Birthday BLOWEYS

[Richard Coombs]

To Celebrate Bryan Clarkes 80th Birthday , every member of the Punch and Judy Club received a Blowey the Clown puppet at this years Mayfayre.



Well almost everyone ...Bryan spent the Mayfayre thinking he had not got one.
He had to wait to get his until our evening meal together.
Then he received a golden box tied with a golden ribbon.
Inside of course was a Golden Blowey.




These Bloweys were carved and dressed by me , but thankfully painting duties were undertaken by fellow Club Member Daniel Hanton.

Inside each was a woven label that said :

Coombs and Hanton
BLOWEY THE CLOWN
a 1960s Classic reworked

[Richard Coombs]

There was a further surprise for Bryan.
At the end of David Wildes show, all the Bloweys popped up in unison in all the Club booths.
Several booths had two performers inside to achieve this.

Again in unison. the Bloweys blew up Balloons that had "80" on them and sang Happy Birthday to Bryan .
Chris Drewits Blowey then got the audience to start a countdown after which all the balloons were popped together.

We considered this a puppeteers equivalent to a" 21 Gun Salute" to the great man.

If you want to see in depth photos of them being built and painted , then I have set up a dedicated flickr gallery.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rkcpuppet ... 8476477695

But to keep things easy for this board here is a pic of each one.
As you can see the group has a fixed look and style.
But the fabrics and wools vary puppet to puppet .
They will forever be a little band of brothers with their matching Club balloon pouches
























So if you are lucky enough to see a show performed by a Member of The Punch and Judy Club this Summer , then there is a good chance you will see a Blowey do his ballon act.