Merry Christmas from Dead Men's Spex

Hello Merry Christmas

Uh oh! I hope Santa doesn't think I have been too naughty as I haven't blogged for a very long time. I'm happy to say that 2019 and has been good to us here at Dead Men's Towers.

Looking over the year, a highlight for me was venturing up North to the Festival of Vintage at York Racecourse back in April.That was a fabulous weekend, the weather was awful but luckily we were inside and very busy. We met quite a few familiar faces and many new people too and had a ball. We have booked to go next year- keep 25th and 26th April 2020 free if you fancy coming to see us at this great event.

We also enjoyed selling our glasses at North Norfolk Railway 1940s weekend. This event is a regular one in the Dead Men's Spex calendar and it has the added advantage of being right on our doorstep in rural Norfolk. We were amazed when we added up the dates and realised that we first started selling there in 2008, so this was our 12th consecutive time! It has certainly grown since then, so has Dead Men's Spex and Dead Man Junior - we reserve judgement on me and Deadman!

As Christmas approaches, Deadman and I will be joining our elder statesmen Teddy - 'Dead Bear Growling' for some festive cheer. He is the same age as Deadman but has manged to retain his youthful good looks, he's not gone grey yet - unlike someone I could mention who has been cultivating a rather venerable beard.




Wishing you all a lovely Christmas and a happy New Year .

Thank you to you all for your continued support and custom.
Season's Greetings Mr and Mrs Deadman

Dead Men's Spex on the radio...

Hello,
Well we are in December already and things have been going well at Dead Men's Spex. In November we went with Little Vintage Lover Fair to a new venue to sell our glasses at the Great Hospital in Norwich, it is a beautiful medieval hospital tucked away behind the cathedral. We had a good day and met some familiar faces and a few new people too which is always good.

The Great Hospital Norwich 

Dead Men's Spex Show Room 

We have some exciting news, Dead Man is going to be on BBC radio Norfolk tomorrow morning Thursday 6th December talking about Dead Men's Spex. The reporter, Wally Webb is coming at 8am.  So we will be raring to  go bright and early tomorrow.  A customer noticed that we are supplying the new Peter Rabbit film and contacted the radio station to arrange an interview. So if you would like to hear Dead Man's dulcet tones tomorrow morning tune in!



TTFN Mrs Dead Man

Fabulous Forties Fun at North Norfolk Railway

Hi there,
We had a great time at the 1940s event at The North Norfolk Railway. The weather was lovely and we were very busy. We met some familiar faces and also quite a few new people too. The layout had changed slightly and we were nearer the music than we have been in previous years, so it was easy to get 'In the Mood'. Dead Man Junior was feeling adventurous and went on the train into Sheringham. He came back with stories of bombed out shops, but still managed to get some fish and chips!

The Dead Man himself enjoying the sunshine outside our stall

Our vintage sunglasses went down well and we have a few left which will go online in the not to distant future.

sunglasses 

Hope to see you all soon, we will next be out and about on Sunday 18th November in Norwich with Little Vintage Lover Fair. 

TTFN Mrs Dead Man

It's back to the Forties for Dead Men's Spex with North Norfolk Railway

Hi there
This weekend - Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th September we will be out and about and dusting off our stall and heading off to the North Norfolk Railway 1940s weekend This event gets bigger and more popular every year.  We are quite excited we will be bringing the van which Dead man has been working on. It now has LED interior lights and storage for the essentials such as  tea making equipment!  If he disappears from the stall, you'll know where to find him.

Spectacular steam trains! 

We will also be bringing the important stuff -(if anything is ever more important than tea!) lots of great vintage spectacles. Dead man has been preparing plenty of frames including a glazing a whole load of forties frames with sunglass lenses so you can look cool in that lovely Autumnal sunshine which we usually get for this weekend. See you soon!


TTFN Mrs Dead Man

Hot Heydon!

We are back from Little Vintage Lover Fair at Heydon in rural Norfolk today and are gently cooling down. It was a fantastic day weather wise, as it normally is for this event and it was a very busy day.

Tea vintage style at Heydon.

