Whenever we organise one of our events we infrequently get questioned about some of the props and costumes that we create. This usually ends up with something along the lines of "Those are great, where do I buy them ?" Although some items are actual bought props or masks most of the Fundraisers characters have been made by the team and used exclusively at events we organise or attend. We are always getting enquiries about selling our items but we are sorry to disappoint - We do not sell these costumes or props. One of the ethics set up originally was that anything we created for the group would be just for the purpose of fundraising and our own enjoyment. With this in mind we initially approached the BBC and various copyright holders to confirm our intention and consequently we recieved gracious consent and support of our organisation. So we have a duty to honour that agreement and it has been the effective way we have worked in fundraisers for over 15 years that has earned that respect. We are just as committed as the copyright holders to protect branding and image, it's all part of the professional way we operate. Some of the group have always been interested in making props and costumes. Through the years we have improved our techniques from starting off with tape and cardboard to latex and fibreglass. It is a credit to some of those in the group who have developed their skills in making masks and costumes that people appreciate at the events. Doctor Who Characters.... Our main source of costume when we first began Fundraisers was through Nigel Peever in Crewe. Nigel had a great talent at creating both masks and costumes which we used in Fundraisers and for his amateur film projects. His Cybermen joined us on pub crawls and town centre collections along with other creations such as Scaroth and a Sea Devil. He created some really excellent Timelord Collars, Skull caps and Robes for THE TRIAL OF DAVROS. Also for that production we were all impressed with the Chancellery Guard which was a virtual replica of the BBC version! Traffic Warden John Ashton from Openshaw had created his own Davros and Dalek which we first used in Hyde for one of our Children In Need Collections ! It's quite a compliment to see some of our creations holding up so well when compared to their original acreen counterparts. The Dalek is a prime example of how much hard work goes into construction and accuracy. From the correct angle of the skirt and shoulder sections to the mesh, lights and dome, it has to look the part ! In 2003 the Dalek was over 12 years old and in desperate need of some renovation with damage to the neck, head and skirt section. Originally the domes were ballcocks cut in half and hot glued to the skirt section. This had to be rethinked when during an event at Longleat an eager souvenir hunter ripped one off as a souvenir. Now they are all fibreglass in construction and bolted to the bodywork! The paintwork chosen back in the early 90's was to make it a 'Genesis' version. I recall going to B&Q to the paint mixing machine and the colour - Obsidian Grey ! Finding the correct mesh behind the metal shoulders took some finding and eventually found it in Wales! The rubber skirt section was an easy find, the plastic used with brickwork for damp proofing qhich is held in place by metal strips. The head lights came from a Landrover dealer in Stockport,they're reversing lights ! The refurbishment in 2003 has been somewhat a rediscovery once again of what work went into the Dalek's creation but equally rewarding that hes held together so well over the years too ! Over the years the characters have grown in number to include Cybermen, both an Attack version and Nemesis version. My particular favourite was the Nemesis, with it being made for my particular size in mind. First to be done for that suit was to find an overall that was as close as possible and only requiring minimal work on the arms. legs and feet. This was followed by latexing the material, literally painting latex onto the material for a couple of layers to strengthen it and give a good surface for paint to adhere to. I then sprayed a back layer of matt black paint onto the suit which would be the base colour underneath. To get the mesh effect for the pattern I found a piece of plastic fence from the local Garden Centre and sprayed the silver through it to give the diamond design on the outfit. Sewing electrical blocks onto the arms and legs almost completed the look and then feeding aquarium tubing to all the connectors which were sew on to stop them drooping. We had already made the Attack style Cyberman head and it was a case of adapting the mouth and upperhead to the Nemesis style. The gloves, as most people are aware, come from a sports shop, Cricketers gloves! The Good thing about this suit is its more comfortable to wear than the Attack style, easier to move in etc. Unfortunately I do need to replace the Attack costume - it literally fell to bits when I pulled it from storage last year! A combination of sweat and damp had totally wrecked the costume ! The boots, chest and head are still in good condition though so thats on the shopping list to be done. Moulding the Heamavore was quite easy in some respects