It seems like forever since I bought our tickets to the Tots100 Summer Party which was being held at Zippos Circus on Hove Lawns near Brighton, so as 17th August approached I was really excited.
I decided to take the train from Bournemouth to Hove, and if I am honest, it wasn’t a smooth journey. Firstly, there is no direct train so it means changing at Southampton. Secondly, there were signalling issues so we were delayed by quite a significant time, which meant that the train didn’t make all the stops it should have done (including Hove), so we ended up in Brighton and had to change trains again!
By some sort of miracle we arrived on time, and signed in. The children received light up toys and a program and we were offered fruit and drinks which were very welcome after our stressful journey.
As it was lunchtime, we ordered some food and got stuck in to some traditional circus food – Burgers, Hot Dogs and Chips. The children were extremely excited that they could have Slushy’s, Popcorn and Candyfloss too.
I was hoping to do some networking with some other bloggers, but most were too busy with their own families to really chat. I did finally get to meet Anthea from BlueBearWood, Jennifer from Jennifers Little World and Anya from Older Single Mum though.
Soon it was time to go in for the Circus workshop. This was the part of the day I was most looking forward too. We got to see Yasmine Smart and one of her horses called Diamond. Abbey is really into horse riding and instantly fell in love with Diamond. It was fascinating watching her as she explained how she trained the horses to obey her every command.
Then we saw Norman Barrett MBE and his famous Budgie’s. He didn’t want to spoil his act, but he showed us how he trained the Budgie’s and some of his favourite tricks.
Next it was time for the children to learn some juggling skills. Isaac had a half hearted attempt at throwing and catching coloured scarves, preferring to wave them around instead. Callan was desperate to try out the Trapeze and queued patiently but unfortunately they ran out of time. I would have liked this part of the day to have be longer if I am honest, with more chance to actually learn how to spin plates, act like a clown etc.
However………………..now it was time for the show. We settled down and waited for the fun to begin.
My very own clowns! |
Roman Stefanyuk was delighting the crowd with his slapstick acrobatics on the trampoline, that made you gasp and cheer. How he did not hurt himself I do not know.
Gabriel impressed with her foot juggling on a Harley Davidson motorbike, as did Anya with her juggling skills and off course there was Norman Barret with his budgies.
I don’t like to say there was bad, but I was disappointed with some of the acts. Zippos Corp de Ballet were a group of below average dancers. Some of them looked like they really didn’t want to be there and were just going through the motions and steps. They wouldn’t be put through in an audition on Britains Got Talent – that’s for sure!
I didn’t really enjoy the aerial acts either, I have seen much better (not that I could do it) although the kids did seem to enjoy it. I was even disappointed with the horses, not because they didn’t perform well – I just think the ring wasn’t big enough for them to really show off their skills.
Finally – the AMAZING:
The Zulu warriors were fantastic, with their human towers, acrobatics and limbo dancing under fire.
And the Piece de Resistance – The Sensational Lucius Team, roaring around the Globe of Death at 70mph – it really does have to be seen to be believed!! Check out this post by Bluebearwood to see them in action!
Zippos Circus are remaining on Hove Lawns until 28th August, before setting off for Basingstoke. To find out if they are coming to a venue near you, just check out their website here.
It has got me thinking of what Tots100 has planned for Christmas now…………….
It was lovely to meet you too, thank you for coming over to me =) I quite fancied a go on the trapeze too, although it’s probably a good thing that I didn’t get the chance! I was amazed by the limbo dancing.