The day we met Sooty

As soon as I found out Sooty was touring, I booked tickets. We are such big fans of him, I just couldn’t miss it.
I booked the tickets back in December and managed to get us front row seats.
I always loved Sooty when I was young and my mum took me to see him with Matthew Corbett at the Theatre Royal in St Helens when I was about five.
I remember sobbing because I didn’t get picked to go up on the stage and meet him. Please keep this in mind for later.
This tour was at Pyramid Parr Hall in Warrington. I had never been before so didn’t know what to expect.

As we parked the car, I joked with Boo that Sooty’s car wasn’t here. She’d ridden it in Blackpool last year.
The car park is around the back so, as we rounded the corner at the front, we both squealed with delight to see Sooty’s car parked at the front. He obviously got the VIP parking spot and quite rightly so.

The queue for merchandise was massive but we waited patiently, even by Boo’s standards and bought a light up wand for £5 and a Sweep soft toy for £14.

Then we entered the auditorium which was surprisingly spacious and took our seats on the front row.

By this time, I am not ashamed to admit it, I was beside myself. Boo was too busy cuddling Sweep to understand what was going on but, as the music came on and the lights went down, she got off her seat and danced with the rest of them as we watched Sooty, Sweep and Sue hiding before coming on and saying hello to all the boys and girls.

Photographs were not allowed during the show and they were quite strict about it. I saw a steward go and tell a lady off so I wasnt going to risk getting thrown out of this one.
If you don’t watch Sooty, Matthew Corbett retired in 1998 and the equally talented Richard Cadell took over.
I was surprised to see on the internet that Richard is 45. He looks much younger than that. The great thing about the show is that Richard tailored much of his slap-stick comedy to adults as well as children so any parents going along to the show, even if you’re not a big fan like me, are sure to enjoy the show just as much as the children.
The theme of the show was Sooty’s birthday party and I don’t want to spoil too much of the show if you are yet to go but I will warn you, if you sit on the aisle seats or the front row, you are likely to get a little wet.
My personal favourite but was Sweep doing Gangnam Style.
Boo had never been to the theatre (or the cinema) before Sooty so I did wonder how she would take being confined to her seat.
In true Boo style however, she wasn’t confined to her seat for long. The show positively encouraged dancing. Probably not so much the two times she ran across the front of the audience and down the aisle. Thankfully after the second time of me running to the back and retreving her, the stewards sent her back my way, which I was thankful for.
There was a 15 minute interval in which a chocolate ice cream (a reasonable £2) revived a flagging Boo after all the dancing and we enjoyed a further half an hour’s worth of show.
The tickets only cost £13 each and were well worth the 90 minute show and the effort that went in to it.

Then came the best bit. Richard announced he would be in the foyer after the show to enable children to have photos taken with him and Sooty.
We queued quite a while for that as you can imagine, it was very popular.

Soon enough it was our turn. Camera ready, Boo was mesmorised and tried to kiss Sooty.
Then came the embarrasing bit. I blurted out: “Please can I have my photo taken with you too, I’m your biggest fan.”
Thank goodness Boo is only three. I am sure she will be embarrased of me in years to come.
Bless him, Richard was lovely about it, The security guard was not.
I tried to do a selfie but she snatched my phone off me and took it for me. Her hurry I’m afraid resulted in a rather blurry image but make no mistake, it did not take the shine off my our day.

It may have taken 29 years but I finally got to meet Sooty.

Sooty, Sweep, Sue and Richard are continuing on their nationwide tour. Tickets are still available and dates and venues can be found on the Sooty website.

I was not asked to write this review. I did it for the love of that little yellow bear.