguide. After 13 years, and almost 2,500 LOTR tours (almost 1,500 were full day tours) and over 300,000 kms driven, I finally hung up my cloak and called it quits. To begin with, I'll be doing a year of study, hopefully gaining a Diploma in Business, and after that I'll see where that takes me.


So, where does that leave Welly-moot? Everything has been on hold for eight months, but doesn't mean I've sat still in that time. My collection of LOTR and Hobbit memorabilia has found a new home - more about that in the next post. Alex and I have been thinking about what we want to do with the Welly-moot group. It would be a shame to see it disappear, after the hard work we've poured into it. I would like to see what other people's opinions are.

Here are some options:

• Go back to normal - a regular meeting every two months, discussing Tolkien related topics (or perhaps every three months?)
• Have special meetings, but a little less often. For instance, we could hold an autumn party in Isengard, a spring picnic in Rivendell, a summer beach party in Scorching Bay on the beach, and a winter feast at someone's house. I'm sure we could convince the Roxy to host another repeat Hobbit/LOTR marathon, from time to time.
• Keep the blog going but stop the planned meetings altogether. That's pretty much where we are now. I would love help with writing some material, if we're going that way though.
• Something else. What do you think?

So what do you all think? I'd love to hear from everyone, even if it's just a "goodbye" email.

Drop me a line at jack@welly-moot.com, or leave me a message on facebook.

  - Jack