having good reference for the face and size it was a case of copying the look really as close as possible. Although I hadn't done it the same way as Sue & Steve Mansfield it was a rewarding project. The material is mainly latex which is finished off with some acrylic paints to get the final look. The only problem I have now is ensuring the mask holds up well and doesn't dry up or rot. The costume was Garry's contribution, he supplied boots, trousers, a vintage waistcoat and stained (!!) shirt. The hands I found on holiday in New York at a shop in Grand Central Station. Although not perfect they suffice, Derek Handley is making some more realistic ones for us. Perhaps one of the most complicated projects has been the Silurian with it taking nearly two years to get the look we wanted. I already had the head, one of the Imagineering releases, so some of the skin design followed on from that. The chest construction began as a wire mesh cage that was covered in combination of papiermache and plaster. Our friend Nigel Peever inspired me with this method, it was the same way he used to create a Silurian chest and his Zygon! Once the correct shape was done I covered it witha pva release and then fibreglass. The result wasn't good - the papiermache didn't release and we had to break up the fibreglass to get it off.. We still have those bits as a souvenir !! So plan 2 was simple, to make the chest on the base of the sculpt directly so rather than create a mould we actually made the chest on the base. This worked exceptionally well but with one problem - it was hard to align the back and front sections! We started work on the Silurian back in July 1991 and it was in November that year that it made an appearance. It was at that event that we realised things weren't correct with colouring a prime example.The suit itself also posed a few problems to get the right look for the skin and to make a flange to cover the persons feet. The suit followed similar construction to the Cyberman with the overalls latexed. We noticed the material flapped to much so we added foam padding into the legs and arms for extra rigidity and support. You may laugh but one of the things that took ages to get right was - the colour! In the end we just decided on a dark brown which looked close to what we had seen in the exhibitions and on photo's ! The final version finally made its debut in April 2003. One of our more comical creations in my view is Hieryonymous which was sculpted by Darren Buckley. Without having much reference material Darren made the face as close as he could from images he had available - mainly a target book cover ! Andy Crombie then made the fibreglass mask which then had a hardhat cage attached to the top and mesh to cover the mouth and eyes. Although close we have noticed that the beard is longer than the original but we were happy. The comical side came in September 2001 when wearing him at Panopticon Paul Jones started the 'Uncle Albert' impression wearing the mask ! So I will always think of Hieryonymous now in a three wheeled van with Del and Rodney ! One of the more difficult creations was put together by Hilton Fitzsimmons who, apart from having his own Dalek, had created an excellent Zygon which was on display at our REMEMBRANCE'97 event. Another Dalek joined the gang created by Andy Loring, making its first appearance at the 2002 Sci-Fi Event. With the 'Death To The Daleks' colour scheme the Dalek is also able to fire co2 and a working voicebox! After a while it gets tricky to find and make new characters and recently it has been our new recruit Philip Robinson that has brought us a few additional characters. With some great Sontaran's, he's also created his own versions of The Ice Warriors and revived the Auton ! K-9 has also recently joined and in true 'Who' fashion' has broke down and needs some rewiring work !! One project which has just been completed is a Tetrap which again utilised Phil's great modelling skills in recreating the feet, claws and belly! We then cast from the moulds to create these as well as making up a flexible lycra suit to attach the fur - a combination of wigs/theatrical hair. The wings were created by painting latex in the shape onto a glass dining table and then using cane to form the bones ! The Tetrap's eyes are painted from the inside to give them a more shiny appearance. You can see from the images below that it turned out pretty well !! Other Characters...... The first non Dr Who characters that appeared at events was Batman and The Joker. I purchased a film Batman costume from Granada tv in 1994 which made its debut at one of our Carnival events ! The Joker was a character I had always liked so naturally enough I made my own interpretation up which appeared in the early 1990's events.My last appearance as the Clown Prince of Crime was in 2002 so Im not sure whether its the last we are to see of him ! That original Batman served us well over many years with his last main appearance at the Ashton Sci-Fi weekend in 2001. Garry then decided to buy an updated costume and also the film Robin suit to compliment it too ! These new charcters made their debut at Glossop Carnival in 2002 with Stuart Glazebrook as the Dark Knight and Chris Lowe