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

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 does Instagram!

Hi there,
We are back from Holt, and we had a busy weekend. The weather was reasonable both days considering the down pour on Friday. (We were lucky, we got the stall up in bright sunshine on the Thursday!) Our friend Bunny came to visit, looking every inch the English gentlemen and he and Deadman Junior took a trip on the train to Sheringham. They returned with reports of  Sheringham under siege.  We, meanwhile, were mainly selling glasses.

The Poppy Line at wartime 

Deadman has been encouraged by his friends to embrace another piece of modern technology, no not the bicycle, it plays havoc with his knees! Instagram, he is now happily posting away. His followers are building up nicely; 79 in three days, he's hoping to reach a thousand by Christmas!

That's all for now folks

Mrs Deadman

Dead Men's Spex Keep Calm and Carry on at The North Norfolk Railway

Hi there

Well we had a great weekend at Holt and the weather gods were incredibly kind to us. I don't know how the organisers of the North Norfolk Railway 1940s event manage it, but every year it is warm and dry.

It was fun to see familiar faces again and we are used to being the most photographed stall - Dead Men's Spex always attract a response whether it be laughter or shudders!

Dead Men's Spex view on the world!

The biggest event of the weekend had to be the shunt; where an engine was derailed as it went to turn round at Holt station. Fortunately it was only a slight derailment as it was going very slowly and was not attached to any carriages. No one was hurt but the fireman and driver were shaken up.  See The Eastern Daily Press  article for more details.

The beleaguered engine 

I heard an ominous clunk but Dead Man was too busy chatting and missed it completely. However, the news soon trickled in from our customers. It caused chaos as it disrupted the running of the other trains, knocked out the electricity in the canteen and knocked down the wall in front of the buffers. However, it was Keep calm and Carry on as you would expect in wartime Britain!

Business as usual - a train leaves Holt for Sheringham after the derailment

Everyone summoned their stiff-upper lips and continued the serious business of enjoying themselves. Luckily we had our sandwiches and flask with us, I was a Girl Guide in my youth, - other people were less fortunate and had to ages wait for their picnics!


Well that's all for now, Mrs Deadman

Holt- who goes there? Dead Men's Spex

Hi there

Yes it's mid September and today I am mainly pricing glasses for our stall at the North Norfolk Railway 1940s weekend  at Holt. As usual we have great selection of stock which Dead Man has been collecting and preparing. We have loads of 1940s frames including a whole tray of gas mask frames and some lovely original 1940s and 1950s sunglasses.

original vintage sunglasses- new old stock- unworn.

This is in addition to a good array of the much loved NHS 524 Old School glasses, fabulous cats' eyes, gents' frames; including the popular American make Shuron and other goodies.
We are looking forward to a fun weekend and hope to see you there.


TTFN Mrs Deadman

New stock and a coffee break at Dead Men's Spex

Hi There

We've had  a busy month; the Holt and Sheringham 1940s weekend went off well. It was a little cooler than usual, but that didn't deter anyone. Bunny arrived as promised bearing gifts of coffee, Norfolk short bread and other goodies to keep us fortified! Good to see you my old buffer.

Deadman has been on a spending spree and has got a great selection of vintage frames to show for it; check out the cats' eyes.

Beautiful red supra cat's eye

1960's ladies' Shuron frame

Black and mauve Lucite supra cat's eye

We've also just received a delivery from American company Best Image which includes some interesting new styles with quality pinned joints. These frames come in larger sizes which is always good news for re-enactors as period frames tend to be very small.

Demi Blond Colony 

Mario Galbatti MG 118

Tortoisehell School 

Pueblo Tiger Black 

Rather smart aren't they?

On Saturday we tried out the new cafe at our local post office; Guist General Store, where we are regulars, it was lovely. Deadman junior enjoyed his leek and potato soup and we recommend the coffee.Good luck with your new venture Duncan.

TTFN 

Mrs Deadman

Dead Men's Spex admire mermaids and kissing fish

Hi there
Wow, where has the time gone? Since I last wrote we have been to two shows; Sheringham and Hemsby. We had fantastic weather at Sheringham and Deadman even got sunburn!

A view at Holt Station 

We've also had some deliveries recently; the most exciting was a shipment from Best Image in America which included a wonderful selection of cocktail glasses. These are copies of original 1950's designs. They are fabulous darlings, but my favourite has to be the kissing fish!

Athena

Mermaids

Kissing Fish

TTFN Mrs Deadman

Holt; a great place for vintage shopping.

Hi There

Last week Deadman and I made a trip out to Holt, it’s quite close to us and a great place in Norfolk for vintage shopping. It has plenty of antique/vintage shops including Past Caring which specialises in antique textiles and clothing, and Old Town a tailor’s doing their own unique take on 1930/40s clothing.

We paid a visit to our friends at The Tonsorial Artist; a traditional barber’s shop with a leaning towards the styles and service of the 1950s. They now have a tattoo parlour on their premises with an artist specialising in Old School images.  Whilst there we got a couple of photo’s of Ewan the “shop boy”, I mean apprentice (we know he looks like a youthful captain Ahab with the beard!) He’s modelling a pair of our popular Arnold frames, the same as those worn by Bunny Hooper. They are a copy of the Tart Arnel frame as worn by Johnny Depp. The question is; who looks the best??! (We have to choose Bunny as he does our accounts!)

Make your choice....                                         1 Bunny Hooper

2 Ewan

3 Johnny Depp

TTFN Claire

The further adventures of Bunny

"Having a Mellor's moment - from Has Been to Sean Bean!?"

