One week ago today we descended upon Birmingham UK to prepare for GearBlast:UK, the British arm of the ‘Geariest’ event in the world. Other events claim to be hardcore gear but they don’t have the variety nor the kind of accepting atmosphere you only get at GearBlast events.
This is a passion for us and we don’t take a wage from the profits, it’s simply done for the love of it, to bring like minded gay male gearheads together and enable them to build friendships and camaraderie.
This year’s event went extremely smoothly, as it’s our fourth attempt at putting this together, the team successfully all pulled in the same direction and with a total of 66 people attending over the weekend we enjoyed a great time together.
Saturday started off at Midday with a cold buffet provided which allowed all guests to come along and meet each other in daylight, plus with ‘GearBoxx’ the gear market/swap meet it helped to break the ice before the evening events.
The parties kicked off at eight pm and all our guests were geared up and raring to go, lots of music, socialising and play all happening pretty much straight away!
James did his speech and the whole group joined in with the group photo shortly afterwards. We also put on ‘Pervs Against Humanity’ card game in one of the social areas which was very popular.
Sunday kicked off again at about midday with a motorcycle rideout to Stratford upon Avon where eight bikes rode out in convoy, brapping engines and generally terrorising the locals. Unfortunately as soon as we reached Stratford the heavens opened and some of the group decided that getting wet was fun, and I’m sure some pictures will emerge of the hardcore elite eating their fish and chips in the downpour!
The rain cleared up just in time for the ride back into Birmingham where the delayed start of the GearWalk was to begin outside the St. Martin’s Church and Selfridges iconic wall of silver discs.
A few group shots later we then walked up through the busy shopping precinct toward the new library, stopping for photos with the locals and to take on water! It was hot and humid, (for me at least) so the breaks were very welcomed.
You can see some of the images of the GearWalk above and in the last post.
Once back at Underworld we got ready for the second night which was a bit more relaxed but included a first for me and for GearBlast…an inflatable pool filled with rubber puppies and a light coating of J-lube added. I think this was something which was hard to achieve logistically and we will have better plans in place for next year for sure.
Both nights went very well and I’m pleased to see the responses we got from so many attendees who put into words some very heartwarming comments about the friendships they made, and how life changing going to GearBlast is.
And this means we get paid in satisfaction, nothing is quite like the feeling of making a group of people happy and more than that, part of something that they feel they belong and can at last enjoy.
Here’s to many more GearBlast events worldwide, next is Munich in November, go to www.gearblast.eu for more details!! Tickets are on sale now!
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