Great Western Brick Show bigger and better than before

In a feat of engineering that would make Brunel himself proud, The Brickish Association brought “The Great Western Brick Show” and its exceptional model displays to the STEAM museum last weekend, and for the hordes that visited, I included, it did not disappoint.

The show which returned for its sixteenth-year has not only grown in displays but visitors. Initially starting off with a few LEGO Train displays and two hundred visitors, it now has over a hundred displays and thousands of people from all over the country passing through its doors. With displays so elaborate in construction, that they have taken over two years to build. The Great Western Brick Show is a bricktastic display of Lego and Duplo, from static villages to roller coasters.

As a parent, LEGO is the solution to boredom in our household. It is the gift that keeps on giving from towers to trucks, it, can be built, broken and rebuilt. It is a toy that you never grow out of, appealing to all ages with my husband a case in point.

But, could someone else’s creations bring the same amount of entertainment and joy as building it ourselves? The answer was a resounding yes, from both my children and husband, as we stood in awe of the mechanical artistry of both the model displays and its creators.

LEGO today, moves and engages its audiences. It can be the producer of sound, transportation and challenger of perceptions. All of which were visible with The GW Brick Show’s mind-bending LEGO Music Stadium, Illusion displays and LEGO marble run.

As fans of a little destruction, Robot Wars proved to be a big hit with our family. A scaled down replica of the popular TV series the Roboteers compete until their competitor is deemed destroyed. Each competing robot must fit inside a 25cm cube, weigh no more than 1kg and be made only from official LEGO parts. With the wars expertly commentated by a roboteer compere against the backdrop of AC DC electrifying the atmosphere and its audience. Throughout the weekend the shows ran at regular intervals of three times a day providing ample opportunity for visitors to view the spectacle of robots at war.

Whereas the STEAM’s large hall played host to the main event, with delights from building your own brick mosaic and creations, to a charity tombola, and a host of interactive displays. The detail to which the models are produced is awe-inspiring with mechanical constructions, intricate mosaic portraits, and LEGO families visible inside carefully crafted homes.

While Fairy Bricks, the leading UK LEGO related charity returned with its famous tombola. A winner for both participants and recipients, with players gaining a LEGO figurine or a bumper set of LEGO. And its charity recipients, one of which is our own Great Western Hospital, receiving a donation of LEGO.

As a family day out, The Great Western Brick Show is awesome. It has the right balance of displays to be admired and opportunities to build your own. It is an event run by fans and for fans. A fact that is evident from the passion shown by its exhibitors who push the boundaries year after year with their creations.

But, it is also great value, the entry includes access to the STEAM museums’ resident displays and trains alongside that of its model visitors. It is impossible not to make parallels when viewing the crafted displays of these modern engineers against that of our resident ancestors.

Our once small market town was borne into industry by the hard work of world-class engineers and the workers who helped build both the railway and our history. Is it therefore not somewhat fitting

that they are annually paid homage too with visitors and hobbyist engineers? Individuals who have devoted their own time and money into building creations. And who by visiting, put the spotlight on our own engineers and workers to remind us of the people who once built our town from bricks opposed to LEGO.