as Robin ! With Spider-Man also popular we also bought a costume that Mike Morris could wear. Feet and gloves were hard to sort out but we cobbled something together while we waited for proper spidey gloves! The mask also had to have new eyes. it wasn't very good to have Mike stare out of two holes in the foam latex! Although Spider-Man is ok we still may look at a new costume with him being one of our popular characters ! We also managed to get a Riddler mask and costume which is ok but not really up to the same standards as other characters. We have also got a Green Goblin mask which we hope Jon Hall will complete the costume for, now that is going to be a tough challenge ! Steve Hird first brought Robocop to the Sci-Fi 2002 event and was an instant success ! He had worked hard on the costume which was an excellent replica. The only difficulty with suit, as Steve would agree, was mobility. Im hoping you'll also get chance to see him as the Terminator soon ! Garry has put a few costumes together himself such as a STARGATE officer and he also has an original STAR COPS costume. Probably the biggest influence on us lately has been Star Wars which began after the first Ashton Sci-Fi event back in 2001. We have also worked with the UK Garrison who we found to be one of the most professional organisations we have been associated with. The Garrison members themselves are great characters and have been really popular with the public at the events. It was natural that this fed our own Star Wars interest into creating and adding Star Wars as another extra focus. So Garry bought some new characters in 2002 which comprised Darth Maul, an Emperor Guard and X-Wing Pilot. He also got Jedi robes and two standard costumes of the Clone Trooper and Jango Fett which we displayed on mannequins at the Sci-Fi event. It wasn't until 2003 that we got our own Stormtroopers to add to Hyde Fundraisers. The kits were bought from the U.S and we found em a little hardgoing, especially the helmets, to put together. Jon Hall also began work on a Boba Fett costume, making most the items himself including the armour. We also bought Jango Fett armour to make up that suit and got a helmet made in fibreglass from Australia. My own input was to work on Darth Vader which began with getting a helmet made by Phil and then to start slowly assembling the costume together ! Ray Phillips has constructed an excellent RESUURECTION style Daklek but he skills were taxed even further with the construction of a Predator costume. The bodysuit is quite a heavy and thick affair which soon has the heat rising once you add the armour! His skills also cam in very useful when creating a character for TRIAL OF DAVROS that included a full base wheelchair, chest armour an some adaptive components onto a mask to make Vintel ! Meanwhile, Andy Loring created an R2D2 which he had ready for the Ashton Sci-Fi event as he explains... I put in quite a bit of research on recreating the little guy. At first the project seemed too daunting, but having been surrounded by Star Wars characters on several occasions, I decided that an appearance by the little Astromech Droid would be just excellent at fundraising events. It would be a great addition to the Hyde Fundraisers' arsenal of attractions and simply had to be done! With a brace of Daleks in various stages of build already swamping the house, I expected Lynn to do her fruit at the very idea of starting a new project. Well, I was wrong. Whilst I um-ed and ah-ed at the projected problems with the build, she was really keen on the idea. I had plenty of doubts about how I was going to do this bit or that bit, but all in all, come new year 2003, I had enough ideas in my head to make a start. Many of the components I used were shipped from the USA, Australia & Canada, so it was costly , especially postal charges, it was worth it if it ! The idea of scratch-building major components went out the window early on for reasons of accuracy, build-time and strength. For example, I would hate to spend weeks or months building the outer legs from wood, just to have the notoriously narrow ankles collapse under the weight ... & my ability to work with metal is virtually non-existent. But this is to be a working droid, as were my Daleks - so he's got to be up to a little rough and tumble from the public and from riding in my trailer! As a result, Artoo is being constructed largely from aluminium. Fellow Dalek builder Kurt in Tasmania kindly pointed me towards the R2-D2 builder's club. This is a great site! There is a wealth of information and accurate plans available, everyone is very willing to help and parts can be commissioned from various builders worldwide, usually in a choice of metal or resin. For more details about the R2D2 construction visit Andy's website - http://www.kernow24.plus.com/r2dome.htm

