The 2019 World Transplant Games in Newcastle Gateshead

We had a brilliant time in Newcastle and Gateshead at the weekend. We were visiting to cheer on our friend, minigolf rival and GB international athlete John Moore in the 2019 World Transplant Games.

The World Transplant Games is a multi-sports event with thousands of athletes from 53 countries competing in 16 sports. Sporting events range from Archery and Athletics to Darts, Football and Golf to Tenpin Bowling, Squash, Swimming and Volleyball.

It was brilliant to see all of the World Transplant Games signs, banners and activity around Newcastle and Gateshead

The 2019 World Transplant Games are the 22nd edition and the first in the UK since the Manchester Games in 1995.

We've previously been to the British Transplant Games in Newcastle, Liverpool and Birmingham.

The Games were created to be a celebration of a second chance of life, and to demonstrate the success of transplant surgery while also promoting the need to raise public awareness of organ and tissue donation.

I got some very nice pins for my sporting badge collection at the Games

There are currently around 6,080 people on the transplant waiting list including around 150 children and teenagers. On average three people die every day who could have benefited from an organ transplant.

If you want to save lives through organ donation and join the NHS Organ Donor Register it only takes a few minutes to sign up. Do ask your family and friends whether they want to be donors too.

After a healthy walk it was nice to get to heart of the city to see the Athlete's Parade through Newcastle on Saturday afternoon.

A snap with the Games mascot Hope at the Athlete's Parade

With the athletics getting underway on Sunday John got off to a winning start, with victory in the 5k Road Race in both the individual and team categories.

Emily and I also took part in the Gift of Life 5k Run at Exhibition Park and the Town Moor on Sunday.

After the 5k run

The Gift of Life Run was my second 5k, after the Donor Run at last year's British Transplant Games in Birmingham. I felt a lot better this time and really need to run some more

Another day and another photo with Hope the mascot

While having a lovely walk around Newcastle and Gateshead on Saturday we found the Petanque Boulodrome and watched a bit of the practice.

The upper terrain

Petanque players practicing on the middle terrain

We enjoy playing petanque and it was superb to see the game being played at the World Transplant Games.

Australian players practicing on the third terrain

The petanque terrains had been created on a car park and the approach to the Sage Gateshead music centre. It looked like it had been turned into a really good spot to play the tournament. A great use of a car park.

Our friend Kay, John's sister, is a volunteer at the Games and one of the sports she has been assigned is Petanque.

A view of the two lower terrains

Events are taking place across Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland until Friday 23rd August. For more information visit the World Transplant Games website.

Links:
- World Transplant Games 2019
- Join the NHS Organ Donor Register

Crazy Golf at Walkden Town Centre in Greater Manchester

Summer of fun to include Crazy Golf at Walkden Town Centre.

Walkden Town Centre in Greater Manchester will have a Crazy Golf course set-up in Victoria Square between 11am and 3pm on Thursday 29th, Friday 30th and Saturday 31st August.

Hopefully we'll be able to get along for a game.

For more information check out the Walkden Town Centre website.

Related blog posts:
- Minigolf in Greater Manchester
- Greater Manchester
- Shopping
- Summer

Angry Birds Adventure Golf at intu Metrocentre in Gateshead

New Angry Birds Adventure Golf opening at the intu Metrocentre in Gateshead this Autumn.

While we were in Newcastle and Gateshead for the World Transplant Games we called in to the intu Metrocentre in Gateshead as it'll soon be home to the first of the new Angry Birds Adventure Golf courses.

Just a few months too early to play

The Angry Birds Adventure Golf centre in Gateshead will have 18-hole two courses.

Some of the advertising for the course

The team at Rovio Entertainment, owners of the Angry Birds brand, are teaming up with Namco Funscape to create the new minigolf courses. Five locations are planned to open over the next three years.

We really enjoying our visit to the intu Metrocentre and are looking forward to returning to play the Angry Birds Adventure Golf

36-holes of Adventure Golf are being built behind this hoarding

For more info check out the Angry Birds Adventure Golf website.

Related blog posts:
- New Angry Birds Adventure Golf courses opening in the UK
- Angry Birds

Links:
- Angry Birds Adventure Golf
- Rovio Entertainment
- Namco Funscape
- intu Metrocentre

Super Mario moving in Newcastle

Our knack for seeing Super Mario on business signs continued on our trip to Newcastle at the weekend.

