Pittwater Life November 2023 Issue

News
Lego mania set for Pittwater
The Pittwater Brick Show takes place
the first weekend in November, providing
great entertainment for the
kids… but perhaps an even greater thrill
for their parents.
“I do the door and ticketing for the
events,” explains Graham Draper, creator
of The Brick Show, “and the parents are
often the bigger fans of LEGO. They like
to talk about what they like building, and
they pull up chairs to build alongside their
kids.
“I do a show in Orange and some locals
actually come and display their own stuff
there!”
For many big kids, Graham is living the
dream, turning his lifelong passion for
LEGO into the day job.
“I’ve always played with LEGO, from
the age of five,” said Graham. “I have my
own personal collection at home and have
been to Billund in Denmark [where LEGO
is made] many times. Some might say I’m
obsessed.
“About six or seven years ago I started a
LEGO group in Wollongong, where I live, to
raise money for charity, for sick and disabled
kids. We’ve raised $250,000 for them
so far. I also raise money for underprivileged
kids to get them
toys at Christmas.
“Then during COVID
I decided that maybe
I could go on the road
with the shows full-time.
So I started ‘Playwell
Events’ and now we do
about one big show – like
Pittwater – every month,
and a smaller show every
fortnight. But we still
do the charity shows as
well.”
What kids – and Mums
PLASTIC FANTASTIC: Graham Draper is bringing The Brick Show to Pittwater RSL in November.
and Dads – can expect at The Pittwater
Brick Show are around 40 tables of LEGO
displays, some made of up of 50,000
pieces.
There are also interactive models to
engage with, play tables to get your hands
on LEGO, and plenty of
LEGO sets available to
buy.
“Myself and my partner
Rachel put all of the
show models together…
I wouldn’t say she’s a
fan, but she tolerates it,”
Graham laughs.
“None of the models
are glued together and
so I’ve had a few fall
over and smash when
transporting them. The
whole show takes me
around six or seven hours to set up.”
When the shows aren’t happening,
Graham has the LEGO in storage, while he
works behind the scenes on Channel 9’s
LEGO Masters show. He’s not allowed to
compete, but thinks that might be a blessing:
“Too much pressure!”
And to reinforce the fact that LEGO
might be for the parents more than the
kids, Graham shares that he has an
11-year-old son with no interest whatsoever.
“He’s spent his whole life around it and
he’s just not interested,” said Graham. “I
thought I might pass on the family business
one day, but it doesn’t look like it at
the moment. He’d rather play basketball.”
– Rob Pegley
*The Pittwater Brick Show is at Pittwater
RSL on the weekend of 4-5 November;
entry $8.
20 NOVEMBER 2023
The Local Voice Since 1991