We were in our usual spot inside the village hall and as the temperature gradually rose, people thinned out and made their way outside into the shade. Dead Man Junior and I sneaked off to the village cafe to get an ice-cream. (We did buy one for Dead Man ) and there was no one on the green (or brown as it is at the moment!). It was just too hot, there were a few people nestled in the shade of the trees near the church.

Dead Men's Spex stall at Heydon

We had a good day; we saw quite a few familiar faces and introduced some new customers to Dead Mens Spex .  Thank you for everyone who came to see us.

TTFN Mrs Dead Man

Dead men's Spex- out and about in pretty Norfolk village of Heydon

Hello,
It is nearly August, (wow where did that go?) so time for Little Vintage Lover Fair's annual event at Heydon tucked away in rural Norfolk. It is on Sunday 5th August 10am -4pm at Heydon Parish Room. It is Little Vintage Lover Fair's tenth birthday this year so it looks to be a good event- as always. I wonder if Zoe will be able to get another beautiful sunny day, she usually manages it!

Heydon on Little Vintage Lover Fair day 

Now the weather has cooled to a normal temperature - it was 34 degrees C (93 degrees F in old money) on Friday- that is not right for England is it !? Dead Man has been able to return to his workshop and has started prepping some stock for the show. We will be bringing a selection of great vintage glasses including 1980s frames,  NHS 524s, 1940s frames, Shuron frames and ladies' cats' eyes. We will also have some fab ladies' sunglasses which came in recently, they are in bright colours; yellow, white, pink and orange and have integral earrings instead of sides; real head turners.

Fabulous sunglasses

Hope to see you at Heydon on Sunday.

TTFN Mrs Dead Man
.

Dead Men's Spex at Mannington Hall

Hello,

Well Spring has finally sprung here in Norfolk and next weekend - Sunday 13th May we are off to Mannington Gardens with Vintage Lover Fair.

Mannington Hall Norfolk 

Mannington Hall is a medieval hall set in beautiful gardens in deepest Norfolk and we love going there. This is our first show this year and we are looking forward to it. It is also well timed as DeadMan has just returned from a buying trip in his homelands, bringing a load of new old stock from the 1980s and 1990s.

Zoe, Judith and Carnaby bring  a splash of colour to our stall.

I love the names; Zoe and Judith for the ladies and Gideon and Guy for the men. They certainly add a bit of colour to our stall.  We also have a good selection of  frames from the 1940s through to the 1970s. We hope to see you there.

TTFN Mrs Deadman

Call The Midwife's Sister Monica Joan's sight is restored.

Hello,
Do any of you watch Call The Midwife? We do and last night's episode (Sunday 25th Feb; episode 6, series 7) was the one we had been waiting for. Sister Monica Joan's eyesight had been getting worse and it turned out she had cataracts. She made a bit of a fuss but Fred finally got her to have the operation which was more complex in 1963 than it is now.  After the operation she was given a new pair of glasses to wear and she was delighted with them as she could see again. We know what other viewers don't; they are an early NHS frame from Dead Men's Spex! It is always exciting to see our glasses in TV programmes and films.

TTFN Mrs Deadman 

Merry Christmas from Dead Men's Spex

Hi There
Well, Santa is not far away, I'm sure I heard some sleigh bells jingling. My eye sight is going but my ears are not too bad! I hope you are all ready for Christmas, we are just about ready here at Dead Men's Spex; it's our last posting day today.

I have had an early Christmas present; a pair of blue NHS 524 varifocals!  Uh oh, yes I have reached that stage in life. I am still getting used to the idea of wearing glasses all the time, still I am in good company in that respect. It is very nice to be able to see clearly in the middle distance  and this reclaimed ability led to a bit of a cleaning frenzy ready for Santa. ( My mum always used that one when we were kids).

Blue NHS 524 

We are looking forward to a fun Christmas with lots of mince pies and festive glasses- containing festive cheer.

 Thank you all for your support and custom throughout 2017 and we wish you all a merry Christmas and hope Santa brings you something nice. 

