Bob Brechin talk at Snibston Discovery Museum this Thursday

[Red Baron]

Sorry for the delay in sharing this - been busy with life generally recently and back from a trip to Normandy for 70th anniversary of D-Day.

This Thursday, 19 June, Bob Brechin will present an illustarted talk on the history of Palitoy - 'The house of constant progress: And introducing some people and toys that lived in it.'

The talk is part of a regular series on a wide range of topics hosted by Snibston Discovery Museum. The talk is £4, which includes refreshments & homemade biscuit. From 10am until about 11.30am, including refreshments prior to Bob's talk. Tickets available on the day from the museum admission desk.

[The Kraken Wakes]

Pah! Sounds amazing and would love to go but wish this was on a weekend.

[Thundershot]

This sounds like a great event & I just happen to be off work all this week, so may very well mossy on done to take a look.

Will you be there on the day R.B?

[Red Baron]

Yes T'shot, I'll be there and would be great to see you. It should be interesting and will cover a good overview of both Palitoy's innovations across their toy ranges (from the start as Cascelloid) and the technology that assisted the company.

This annual series of talks is generally a low key affair aimed at interested locals who are of a certain age (hence the week day slot and tea / biscuit enticement). That said, this year has been a classic year, with some really interesting and wide ranging topics.

If Snibston remains open (for those who haven't seen my other posts, the site is at risk of County Council cuts and plans to close and demolish the existing main building), then we hope to be working with Bob to host an Action Man evening in our still working, once mobile theatre (seating 206). The plan is to show the Action Man history film and try to get ex-Palitoy workers and interested members of the public together. There are also plans to take over the museum for Action Man's 50th birthday with the VAME group. Watch this space.

[The Kraken Wakes]

Exciting plans!

[Double-Tap]

Is there any possibility of recording this and putting it on YouTube?
Sounds class!

[Thundershot]

Yes T'shot, I'll be there and would be great to see you.

Excellent, I look forward to meeting up with you there & having a chat over a nice cuppa!

[Thundershot]

Bob gave a superb presentation, today, on the history of the Palitoy company the various aspects of the processes involved in the design & manufacture of their toys & the firms importance to the prosperity of the local area.

The main focus of his talk, naturally, focused on Action-man only briefly touching on however, after the Q&A session, I did manage to have a chat to him & several other ex-Palitoy employees... one of whom, it transpired, had designed the Sealion!

They were a great bunch of fellows, a real privilege to meet them & hear their stories.

A real highlight for me was seeing photo's of the VAM prototypes that were canned just hours before their toyfair debut.

Many thanks to David (a.k.a Red Baron), that's a fantastic museum you've got there &, it was real pleasure to meet you sir & big thank you for being the perfect host!

[Red Baron]

Thanks T'shot. It was great to see you there and I really appreciate you making the long trip. Also glad you got to meet Bob and the others afterwards. Bob's presentation was indeed a really excellent guide to Palitoy's history, key toys and the technology that supported it. I shall continue to encourage Bob to work on a published volume, which I think a lot of collectors would be very interested in.

It was Brian Turner who produced the Sealion concept, which was sent for styling to the same external design agency that produced those canned Action Man vehicles. Imagine just how good those Action Man vehicles would have looked in reality - they did look very cool and, as much as I love the Scorpion etc (another of Bob's designs), those were another level. Some of the proposed figure outfits looked quite interesting too.

[Squad Leader]

I dont suppose anybody got any video footage or pics?