Collecting for MS Society, Wirral Branch

The 99th was despatched to a gathering outpost called The Cherry Tree in a place called Liscard, Wallasey. We took our universal translators because we had heard the natives spoke a different language to Imperial Troops.  The local fund raiser, Karen Parsons had decided she would help to raise much needed funds for the new Death Star but she had heard of plans to thwart this effort by rebels.  This is where we came in.

As usual we arrived incognito and in various guises.  We armoured up and descended upon the place where the trouble was expected to be.....a clearing in the provisions area of this Cherry Tree.  Lord Vader was the first to arrive and was not impressed to be without his Imperial Security detail

Vader is miffed

The first of the detachment to arrive was one of our undercover troopers dressed as Boushh. She wasnt used to this type of mission and being in awe of Vader tried to offer him a present. The rebuke took longer than anyone anticipated so the troops took a break

Do you know who I am??????  No I am not Mr Stevens!!!

It wasnt an easy sortie into this area and before long Boushh and the Clone trooper were having a disagreement about something to do with the detonator.  Someone had swapped it for a Terry's Chocolate Orange and the Clone was the only 'orange ' in the area.  

There was a small amount of trouble when one of the locals decided to challenge the Clone trooper to duel.  Fortunately for this local he was not permitted to fire when his auto targeting system realised the 'weapon' was in fact a walking aid.

Local traders were keen to show their support for the Empire and invited the troops to see how they made the popular local brew.  We were offered to sample this fine product but we declined because we were on duty. There was however some suspicion that three stormtroopers took advantage of this brew and were later found in a state of bewilderment by the sergeant.

Despite all this it was a good day and no rebels were found in the area.  During some of the quieter moments we took the opportunity to show the locals what it could be like in the Imperial Navy and tried a bit of recruitment.  However Lord Vaders way of dealing with recruitment was not overly popular with the locals

It was all a little too much for this youngling

The day ended well with no locals injured an no claims for compensation!  Lord Vader even assisted with the draw to see which of the lucky locals would be finding their way into the Empires finest at no cost to themselves.  The winner was duly clamped in binders and marched off to the transport ship

Once the total amount raised is counted the 99th will post it here and where locals may be found to congregate.  

The 99th Garrison would like to thank the management and staff of the Cherry Tree Shopping Centre in Liscard for letting us into their centre again and for their hospitality and generosity (refreshments and sandwiches). Also thanks to the volunteers from the MS Society and in particular Karen Parsons for inviting us.  Also thanks to the people of Liscard for making our day a busy one and for all the donations - large and small!

Thanks also to the troopers from the 99th Garrison who made the journey. It is a pleasure and an honour to troop with you all.....Darran, Emma, Paul B, Paul T, Chris, Andy, Anna, Mayah, Colin, Eric, Jim, Dave, Simon, Grant, Jay, Damon, Mark and John!

New Imperial Propaganda Material

The 99th Garrison was called on by the Emperor to help create a new batch of propaganda posters for distribution around the various worlds the Empire protects.  This was a great honour for the chosen few and rumour had it that the Emperor himself and Lord Vader would be attending.

We chose a nondescript location for the this as we were concerned that the Rebels may try to disrupt the occasion.  One of our loyal supporters offered their premises for this - Tapeswitch - in a place called Ch'orl'ee.  The Empire, and the 99th Garrison in particular is grateful for their support.

The troops assembled early in the morning and as usual arrived incognito to avoid raising any interest from rebel spies.  Even in this Imperial stronghold you cannot be too careful.  The day started with image captures of the Emperor with and without troops for protection.

The Stormtroopers proved difficult to pose

Lord Vader, The Emperor and security detail

As the day progressed the images became quite easy to do and even the Sith seemed to be enjoying themselves.  The troops were briefed on their roles and duties and the performed them well

The new holographic facility

Three Siths in one image

The 99th Garrison employed a number of droids to take the place of real troopers and bounty hunters for this event to ensure the local garrison was not depleted too much.  As you can see from the images below it is difficult to tell the difference.  Once the images are put into their final places they will have served their purpose and will be deactivated.

