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"Twice a year I get excited about what is coming up at the NEC because this particular exhibition has a lot of surprises and you don't know what you are going to get until near the time. This is the memorabilia show which hosts a lot of science fiction, TV and film memorabilia which most people will find very interesting. As well as this, a whole host of celebrities and people involved with films and TV are there for you to meet and get autographs / photos. It is a fantastic show and I will let you know in this review just why that is.
First where is the NEC?:
The National Exhibition Centre
Birmingham
B40 1NT
The NEC is located just out of Birmingham city centre but is easily reached by car via motorway links and is well signposted. There is plenty of parking but parking fees can be anything from £5 – 10 depending on the type of shows that are on so do check before you go. if you want to take public transport then getting there by train is easy as get to Birmingham New street ad then Birmingham International is a ten minute train ride away and you are in the heart of the NEC. Tickets cost about £3 so not that bad at all and all exhibitions are well signposted at International.
So the memorabilia show has a massive hall at the NEC and comes around twice a year. Tickets are usually around the £8 mark and it goes on for a couple of days. When in there you will see plenty of staff to help you out and check tickets. You will also see a lot of staff dressed up as various science fiction characters as one year me and my sister got chased around by storm troopers.
The memorabilia show is all about having a lot of fun and everybody does when they are there. I suggest going if you do like science fiction as the majority of the show is about this genre.
So there are two sections to the show which are stars and memorabilia so let's go through these:
Memorabilia
Half of the hall will be dedicated to all memorabilia and you can find some mad things here. There are so many stands full of your favourite films and TV and people come here to look for something different. For example you will find a whole stand dedicated to collectors cards and then one for DVDs and then one for posters.
The items here are varied in price and some of the rarer collectables can be hundreds of pounds. You will find dolls, cd's, signed pictures and home decorations. There is so much stuff here. One year my sister managed to find a Terminator doll and my dad brought a rare collection of toy daleks.
A lot of the stuff are things that you probably wouldn't buy but it is fascinating to look around. There was also a life sized dalek model at the last one we went to so being big Doctor who fans, we loved it. It will probably take you a couple of hours to look around all of the stalls but it is good fun, especially when you can look around and see how much fun everybody has, especially those who dress up for the occasion.
Stars
Ok so the second half of the hall is where all of the stars are. Now this is a surprise every year because you never know who is going to turn up until the last minute. My personal favourite was seeing David Carradine who was a lot of fun to meet and was quite happy to pose for photos.
Then Frank Bruno is always brilliant and last year Danny Dyer was there who I love so was very excited. You will get footballers, TV stars and film stars turn up and a lot of behind the scenes people turn up to. It is good fun meeting these people but I will warn you that autographs are usually between £10 – 15 each so quite expensive so don't think you can go there and get everybody's unless you are rich.
All in all this show is a lot of fun and although it might not be to everybody's tastes, I think it is wonderful. It is definitely worth checking the memorabilia show website to see if a star you like is going to be there. Good fun to look around and one of the exhibitions that you do have a laugh at. I always go and I do recommend and especially to those who like me, love sci fi.
;)
