Horrible Histories At Warwick Castle with the W Factor

Putrid PiratesA short while ago I asked if any of you had the W Factor and fancied entering a new competition based on Horrible Histories at Warwick Castle. I am absolutely thrilled to announce that my three ‘pirates’ do indeed have the W Factor and came second overall!!

WickedWarwickThat means they’ve won cameo roles in Wicked Warwick, a brand new Horrible History stage show being shown at Warwick Castle twice daily until 6th September. The show is amazing! I must admit that none of us were sure what to expect but Wicked Warwick is quick witted, engaging and perfect for all ages. The kids were giggling, I was chortling and the grandparents were laughing heartily. There were impressions of famous people, historical facts and songs a-plenty. I’m not going to tell you that you should go, just make the time and get thee there!! It really is worth a visit and of course you get to explore Warwick Castle too.WickedWarwickStage

Back to the competition, we found our way to the Wicked Warwick stage (by the Riverside), where we claimed our seats early! It was a family affair with Granny knitting Blackbeard’s beard, Daddy painted the ‘No Mercy!’ t-shirt and I had sewn Blackbeard’s coat. The props were made from Ikea packaging boxes (even pirates can be eco-friendly!) and we were all nervously waiting. When the host called the pirates on stage I helped them carry their props and then crept back to the audience to watch. I’d love to show you their performance but unfortunately we had a technical hitch and didn’t capture it 🙁 . However you can see a mini bit in the following Youtube video along with some of the other brilliant entries (aren’t kids brave getting up on stage).

When the winners were announced, the excitement that oozed out of my kids was extreme; they bounced, they skipped and they squealed with glee! They felt so special and grateful and haven’t stopped talking of it since, the trophy of course has a special place where everyone can see it. They even received Horrible History books and have been delighting me with funny facts every day.piratesatwarwickcastle

We finished off our wonderful trip by visiting the Horrible History folk in their encampment near the entrance to the Castle. The kids splatted some rats, although Blackbeard true to pirate form splatted the Executioner stood nearby who reacted in a most humorous manner.piratessplatrats

Later in June we’ll return to Warwick so the kids can take up their cameo roles in Wicked Warwick (I’m determined I’ll get that one on video). We’ll also make sure to see some parts of the castle that we missed such as the Trebuchet firing a fireball or the Eagles flying. We did manage to visit the new Time Tower though which is brilliant.piratefight

For full details on the Horrible History show pop over to the Warwick Castle website here.

 

 

 

Dirt Devil Mummy Bloggers Event at The Lowry with Mr Stink!

Yesterday morning the children and myself set off for The Lowry in Manchester for a Mummy Blogger Event hosted by Dirt Devil. It’s not a location we’ve visited before and we were very excited to be participating in the event, meeting other bloggers and watching a show. We even took a new Vacuum home!

The event began with an informal gathering in the Hexagon Room, the children marvelled over some rather fancy crayons they had been given before joining an art workshop and eating lunch. I then settled down with an array of sandwiches and had a chat with the other Mums at my table.

The good chaps from Dirt Devil gave us a presentation about the company and their new products. They were very aware that cleaning is not a favoured pasttime of most Mums (or Dads for that matter) but that the premise of the brand is high powered and more importantly quick and easy cleaning. I had to hide my excitement at this point, cleaning is most definitely not a fun activity, but a new Vacuum, well that’s a different matter!

They had brought three new products to show us, first was the Dirt Devil Reach. This little cutie can apparently stretch right across a tennis court! Resisting a very strong urge to grab one and go for a jaunt to see how far the hose came with me, I marvelled over the massive 13m cleaning radius (that’s the stairs sorted then). Priced with an RRP of £69.99 it’s a very affordable little vacuum.

Next was the Dirt Devil Pure. A bagless upright with a 1900W motor, it has an 8m cleaning radius and an ingenious switch on the front to vary the brush depth depending on carpet length. I loved the folding carry handle, despite being a standard sized machine it could easily be pushed into a small cupboard. Priced at just £79.99 it was the most expensive machine I saw that day but still very affordable.

Finally I enthused at the Dirt Devil Easy Handheld. Cordless and rechargable it provides the perfect solution for those quick cleans that tend to pop up around the home or car. It comes with a wall mounted charger meaning it’s always ready to go. I was lucky enough to be given one of these machines to review, so I’ll save my full thoughts for now (plus it’s busy charging up at present!). But at just £59.99 it’s also very economical.

All three machines come infused with Microban technology. This wonderful addition really makes them stand apart from other vacuums, Microban kills bacteria and odours building up in your vacuum. 99.9% effective against E.Coli, Listria and Salmonella amongst others. This feature really appealed to me.

Dirt Devil have a great website full of cleaning tips, tricks and a handy little tool that helps you pick which vacuum is right for you. They also blog regularly about all kinds of events and news (not just cleaning). It’s definitely worth a visit.

Or if videos are more your thing, you can visit their Dirt Devil YouTube page, there’s how-to videos, press events and more. I’m particularly fond of their Toupee Video, which had me chuckling away yesterday.

In August they are launching a Dirt Devil Facebook page, which promises to be very exciting, with games, comps, news, views and the celebrity world of cleaning. If you have little ones then keep your eye on it for the upcoming Little Devils comp.

After all that cleaning our ‘little devils’ returned from their workshop. We all made our way to the theatre and sat down to watch David Walliams new play ‘Mr Stink’. Whether your familiar with the books or not you really must get yourself along to see the show, it’s fabulous. So fabulous in fact that I am going to write about it in more depth soon. It’s playing at The Lowry until Sun 14 August so still plenty of time to visit.

Details

The three Dirt Devil models mentioned are available to purchase at Argos, Tesco and other leading retailers both online and offline.

To ask questions, give suggesstions etc contact Dirt Devil on Twitter.