Mario will move anything, anytime!

We've seen Mario in some interesting places in the last few years.

Related blog posts:
- Mario & Luigi Ice Cream Vans
- Mario's takeaway in Barnsley
- Mario

The Simpsons street art in Newcastle

I love finding street art and I'm a big fan of The Simpsons so it was superb to find this huge mural near The Tyne Bar on the quayside in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Nice

We spotted the artwork while walking along the waterside

We also spotted some Simpsons-related pieces by the Cack Handed Kid on our walk around the city.

A piece by the Cack Handed Kid near the quayside

A Home Slice sticker by the Cack Handed Kid at Hoults Yard in Byker

Paradise Island Adventure Golf in Manchester

A return visit to Paradise Island Adventure Golf at the Trafford Centre in Manchester.

The Temple Ruins course at Paradise Island Adventure Golf

We returned to Paradise Island Adventure Golf at the Trafford Centre in Manchester for a round on the Temple Ruins course last night.

Emily on hole 18

In our 18-hole match-up I defeated Emily with a score of 35 to 37.

Playing hole 16 of the Temple Ruins course

While playing we heard a group of lads use a term for a hole-in-one that we'd never heard before!

Anyone want to guess what it was?

(Spoiler - you'll be able to hear it in two of the videos below!)

Playing hole 7

A hole-in-one on hole 8

Playing hole 10

Playing hole 11

Playing hole 12

A hole-in-one on hole 15

Playing hole 16

Playing hole 17

Emily with a hole-in-one on hole 18

Scoring a hole-in-one on hole 18

Winning a free game on the lucky last hole

Related blog posts:
- Paradise Island Adventure Golf
- Trafford Centre
- Manchester

Link:
- Paradise Island Adventure Golf

Treetop Adventure Golf at St David's in Cardiff

A visit to Treetop Adventure Golf at St David's shopping centre in Cardiff.

While visiting our friends in South Wales we swung by Treetop Adventure Golf at St David's shopping centre in Cardiff.

Walk this way...

The course has some of the best branding we've seen on our travels, with lots of colourful and fun signs pointing you in the right direction.

It's also the first course we've seen that has it's own button in the lift!

Level P3 for Putting fun

Treetop Adventure Golf is home to two 18-hole courses - the Ancient Explorer and the Tropical Trail. There's also a lucky last hole where you can try to win a free game.

The Cardiff courses were the 917th and 918th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Hole 1 of the Tropical Trail course

Hole 3 of the Tropical Trail

Treetop Adventure Golf in Cardiff opened in 2015. You can also now find Treetop Adventure Golf courses in Manchester and Leicester.

The BMGA Welsh Open tournament will be taking place at Treetop Adventure Golf in Cardiff on Sunday 6th October.

I wonder who won this tournament?

Links:
- Treetop Golf
- St David's

Related blog posts:
- Cardiff
- St David's
- Treetop Adventure Golf
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Thompson Park Miniature Railway in Burnley

A visit to the Miniature Railway at Thompson Park in Burnley.

Last month we visited Burnley for the first time. While there we found a Putting course at Queens Park and a superb miniature railway at Thompson Park.

It's always a bonus to find a miniature railway on our travels and we really weren't expecting to find or ride one on our day out in Burnley.

Thompson Park is a lovely spot and well worth a visit.

We've always enjoyed miniature railways and since we moved up to Greater Manchester we've found quite a few more while out and about exploring our new local area. There are three miniature railways in Stockport borough! Interestingly some of the engines at Thompson Park were formerly in operation at the Brookside Miniature Railway in Stockport.

Related blog posts:
- Miniature Railways
- Burnley

Link:
- Thompson Park Railway

Shark at St David's shopping centre in Cardiff

We saw this nice bit of shopping mall marketing at St David's in Cardiff last week.

Sh...sh...SHARK!

The 25ft long Great White Shark has been installed at the shopping centre to hook people in to visit and help them find out more about sustainability, with a particular focus on single-use plastic and the harm it poses to marine life.

In a shopping mall shark cage!

It's one of the best malls I've visited on my travels.

Link:
- St David's shopping centre

Related blog posts:
- Sharks
- Cardiff
- St David's shopping centre

Farewell Pacer Railbus 142005

The first of Northern's Pacer Railbuses retired from service today.

