Wivenhoe Lego show raises over £1,000 for children's charity

Wivenhoe’s Adult Fans of Lego group hosted a successful charity event supported by the town council and raised more than £1,000 for two important charities.

This year’s Wyvern Brickshow last Saturday saw about 500 people attend to raise money for Fairy Bricks charity, which gives Lego to children in hospital, and Diabetes UK, in memory of “deeply-loved” club member James Dyer.

Visitors enjoyed many games and competitions, including a speed build competition, a raffle, and spotting orange space men scattered throughout the exhibitions holding letters which spelled out a word.

There was also a prize on offer for the best guess of the number of bricks the star build used, which was an 18-inch statue of Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters which used 1,813 bricks.

Competition - One activity was guessing the number of bricks this Stay Pufft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters used, which was 1,813 (Image: Tom Edwards) Tom Edwards, 43, has been a member of Wivenhoe AFOL since 2016 and part of the local Lego community.

He said: “It was a great day—it was similar to last year, but busier.

“All the activities were really well attended and well engaged with, I sat doing the live build for a while.

“The brick pit was even busier this year, and by midday it was packed with kids building which was really nice.

“Seeing all the kids so creatively inspired when they’re leaving is just lovely to see, and seeing even more of them this year was even better.”

Builders - The AFOL group built the Notre Dame Lego set throughout the day (Image: Tom Edwards) The raffle winner took home the Notre Dame Lego set, which features many authentic details of the building and has a retail price of £200.

Several of the show’s organisers, including Tom, built the large set throughout the day before dissembling it to hand to the winner.

Tom said: “We have quite a lot of depth to the exhibition and the line-up changes, so we get different things every year.

“I think it was another really great success. We have grown, and we think we’ll continue to.”

Variety - There were many different types of Lego builds for visitors to enjoy (Image: Tom Edwards) Nicolas Geeraert founded Wivenhoe AFOL and is known as a ‘bona fide Lego virtuoso’ after he was runner-up with his son on Channel 4’s Lego Masters competition.

The club has about 15 regular members who meet on the first Wednesday of the month at the Greyhound Pub, where budding builders play games, compete and talk all things Lego.

For more, visit the Wyvern Brickshow on Facebook and Instagram.