There was a slight issue with two of the droids dressed as TIE Pilot and AT-AT Driver.  During the image taking operation the constant flashing of the lights must have upset the AT-AT circuitry because it decided the TIE Pilot was an enemy infiltrator and was going to blow its head off!  Fortunately the Garrison armourer had taken the charge packs from the pistols!!

Other than the slight issue noted above the day went very smoothly and all the participants felt they had contributed towards a worthwhile cause.  It was good to see Sith mingling without trying to destroy the place

Thanks to improved holographic technology two Vaders were present! 

As you will probably realise from these images: the real Darth Vader and Emperor did not attend the venue. For purposes of security it was decided the risk was too great with only a small squad of live troops in attendance.  We used droids for most of these images and once completed the droids had their memories wiped and the costumes were incinerated to ensure they could not be used again.  All traces of our being in the facility were carefully removed.

Thanks to everyone who turned out on this day.  Gary, Alan, Chris S, Craig, Jim, Wayne, Steve, Ken, Paul, Darrell, Scott, Andy, Anna, Mayah, Chris E, Trevor, Dave P, Dave L, Darren, Emma, Sarah, Damon!

The next photoshoot for the Empire will be on 19th April.  Please look in the forum for the location

The 99th Garrison is called to Sale!

The 99th Garrison had received a report via Trooper82 that there was the potential for local trouble in the School Road area of Sale - Southern province of the Manchester Zone. Lord Vader decided he would take a personal interest in this and was escorted to the area under close guard.

The transport set off at 0730 and collected Carstvo, Simmy and Hunterfett on the way.  Other members of the squad set off from different locations to ensure that any leak of information of our arrival could not be used to ambush the whole squad.  The squad arrived at varying times and Lord Vader was escorted to his landing spot close to the meeting place - our local supporters had set up a base well in advance and called it The SCOPE shop.  Many locals had called in to share their concerns but the show of strength for the Empire was welcome and tributes were made by younglings!

Once squad was organised the local militia escorted at 10.00hrs us to various places within the local area to show Lord Vader the issues being faced everyday by the Rebel incursions

The squad noted a number of instances where Rebels were blatantly showing their allegiance and on one occasion we were forced to assist a youngling who was trying to escape from his rebel supporting parents!!

For some strange reason the atmosphere of this area began to affect Lord Vader and he insisted on entering into one establishment, sat down and promptly removed his gloves!!!!  He then proceeded to assist a local vendor with their signage...saying "Move over, you're doing that wrong, I do this for a living!"

Then to our amazement Lord Vader decided he wanted to partake of the local beverage.....something called "tea".  Boba Fett was instructed to join him for tea and scones!!  He wasnt too happy but did comment on the variety of savoury snacks on offer

We managed to administer some of Vaders special preparation and he was soon back to his old self.  While he rested the squad had to escort an over eager local of dubious allegiance out of the premises and then we had to deal with an unruly event in another vendors establishment

Further signs of this areas' strange goings on were identified when one trooper called for an umbrella and then he and the Scout trooper decided to try to re-enact a scene from something called Singing in the Rain??  Boba was easily disarmed by a youngling and only the quick intervention by the royal guard prevented an unfortunate incident

We had a tip off that one of the local store premises had been selling a banned substance that may have been responsible for the unusual activities of our troopers.  She didnt seem too concerned about the severity of her predicament!!

 More tributes were paid to the Empire and Lord Vader in particular and although he was very appreciative of these he felt a disturbance in the Force with this one above!

The local intelligence operatives were keen to keep their true identities from the locals so had to pretend to be collecting for the SCOPE charity....in reality all the funds will go to help build the new Death Star!!

As a way of showing our gratitude to the local Imperial undercover team, Lord Vader agreed to have his image captured with their leader Karen

And as per usual the team slipped away un-noticed!!  Thanks to everyone who came along and helped us raised funds for SCOPE on the day.  A total of £350 was collected!!