TTFN
The Dead Man family

The classic 524 on display

Hi there
Have you seen some of the great new frames that Dead Man has been putting up on the Dead Men's Spex website? We have had a load of new stock in recently including stock from an optician's in deepest Wales. They were closing and wanted to sell their vintage frames. So after a very long journey across country, Dead Man returned with boxes of vintage goodies including a good selection of the well loved NHS frames; classics such as the 524 (think 1960s and 70s school) and the 722 half eye reader (think Santa)  

NHS 722 classic half eye readers 

NHS 524 frame displays £28 each

Amongst the boxes were some very small NHS 524 frames. Dead Man has been creative and mounted the fronts into boxes frame displays. They look great on the wall and are ideal as Christmas presents for the glasses lover in your life! 

Wishing you a happy run up to Christmas. I certainly need my readers now when I am shopping; getting to that stage in life..! 

TTFN Mrs Dead Man 

Dead Men's Spex at the Poppy Line 1940s event 2017

Hi there
Well, we are back from the ever popular 1940s event at the Poppy Line at North Norfolk Railway which runs between Sheringham and Holt. Dead Man's attempts to appease the weather gods were partially successful; in Holt, Saturday was showery to put it mildly; it hammered down just after lunch, but fortunately Sunday was a much drier day.

Apparently, Sheringham managed to escape the downpours! Overall I think we were were quite lucky with the weather; it could've been much worse. However, it was the muddiest Holt we have encountered; Deadman got the van stuck in the gateway on the Saturday morning. Luckily a customer of ours, Mark, kindly rescued him by towing him out with his 4x4, so the Deadmen's Spex show could go on. (Deadman Junior and I missed the drama, we rolled up later when everything was in place! )

Despite this we had a good weekend and were busy, we have decided we must have the most photographed stall at the show. I was totting up the years and realised that Deadmen's Spex first had a stall at Holt in 2008 so this is our tenth year! Wow, doesn't time fly? Thank you to everyone who came to see us and bought from us. We look forward to many more shows in the future and will keep you posted as to the next time we will be out and about.

Another year and it's still 1942

It's hard to believe that another year has come around and we are now preparing for Holt and Sherringham's 1940 weekend. We are again sacrificing cute animals to the "God's of fine weather" but this year looks like it could be a damp one. But not to worry as we will be under cover on the market field at Holt station and have a lovely stock of original period frames for you to peruse whilst sheltering from the showers.

Come and see us and don't forget to bring your prescription if you want lenses fitted.

I'm just off to the workshop to make sure you all get the bests frames possible, but before I go I think I'll just go find us one more kitten 😉

Deadman

Dead Men's Spex has another lovely day with Vintage Lover Fair

Hi there,
Well, Little Vintage Lover Fair did it again and booked another lovely warm day for their annual event at Heydon in deepest Norfolk.  It was very busy as usual and we had a good day, we met several of our regular customers and it was nice to catch up with the other stall holders. We also introduced some new people to Dead Men's Spex.

Little Vintage Lover Fair 2017

Dead Man Junior and I left Dead Man in charge of the stall so we could take a few photos.

Summer flowers

We will be out about next at the North Norfolk Railway 1940s event at Holt on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th September. 

TTFN Mrs Deadman

Dead Men's Spex at Heydon Norfolk

Hi there,

Well the Summer holidays are upon us, so are the showers! Here at Dead Men's Spex we are getting ready for  a regular event; Little Vintage Lover Fair at Heydon on Sunday August 6th. We are usually very lucky with the weather and have a fabulously warm day, let's hope so! Dead Man has been prepping as usual and we will have a good selection of original vintage frames with us. We have glasses for both gents and ladies and cover all the decades from the 1940s through to the 1980s and of course we will be bringing several pairs of the classic NHS 524 and a selection of vintage sunnies.

A lady choosing Spex on our stall at Mannington Hall

We hope to see you there!

TTFN Mrs Deadman

The first part of the stream-lining of the search menu on the website is done (took a little longer than expected with customers at the showroom today) 
I am in the process of writing frame histories for each time period so please look out for these and let me know if you like them - the first is here 

Adieu
Deadman

Hi, 

things have been very much busy, busy, busy at Deadmen's Towers over the last few months. The website has been earning its keep and I’ve been in the workshop preparing lots of frames for some big name shows in London as well as a couple of well known opera companies.

As we head in to summer we find ourselves with a few shows to attend. We will be at Heydon with LittleVintage Lover Fairs, Gressenhall’s village at war and also North Norfolk Railway’s1940’s weekend. So please look out for us and come and say hello.