The North Norfolk Railway 1940’s weekend is held each year in September. Being local, this is an old favourite for both Deadman and I. Deadman was there again standing the stall. With Deadman Senior over for the weekend, I was relegated to the role of assistant to the assistant. The additional staffing on the stall resulted in a surprising increase in duties (more tea and buns, the butt of double the amount of jokes and partnering Deadman Senior on smokes breaks). As such, I didn’t manage to get out on the train from Holt to the events at the Sheringham and Weybourne stations. Still it was nice to enjoy the event from a base and have the chance to browse the stalls at Holt and pick up some items. As always, the low level Lancaster fly past remains a special draw for me at this event.

What do you mean, the trains delayed because of "leaves on the line"?

The following weekend in September saw another 1940s steam railway weekend, this time at the Nene Valley Valley Railway in Peterborough. The ticket office let me in for half price as I had come in “fancy dress”! I pocketed the saving and chose not to explain that I was dressed no differently to any other day of the year. There were battle group re-enactors on hand and I am pleased to report that the Nazis were defeated in the station yard skirmish.

Fiendish Nazi hides in hole beneath motorbike

In October the Canal Museum at Stoke Bruerne laid on their second Village at War weekend. At the centre of the event was the Canal Museum itself but the event had a real “blitz spirit” feel to it with the whole village seemingly getting involved. There were a large number of re-enactor groups on site and events held across the whole village. Another victorious skirmish on the exhibition field made it Allies 2 Nazis 0. Hurrah!

“The British Forced Enema Expeditionary Force in action”

to be continued.................

"Dead man through the looking Glass" a Norfolk pipe-dream

Some of you may have guessed that the plus four teaser could be no-one else but Bunny Hooper “The 1940’s Accountant”. On a weekend when the Deadman was abandoned on the stall by the rest of the clan (something about parties and lashings of ice-cream and jelly or so Deadman Junior assured me) the only backup was my Dad, Deadman senior or as he’s affectionately known “Deadman Walking”. Bunny was a welcome pair of extra hands.

Being our local event, Holt and Sheringham 1940’s Weekend is always a busy two days for us, marked as much by visits from old friends as the good business.

Bunny was in an unusually rumbustious mood probably brought on by his insistence on being called Lord Hooper Marquis of Repps and muttering on about losing the rest of the shooting party and the bloody beaters!

The only way to calm him was to entice him into the stall with a copy of Glimpse and the assurance that he could smoke a pipe full of Virginia shag (picture the caterpillar in Alice through the Looking Glass!). The legitimacy of this action in what should be classed as the work place was debatable but I think the conclusion ran something along the lines of “bugger the EU!!”

www.deadmensspex.com temporary dwelling

The cue for spam sandwiches and black market petrol

With autumn knocking at the door Deadman’s thoughts turn to indoor shows where the elements no longer dictate. We are at Hemsby 45 on the 8-10th October, again another local show for us, just a short dash at the North Sea from base camp. There’s nothing quite like the British seaside out of season. All the holiday makers, day trippers, chalet owners and “kiss me quickers” will have departed leaving the bleak desolation of the Norfolk coastline (and about 1000 drunken rockers). Bliss!!

TTFN

Deadman

Devil May Care in Whitby (or how one Bunny learned to wish upon a star)

Hi, we’ve just arrived back from our Summer Holiday and as is befitting of the Deadman clan we have been weathering (sunning being an inappropriate word for what you do on a British holiday) in the home of Dracula himself; Whitby.

Never have I been to such a place for indulging a passion for fish and chips at every meal (including breakfast) as the North Yorkshire coast. Unbelievably we passed a shop starting its first fry of the day at 9.00am!

Highlight of the week was a ride on the North Yorkshire Railway to Pickering home of the “The Pickering 1940s Wartime Weekend” for all you 1940’s enthusiasts http://www.pickering1940s.co.uk/ . This is a great place along with the upcoming “Sherringham/Holt 1940’s weekend” (September 19th/20th) www.nnrailway.co.uk/page.php?pid=7 to air your tortoiseshell spectacles.

Mike Denmark – Timescape
At Holt 1940’s show 2009

Before we went away I’d been speaking to Bunny Hooper “The 1940’s Accountant” and he had been bemoaning the demise of the comics’ Summertime Specials. Along with a new pair of NHS “524” glasses this used to be the highlight of the summer holidays when we were kids. Usually sold with a useless plastic toy or a packet of Spangles attached to the front cover it was guaranteed to while away a long holiday car journey. So this got me thinking; and as a special present for Bunny, Dead Men’s Spex has gone to no expenses at all and produced The Dead Men’s Spex Summer Special 2010 (well the cover)..........enjoy!

This week sees me back in the workshop finishing off the preparation of the final frame stock for the bank holiday Glenn Miller Festival that we are attending at Twinwoods http://www.twinwoodevents.com/ . As usual we will have an arena stall selling lots of our lovely period frames. There will be a vast selection of gold filled round eyes to go with your de-mob suits and for the ladies a cornucopia of 1940/50s frames to complete that special outfit.

Glenn Miller

www.deadmensspex.com/default/1900-s-gold-filled-panto-eye-h19.html

Finally don’t tell Mrs Dead Man that I’ve got a Gal in Kalamazoo , so I’m going to jump on the Chattanooga Choo Choo all Devil may care and work that old black magic. If she does find out I’m going to hit the little brown jug and I guess I’ll have to dream the rest as I’m stepping out with a memory tonight.

I hope to see some of you at Twinwoods and remember if it’s foggy please don’t fly.

TTFN
D.Man