The crew were excellent and even though it was not the warmest of days they did a sterling job.  Thanks to the troopers - Dave A, Andy, Alan, Jason F, Chris, Craig, Jim and thanks to the crew Pete, Sharon and Chloe.  Also huge thanks to the staff and volunteers of the SCOPE charity shop on School Road, Sale.  Thanks especially to Karen the shop manager for the lunch as well.
If you would like to see more photos from the day please go to our FB page https://www.facebook.com/99thGarrison

The 99th Garrison Arrives at Dale-Con2...The Return of Something Epic!

The 99th was invited to attend the second mini convention at the Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre in Rochdale which took place over two days.  This was our first time at this event...we couldnt make it last year, but we made sure we could this year

photo courtesy of Rochdale Online

The guest line-up included Anthony Forrest, Chris Muncke, Ken Coombs, Alan Flyng, John Chapman and Pam Rose but the star of the show was Danny John-Joules (AKA The Cat) from Red Dwarf.  The 99th had quite a good chat with Danny.   He is a very affable guy and so easy to talk to. He also told us some interesting things about filming with Wesley Snipes on Blade! No secrets about a new series of Red Dwarf though.....although we did offer to appear in any new series if he could find a way of including the Empire in the Dwarf universe.

Danny being Danny!

The event for me started on Friday night because I had offered to help Martin Ballard, the Centre Manager, set up ready for the morning.  The event was a Sci Fi event so there was stuff from Dr Who, Star Trek, Transformers (Bumble-bee and its' SWAT team to guard it).  It is amazing how much work goes into this type of event when you are turning a shopping centre into a venue for a mini convention.  I left just after 8pm knowing I had to be up and out again for about 0730 the following morning and I had agreed to pick up Chris on the way.  Martin and his team were still working way into the night

photo courtesy of Manchester Evening News

Getting around the centre wasnt too difficult for the Empire's finest because the workers had created a special set of moving steps for us.  The public certainly seemed to enjoy us being there as did the retailers. We made a lot of people smile on the day, and not just the children,....well I hope it was a happy smile! Quite a number of people were really pleased to see so many Star Wars costumes on display and as usual we had compliments on the quality.  We had 10 costumes on Saturday and 7 on Sunday so it was quite a good turnout.

It was also good to meet a couple of our new costumed members for the first time.   Metal Trooper and Ordoskirata as Stormtroopers and I also got to see Dr Feeleygood in his Snowtrooper at last.  Some very nice costumes there!  The Stig made an appearance as well and at one point I thought he was actually going to say something...but no, it was just his lunch repeating!

The Stig comparing white with white

There was an unfortunate incident with the AT-AT driver when he lost his transport and commandeered a local vehicle.  The stormie didnt have a great problem catching him up.

Does anyone have an Imperial Credit to make this move!

 Lord Vader on the other hand had a little bit of difficulty with one of the locals whilst he was trying to tell them he was in charge.  I didnt know the Boss told jokes.....Do you know the one about a planet called Alderaan.....?

photo courtesy of the Manchester Evening News

It was good to meet the Fem troopers again (they did the promo event with us) and it was good to meet up with troopers from a new group - Sentinel Squadron.  All a great bunch to troop with. Over the weekend it would appear that we have acquired at least one new member and a very excited couple want us to attend their wedding next year.  Not sure which of them was the most excited.  Alas the two days were over quite quickly however the numbers of people attending were well up on last year's first event so it is likely that there will be another next year...hopefully!

The costumers we provided with lunch as well which was a nice touch.  We were collecting for Dreamflight over the weekend and we managed to raise £121.16. Thanks to everyone who helped out either in costume or as Crew...you know we need you!!
So from Saturday, Paul B, Jim, Jason, Joanne, Damon, Dave L, Emma, Darran, Darrell, Scotty, Pat, John, Alan, Chris and Dave P (trooping independently as the Apetrooper but wouldnt stay away from us...Lol)
From Sunday Dave L, Paul E, Susan E, (plus daughter as Jawa), Joanne, Jason, (plus children), Steve, Vicki, Wayne, Emma, Darran, Chris and Jim, that'll be me then!

