Stories
Video interview with Ben Cornish and Lynn Carter about Exeter BJC and the juggling scene at the time.
Here's a bundle of memories from a Facebook thread in the BJC 2012 Facebook group:
23 (Huddersfield) had the pictures for auction
22 (Norwich) nearly didn't happen and happened at new time of year, instead
21 (Doncaster) had the ice skating - ask Mini about his risk assessment for it
Andrew Harris: Not just ice skating, but a unicycle ice skating session!
Andrew Harris 17 (Derby) Put on in a muddy field after the expected buildings never appeared!
Nigel Roder: Edinburgh, Devil Stick Peat's infamous routine plus I think the first appearance of the box of shite.
Nigel Roder: Manchester Spencer!
Eddy Bacon: I've heard rumours about the 2008 convention, a passé passé trader, a girl and a unicycle...
Nigel Roder: Birmingham, rain in the show tent, Steve Rawlings owns the show, my first.
Nigel Roder: Bristol, cold, wet, cold, muddy, cold, ducks, did I mention cold?
Duncan Hoyle: Manchester - featured on Breakfast TV, with Keith Chegwin (I think) wandering round tents looking for people to interview
Matthew Byng-Maddick: 18 (Perth) 1st BYJotY
Amie Bridge: Duncan Hoyle - the person Keith Chegwin interviewed was good ol John the Juggling Postman - fondly known to us Chelmsford club jugglers as 'Johnny Juggs'.
Russell Wells: BJC 1 Steve Rawlings was there, and Sem from Semcycle brought his team over. But 1 of the children was on there parents passport, but without there parent so they got to the UK and was told they had to go home, so Sem offered to take that child home and never returned to BJC1, I helped organise the the unicycle games with Lee Jellyhead.
There was no evening show, so in the evening 1 bloke stood up and said, everybody is welcome to his house for a party, I went to the Party with Suzy Oddball.
Cardiff 2001 I organised the parade and games. In the parade. I just had my 12 foot giraffe costume delivered. But decided it was to far to walk the parade so Pete Gamble and I jumped on the coach to the Games site, at the Games Haggis and Charlie kindly offered to compère the Games.
Any more memories you would like message me. Or we can chat on a phone !!
Amie Bridge: Norwich 95 5th BJC (I think!) - The games were held inside because it poured with rain. It was at the same school that the more recent 2009 convention was at and the hall where the traders were in 2009 was the hall that was used for the games. Vague memories of the public show, standing in the back corner of the theatre. I think there was a performer who bounce juggled on a keyboard thing?! This was my first BJC and I attended for the Sat only.
Amie Bridge: BJC2K - Anthony Gatto and Mr Michael 'Fergie' Ferguson wearing a party hat in the show lol
Amie Bridge: Cardiff BJC (sorry don't know the year) - Hebe Bown licking our tent window with her sister Jasmine ;o)
Russell Wells: Cardiff 2001
The lovely Indian family and there lovely food
Russell Wells: The BJC with the orange light up passes. We got a non light up for our caravan key we hired and got to keep the keyring.
Same convention I got chilli vodka in my eye and another night I had a candle burnt onto my head in renegade and Pete"Mr Whips" Gamble cracked the flame out.
Russell Wells: Bath year 2 or 3 we had our own massive hall for unicycling in With a gyroball thing you sit in and get spun about. The weird ideas are the best like the year the electronic dance game where about 20 people where stood behind copying the moves.
Tess Cartwright: Last year, blackout... magical times on the race track :D
Stumpy Pearce: BJC 15 Whitstable 2002, The Queen came to visit, the clocks went back, it was Easter, the Queen mum died, it was the hottest day of the year and we had a fire show with no fire performers!
Stumpy Pearce: Norwich 95 watched a guy do 5 ball mills mess!
Natalie Randall: 17 BJC derby, The amazing show, the amazing renegades, the amazing people.
18 BJC Perth, first ever BYJotY - counted all the votes. Martin and Johns amazing renegade act (how to learn 5 clubs) & the freezing cold.
Natalie Randall: OH AND THE BJC SONG AND DANCING IN THE CABARET. Oh amazing! Hebe Bown: ...I'm sure you remember more of 23 BJC that I do, Natalie Randall. NEVER AGAIN...
Stumpy Pearce: Nottingham 1997, The enormous tent and drinking a whole lot of beer and eating curry while watching Accident and Emergency then catching the bus to the campsite, waking up in the morning and crawling on my hands and knees across the field to the porta loos!
Russell Wells: Coventry walking miles from venue to venue.
Exeter year 2 or 3 walking over the canal bridge to get to the pub
Russell Wells: Turning up at BJC 6 Birmingham to be told by my friend Lee Jellyhead that I was co-organiser of BUC1
Russell Wells: I love Unicorns song. We've all forgot pre-show at public show for so many years. Including Nottingham 1st BJC with the gorillas in the foyer
Emily Winch: The mad organist before the show in Huddersfield (2010)... IIRC Steph hairsprayed several forks into his hair, then as soon as he was done with us he had to go straight off to another gig which may or may not have been a funeral.
Russell Wells: And how good was Trevor Organ the plate spinner.
And singing Karaoke in the pub with Ame
Stephanie Schneider: Emily you remember correctly. it was a good look. I think afterwards he just put his head under the tab to get rid of a ton of 'hair products'. and what an organ! beautiful that was
Lorraine Reese: BJC2k - the début of the Aerotech glow clubs in Feeding The Fish's act during the show
Dave Barnes ...rather upstaging the poor guy who had to follow them. Tony something...