The latest character projects have been related to the New Dr Who series and the first of which began planning after THE CHRISTMAS INVASION was screened. The Sycorax Leader is a traditional monster in many ways, although more sophisticated than traditional enemies, it seemed plausible we could recreate this character. The costume project was undergone by Deena Kearney who worked on replicating the robes and accessories for the character. Bones were created with milliput and Andy Loring created the leaders staff from various odds n ends. We were lucky to obtain a latex copy of Sycorax Sword from a company that had been associated with tv production for additional authenticity. The mask was undertaken by Neil Vickers who created the Leader as a full mask rather than the complex mask worn by the actor onscreen. The end result proved to be very effective and the final element to be completed will be the full warrior head mask that Neil is producing in fibreglass. The first outing for the Sycorax Leader was in June in Leicester where he tangled with Colin Baker - Dr Who number 6. After Series Two hit the airwaves it was GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE that prompted Costume Manager Ray Phillips to develop the creation of the Clockwork Droid. Ray sculpted the mask and sourced the various components required to produce the period costume required with help from Mick Handy. They also created the droids tool accessory to complete the character. We have also been lucky enough to have a Male Droid mask donated from MFX who created the actual TV masks to add even more authenticity to the character. The next New Series character to join Hyde Fundraisers was the Ood from THE SATAN PIT, with the mask sculpted by Phil Robinson. Phil worked on the mask for a couple of months and the costumes were created by Giltstock Clothing in Denton, Manchester. The creation of the Ood globes fell to Ray who sourced the globes themselves through various Hobbycraft outlets and attached the necessary wiring to illuminate them! The finished result proved a big hit with children who loved the Ood at the events where they have appeared - although we have yet to see them be posessed!!!

A further addition to the Sycorax was the Warrior mask itself which again was scultped by Neil Vickers and including the scary glowing eyes.This has been a perfect addition to the character and gives a further option for its appearance at events!

Our New Dr Who characters expanded further in 2007 with a further Clockwork Droid mask donated my MFX for the female Repair Droid 7. The costume was created by Dizzy Gothic in Ashton-under-Lyne to emulate the period style and be adaptable so it could be worn by various people. A bustle was created by fastening cushions together and gloves and bracelets were easily sourced. The next character cam in the shape of the 2006 Christmas Santa's from THE RUNAWAY BRIDE with the actual mask sculpted once again by Neil Vickers. The costumes were quite easy to find and thick belts completed them.

It was also decided to attempt the Scarecrows which featured in the episodes 'Human Nature/Family Of Blood'. Costume Manager Ray Phillips took on the assignment to bring these evil creatures to life for Hyde Fundraisers. "Having seen the original scarecrows in production at the Millennium FX studios back in Nov '06 I thought they would be an excellent addition to the Hyde family of monsters. After watching the 'Human Nature' episode I was convinced! The sculpting of the scarecrow mask began within days of the show airing and it didn't take long to get the basic look. One of the reasons I felt the character to be an ideal HFR monster was the relatively easy sculpt design. Photographs of my initial sculpt were shown to our latest honorary member, Neill Gorton who, although he didn't actually sculpt the originals, saw them develop in the workshop, under the auspices of fellow MFX supremo Rob Mayor. Following Neill's advice a couple of minor changes were made to the sculpt and it was ready for moulding. Surprisingly the hessian scrim that gives the scarecrow's head it's convincing sack like appearance, was added before moulding was done. Although this makes mould preparation and casting slightly more complicated it does save a lot of time when it comes to finishing the masks, which would have been very labour intensive if the scrim had to be added to each individual casting. In addition to explaining in detail the technique for adding the scrim, Neill kindly donated a couple of metres of the scrim used for the originals for me to utilise on our HFR reproductions! The next stage was to produce a two piece mould from the clay sculpt. Shims were made and pushed into the clay where the join was to be made and the clay sealed. The sculpt and shims were then given numerous coats of spray release wax and the mould was created. Once out of the mould, the raw latex masks require a fair degree of finishing with trimming of flash lines, painting of the base colour and dry brushing with a contrasting tone to pick out the detailing of the scrim. The mask is then embellished with the extra hessian, loose fibres and filling bursting from the 'seams'. The final stage is adding the stitching on the eyes, mouth and around the edge seams and adding the final touch, the raggy piece of fabric tied around the neck. " We are certain these scarecrows will send a chill down the spine!

We hope you have found this little glimpse behind the scenes interesting and that you can come to appreciate how much work goes into some the characters and costumes we have at Hyde Fundraisers.