Post troop photo from Sunday 

99th Garrison at the Madejski Stadium Reading

So this one was going to be an early start as it was going to take 3.5 hrs to get there!!  Fortunately the timings were put back an hour so we only needed to be there for 12.00

I loaded up the shuttle and at 0800 set the auto-pilot for Long Easton to collect Lord Vader.  He was taking a break from overseeing the construction of the new Death Star and visiting family.  The auto-pilot was reset for The Madejski Stadium where we Lord Vader had felt a disturbance in the Force.  We we due to meet a squad of troopers from another battalion - interestingly known locally as The Joker Squad...how Lord Vader would take to this was unknown!

We arrived at Reading about 12.15 following a pit-stop.  The other guys were there waiting.  Our contact with the information was late so we had to hang around incognito and tried to blend in with the numerous activities going on.

Following our briefing....in the changing room for the gym in the hotel....we set to work.  The locals were somewhat bemused to see Vader and a squad of tk's plus Boba Fett and a Clone trooper (he seemed a bit out of place - 20 years to be honest) in the gym.  Many people were pleased to see our presence including some oddly dressed individuals.

We found or way to the stadium where the force was strongest and we placed ourselves inside the building to check everyone as they came in but there was no cause for alarm.  

Lord Vader determined that the disturbance he felt in the force must have been due to all the people looking forward to raising so much money for worthy causes.  We slipped out unnoticed and returned to the Hotel to de-brief and we shared a drink in the hotel bar....yes even the Empire is civilised!

Huge thanks to The Joker Squad (Paul, Kev, Greg, Stu plus Stu's children as Jawa and minder) for helping out and to Dan for his first 99th troop.  Thanks also to Jim and Darran for making the long journey beyond the Watford Gap.

Unfortunately there is no post troop photo for this event.  Must do better next time!!

Collecting for MS Society Wirral at Morrisons New Brighton

Transmission begins..................

Another desperate call from a provisions warehouse resulted in a squad being despatched to New Brighton on the Wirral.  The day started as per the standard operating procedure and we arrived under the radar as members of the local indigenous population.  This meant we had to find a secure place to armour-up.  This presented a suitable point to brand two new sets of armour!

Following the brief ceremony we ventured out into the provisions warehouse and Lord Vader had arranged for our real mission to be disguised as a security detail for the people collecting funds for the new Death Star.  Most of the local inhabitants thought it was for a charity called Morte Sol or MS for short.  Morte (Death) Sol (Star) which is a good cover!!

The local people gave generously and we were able to keep an eye out for the Rebel operatives that were supposed to be working in his area.  There were a few unusual beings in this particular location and one was caught on camera.  Jar Jar Binks....eat your heart out!

At one point we were asked to draw the raffle for the day.  The winners were convinced they were winning wonderful prizes such as bottles of local alcohol, food hampers, confectionery, etc but when they arrive at the local Imperial outpost to 'collect' their winnings they will find out that they have been chosen to work on the construction or our illustrious new space station!!

The sun shone for part of the day and one of the squad thought it would be good to get a bit of a tan the others were improving their skills by practising their synchronised firing procedures!  Still got a bit of work to do guys!!

No rebels were caught on this mission but a substantial amount of funds were raised and the total will be released soon.  The squad decanted to a local cantina and enjoyed a hot beverage before setting off back to base.  No locals were harmed in this operation!

Transmission ends............

Huge thanks to the squaddies!  Gary, Alan, Simon, Jim and Jacqui.  Thanks to the staff at Morrisons for letting us loose in their store and thanks to Karen Parsons and the rest of the crew of volunteers from the MS Society - Wirral Branch - and in an urgent update it has been announced that we raised £1232.26 on the day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!