Lorraine Reese Bakewell? Tart?
Charlie Hull: BJC 6 Birmingham, my first convention, arriving late with Mark T and joining the jugglers in a small hall near the campsite. Saw two chaps passing: one very straight-laced and tidy, one with piercings, ripped clothes and scary hair. No idea who they were but I remember thinking 'I like these people'. Subsequently lunch out somewhere in Brum with balloon modeller and others, as the beer flowed the models got ruder...
Connor MacLeod: Mr Roder, your memory is slightly fuzzy - we had our retinas permanently scarred by Devilstick Peat at Manchester.
Here's some of mine:
Manchester - A ridiculously long queue for the show after H&S made us tape all the chairs together.
Nottingham (the first time) - Minibus journey across the park to the campsite
Cardiff - Dice stacking, "the Russians", heavy rain and loadsa mud on the last day
Connor MacLeod: Bristol - Ducks, and so much rain the outdoor traders were really badly hit.
Edinburgh - Snow on the tents
Perth - Spending more time on a futile quest for decent food than at the convention
Norwich (the second time) - injuring lots of people with my chilli vodka
Mark Tillotson: Well also at the BJC6 in Birmingham, rain and wind getting into the big top during the show, very very cold, the Gandinis doing one of their first shows (IIRC the artiness wasn't to everyone's taste back then).
Richard Green: Full evacuation of rented student accommodation (fire alarm) and a great fire show in a train yard.. . Nottingham?? It was one of the early ones... Mark.. ideas of the year??
Nigel Roder: Devil Stick Peat must have done his act twice because I can definitely remember his act at Edinburgh, and again in Nottingham where he did his act clothed and a number of people game behind him and disrobed.
Nigel Roder 1st Norwich Skate Naked act during renegade. A time when renegade audiences put some thought and wit behind their heckles. In particular Cla(i)re was hilarious.
Natalie Randall: The guy who got completely naked at Nottingham 2011 cabaret xx
Jane Randall: I am really loving all the memories, for me, 2004 the renegade tent being really full and very cosy, (hasn't been the same since, but then it was my first!) with marshmallow vodka being passed around
2005 Perth - Nottingham Bus trip - on the road to Amarillo, seeing the kids learn some weird nose dive rolls on the crash mats. Losing Natalie on the last day and Ben getting really upset that we had properly lost her and she would miss the bus home (she was asleep on the bleachers)
2006 Bodmin - Amazing cornish pasties. Quiet renegades sshhhh....
2007 Nottingham - Food poisoning that was NOT related to whisky, Lots of sunshine!
2008 Doncaster - great venue for rollerskating!
2009 Norwich - a 24hr hall that I never entered once! very loud renegades going on till the wee hours, and sending a text message from my tent for them to turn the music down and it happening a minute or two later!!!
2010 Huddersfield - learning to crack a whip, memories beginning to blur!!
2011 Nottingham - best BJC ever! LOL not biased at all ;-)
Rob Elk-Ra LaBonche Thorburn: I can't bring myself to say it so will do so in a different language...: Mangez le Fromage!
Russell Wells: The Renegade catch frazes ALAN
Jane Randall: Russell your spelling is so random! presume you mean 'phrase'
Duncan Hoyle: 1st Nottingham BJC water shortage problems whilst stupidly hot during the day. Tent frozen solid at night. Camping moved to the park miles away - deer walking amongst the tents
Lorraine Reese: Unicycle ceilidh at BJC2k
Allan Rhodes Jnr: Last year's attempt at opening a bottle of lager with a shoe
Pete Gamble: Norwich 95 , my first ... 100's of jugglers smiling at each other .... Bob's Bash , being served by white jacketed waiters wearing fez's who wouldn't step on the floor ... tequila slammers until I couldn't slam any more .....the 20 minute version of Psycho Killer and we all sang along .. Devilstick Peat, Haggis and Charlie, Peewee as renegade compere ... being told by Russell Wells that as a BJC virgin I HAD to do something in the renegade ... so I did , fire eating umbrella and fire proof chefs trousers ..... right after a storming bit from Skate Naked then he admitted that he'd never done Renegade himself ...... B.....d! :-)
Pete Gamble: the Norwich guy who turned up to do a renegade and showed us his toys ... that amazing expanding plastic stick globe that opened up and swallowed his head ..... Claire " Are you left handed?"
Ben BuddhaRa Cornish: Ahhh..Norwich...well & truly demented...smoking & slamming on mattresses IN the gym...how times have changed!!
Michael Ferguson: Sorry, I'm a bit late to this party. Too many memories, so I stuffed it all into my blog http://beej.zoomfergie.com/ instead. c u soon
Max Salthouse: last years bottle and shoe in the renegade
Karen Perrow: York 2000: Anthony Gatto presenting his Dad with a trophy, endlessly parodied at renegade, my first time cracking a whip, drinking all the booze we had brought with us on the first night and falling over in the mud, oh and the invention of Zen Wrestling!
Dani Hoolyhoopy Treacher: Nottingham: Wes Peden juggling shoes using his feet... And Paul Tann and some1 else on a giant rola bola made out stuff found around.
Emily Winch: Tom Derrick, the cheerleader outfit, the poi and the chilli vodka... the person whose Mum made a BJC 2008 anniversary cake which was eaten by hundreds of people at Renegade... finally escaping from paying people after our public show just in time to jump around to Les Vegas in the big top, they were awesome, somebody book them again!
