I had so much fun doing the show in 2025 I really wanted to display again for this year so I signed up as soon as the google form went live. The show is run by Brickish/Fairy Bricks in Manchester raising money for charity and you have to be a member of brickish to apply, I’d recommend this highly if you live in the uk as it also advertises other shows to display at, also you can volunteer if that’s what you would prefer.
You have to tell them what you’re going to display and with a year in advance it’s quite hard to decide. Last year I took my Harry Potter MOCs but I wanted to take something completely different this year so I went with a street display, and a construction MOC. I won’t say I started building it until 4 weeks before the show… (pictures on my Instagram)
Hotel booked, Premier Inn overlooking the venue which was lovely (the price wasn’t) MOC built, bag packed and ready to go up on Friday late morning. I got stuck in pretty much every bit of traffic on the M4,M5 & M6 but got to the venue at 5pm and all set up by 6. Checked in and got some papa johns in the room with the switch.
The first day proper was started with a buffet breakfast, only had one round as I wanted to get going, once I got into the main building I met some new and old faces, even old colleagues from when I worked at Bright Bricks. This year I decided to explore Manchester a bit more than last year, but before that I had to hit the legendary shop that has the discounted sets, I picked myself up a Gringotts, £50 off which I had to grab, they only had 5 in stock and I got the first one, also having the beauty of the hotel across the road I went straight there and put it safely in the room!
Once it was in the room I thought I might as well explore so something else I collect is football pins, I only had Swindon Town so far (the club I support) so I went up to old Trafford to get a Manchester United pin and one from the Etihad stadium for Manchester City. By this time it was lunchtime and I headed back to the venue for lunch using my lunch brick to grab a hotdog.
The rest of the day was wondering around looking at all the builds better than mine and wondering why I’m even allowed to display there, with a giant Minas Tirith, Middle earth map, Pokemon builds and a Hogwarts castle to name a few, a very good and overwhelming show to be apart of.
The end of the day was capped off with a dinner and an auction, at least I assume it was like last year but my social battery was drained so made an exit to McDonalds and back to the room. Most shows put on a social on the Saturday evening but by this time I’m a bit peopled out aha, so went back to my room ate, rang my wife and played the switch, staring at the Gringotts set resisting the urge to build it.
The second day started with a bit of a lay in (7am is a lay in when you have a toddler) with yet another buffet breakfast, and only one round again, had to get ready sharpish to get checked out, belongings to the car (which was a bit more difficult now due to the huge Gringotts box) but made it back in time for opening.
I was wanting to get a toy (Stick Man plush to be exact) for my daughter and never got around to it on the Saturday. So I left to get one from Waterstones but I didn’t realise that nothing opens in Manchester until 11am so had to dive into a Cafe Nero’s to waste some time. Back at the venue it was a bit chaotic so I mostly stayed behind my table and spoke to the public. A lot of people took interest in the MOC which was nice, compared to all of the other builds which were far more impressive but as one person said “less is more”, I’ll take that!
When the show had closed we had a quick group photo and pack up and went, think I was out of Manchester by 7pm which is great timing but I had to stop for some food. I got home around 22:30 so I am happy with that!
So I love doing this show, I would do it every year but I think next year I may give it a miss with what situation I may be in, but we will see. I’m hoping to take something more along the lines of Harry Potter again but this is only an idea at the moment I’ll write a post about my idea in the near future.
Thanks for reading!
Wizard Bricks 