Pacer Railbus 142005 at St Annes-on-the-Sea station last August. It's the first Northern Pacer to be retired from service

They've been a 'popular' train up north for a fair few years and we quite often see - and hear - them squealing along the many lines in Greater Manchester.

Today the first of Northern's Pacer Railbuses retired from service, as 142005 made its final journey from Manchester Victoria to Stalybridge.

At the end of its run Northern stated that it had travelled 3 million miles in its 32 years of service!

The first Pacer Railbuses were introduced in 1984 and were designed as a short-term measure with a lifespan of twenty years. They've certainly been pushed beyond what they were originally intended for.

While I wouldn't necessarily want to travel on a Pacer Railbus on a long journey, nor would I much fancy using one for a daily rush-hour commute, there is something about them that makes them fun to travel on.

We saw Pacer Railbus 142005 a couple of times while on the Fylde coast last August

While modern trains may be sleeker and have more comfortable seating and air-con, there's a lot to be said for old diesel trains. Last week's large-scale power cuts showed that while new trains may be great when conditions are perfect, they were completely useless when the power went down.

Pacer Railbus 142005 connected to another old train - a Class 150 Sprinter

When we arrived in Stockport in 2016 we noticed that, although there are a lot of train lines and connections aren't too bad, the rolling stock itself is very old. In fact as we moved north so did a load of ex-Thameslink Class 319s that we'd been commuting into London on since 2003!

Having lived most of my life down south I didn't realise quite how poor the train services can be up north in comparison. And that's saying something as a long-suffering commuter on the 'Bedpan line' from Luton to London.

Pacer Railbus 142005 arriving at St Annes-on-the-Sea station en route to Preston

Prior to a one-stop journey in April 2017 I had only ridden on one Pacer Railbus. That first Pacer train trip was only one-stop too, going from Paignton to Torquay on our South West Minigolfing Roadtrip in 2015.

Transport for Wales are also withdrawing their Pacer Railbuses and have added public service announcements to the sides of the trains declaring it's "The start of a new journey"

On a recent trip to Carnforth we were lucky enough to see the first of the Pacer's replacements out on a test-run. While it was merely a brief encounter it was nice to see Class 195001 breeze through the station.

Related blog posts:
- Pacer Railbus
- Train Nerd
- Trains

Owen Johnson's skydive for Caudwell Children

Good luck to our friend and minigolf rival Owen Johnson who is doing a sponsored skydive for Caudwell Children!

You can find out more and donate on Owen's JustGiving page.

Happy World Elephant Day

Today is World Elephant Day.

Nellie the elephant at Jungle Safari Adventure Golf in Worcester

World Elephant Day was launched in 2012 to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants.

A pair of elephants on the Crazy Golf course at Playland Stourport

For more information visit the World Elephant Day website.

An elephant on the Crazy Golf course at Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach

Considering how many safari and jungle-themed adventure golf courses we've visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour you'd think we'd have played more elephant obstacles and seen more trunks on our travels.

An elephant obstacle on the Brean Sands indoor Crazy Golf course

Minigolf consultancy

As marketing and sales professionals Emily and I use our extensive knowledge and skills in supporting and promoting the game we enjoy as a hobby.

Since 2006 we have visited more than 900 minigolf courses in the UK and overseas. This has given us an insight into many aspects of minigolf, from course operators, pop-ups, competitions, clubs, national associations, international federations, suppliers, designers, builders and technology providers.

At our 900th course visit - the North Bay Mini Golf course in Scarborough

Our involvement in the world of minigolf includes blogging, media relations, sponsorship, course design, advice and consultancy, event organisation and promotion, and participation in tournaments around the world.

The Ham & Egger Files blog contains over 3,000 posts that have attracted 1.5 million page views.

Emily playing at Joe Joe Jim's Crazy Crazy Golf at Fletcher's Arcade in Cofton Hackett, Birmingham

As a volunteer I served three terms on the Executive Committee of the British Minigolf Association and was a member of the World Minigolf Sport Federation’s Marketing and Media Committee for six years.

Putting at Lane7 in Newcastle

Please do get in touch to find out how we can help with your minigolf, crazy golf and adventure golf activities.

You can also buy my ebook 'The Minigolfer’s Guide to Marketing' on Amazon and Kobo.

Link:
- Marketing consultancy

Related blog posts:
- Minigolf
- Marketing

Player profiles:
- Richard Gottfried
- Emily Gottfried