We also have a new recruit in the photo booth 😀 - "Uncle Walter"

Alongside this Mrs Deadman – Claire, is also attending a raft of shows locally over the Summer promoting her business Broadsky Astorology. She has been an astrologer for over 20 years and is now offering her services locally and online through her website.

So as I said busy all round, but having fun.......... what more could a man want?!

Deadman

Dead Men's Spex out and about at MK Handmade and Vintage Extravaganza

Hi there
Our weekend at Milton Keynes Handmade and Vintage Weekend Extravaganza went off well and we had a good time. We met some new customers and saw some of our regulars. We managed to spread the word about Dead Men's Spex and got lots of compliments about our name and a few shudders, as always.

Dead Man decided to have a little competition between me and him. He put photos up of us on instagram, mine went up on Saturday and his on Sunday and weirdly we both had 53 likes. However, he also put them up on Facebook and he had loads more views than me : 1295 to 707. It's OK, I know who is the most photogenic out of the two of us!

Me titivating the stock. I do like a good polish at the start of the day!

When we came back from the show we took the opportunity to restock the website and show room.  Dead Man's put some new gent's frames on the website.

Dead man, jovial as ever - even on a Sunday morning.

Well TTFN Mrs Dead Man

Dead Men's Spex at Milton Keynes

Hi there
It is almost March and Spring feels like it has sprung today. Dead Man Junior and I bought some new primulas to brighten up the outside of our shoffice.

We are also getting ready for our first show of the season on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th March. It is the MK Handmade and Vintage Weekend Extravaganza at Milton Keynes.   The show is in the very spacious Middleton Hall right in front of John Lewis and opens from 9am -6pm on Saturday 4th and 10.30am to 5pm on Sunday 5th.

Soft cases £6.00 each 

We went last year and really enjoyed ourselves, we saw some of our regular customers and also met lots of new people. It is a lovely show with a mix of crafts and vintage. We are looking forward to going and are preparing plenty of great stock. If you are in the area we'd love to see you.

Dead men's Spex stall at Milton Keynes in 2016

TTFN Mrs Dead Man 

Happy New Year from Dead Men's Spex

Hi there

We hope you had a good break, thank you to everyone who supported us in 2016, we had a good year. In December, Dead Man Junior and I visited the Warner Brother Studios Harry Potter Tour. It was fantastic! We loved Dumbeldore's office and decided that it would be the perfect hideout for Dead Man ! He and the great man seem to have the same taste in large magnifying glasses.

Vintage magnifying glasses in Dumbeldore's office

There was also a bit of magic occurring; at the end of the tour is a room full of wand boxes one for each person who was involved with the films; it is extensive, there are hundreds of people! I took a photo of a random section..(honest!) and when I got it home Deadman noticed the appropriate names- Derek Deadman and Peter Mann (Dead Man's dad, Deadman Sleeping is Peter Manion)!

Appropriately named wand boxes.

We are looking forward to 2017 and will be doing some shows. Our first one of the year is on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th March and is quite a large event. It is the MK Handmade and Vintage Weekend Extravaganza at Milton Keynes. This will be our third time at this show as we went last year. It is a lovely show with a mix of crafts and vintage, it  has some very interesting stalls , including ours of course..! We will be at other events throughout the year and will let you know as we book them. In the meantime you are always welcome to make an appointment to come to our showroom in our garden to choose vintage spectacles.

We wish you all a good new year,
TTFN Mrs Deadman

Fun at Sussex Barn

Hi there
Well it was just me out and about with Dead Men's Spex stall on Sunday 4th December. Dead man junior needed a lie-in; 7am on a Sunday seemed very cruel so he and Deadman stayed at home and did homework -so they tell me! I went to Sussex Barn near Burnham Market, Norfolk  with Little Vintage Lover Fair and had a good day. Sussex Barn is mainly used for weddings but it is a fantastic building and is a good place for a vintage fair.

Dead Men's Spex at Sussex Barn

We have been there before with Little Vintage Lover Fair, but not for a couple of years and it was good to return.  I was in the conservatory area with two other stall holders and the tea rooms, it was very civilized and sunlit. I always enjoy chatting to people and selling our lovely eyewear. Thank you if you came to see me.

Some of our stock

TTFN Mrs Deadman