At this convention Mark not only 'worked' as a typical guest but also as a Master of Ceremonies, together with his close friend and - as far as conventions are concerned - constant companion Craig Parker. The well experienced Parker/ Ferguson team did a phantastic job, with all the humour, the friendliness and the improvisation such a position requires. For example, when Bernard Hill started his panel and a fan asked if he had taken any memorabilia from the set Mark informed Bernard, who hadn't understood the question due to the somewhat tricky acoustic, that actually he had just been accused of being a thief.
And so it went on for the entire three days. Conventions with Mark generally are much fun but if you consider visiting one you should be prepared for some pain in every part of your body that is required for laughing. This time said parts were especially required when we saw the famous radio play.

The guest list included the actors Bernard Hill (Théoden), John Noble (Denethor), Karl Urban (Èomer), Bruce Hopkins (Gamling), Sarah McLeod (Rosie Cotton), Lawrence Makoare (Lurtz, Witchking and Gothmog), Jorn Benzon (Rumil) and Jarl Benzon (Glorfindel), Sandro Kopp (Gildor), Jed Brophy (Sharku, Snaga), Cameron Rhodes (Farmer Maggot) as well as conceptual artists Alan Lee and John Howe and Senior prostetics supervisor of Weta Workshop Gino Acevedo.

Besides playing Frodo, signing autographs, talking most patiently with almost everyone who approached him or being Jed Brophy's horse at the stunt show, Mark (assisted by Craig, Karl Urban, Sarah MacLeod and a charming Lawrence Makoare) did his best to make the Charity Auction the success it has been in the end. Also, he and Craig had panels each day and each had a bigger audience than the last - the fans learned quickly what 'Mark Fergusson & Craig Parker' (1st day), 'Mark Parker & Craig Parker' (2nd day) or 'Q & A with the Parkers (3rd day, someone most apparently had fun in teasing Mark) on stage together meant: a hilarious show by a passport-loser and a 'short, fat elf' (well, that had been the running gags anyway).

One of the loveliest ideas the organisers had was to have an artist do some funny cartoons about Mark's and Craig's adventures. More

Louise from Access All Areas Events provided us with the date of the Fellowship Festival 2005: it's planned from 27th to 29th August - time to book our holidays... Thank you, Louise!

Just in case you want to see some pictures: photo gallery

As usual Ian Smith provided us with his detailed reports. Have a look at Ian's site.

The Fellowship Festival's homepage: