Craig
TS Administrator
Firstly, thanks to everyone who voted in the Member awards this year. We've had some great votes, and also some terrible ones. Yes, I'm looking at the individuals who decided to vote for themselves in certain categories!
Anyway, without further ado, let's take a look back at the joys (and downsides!) of 2015:
2015 Forum Awards
Best Alton Towers related Topic - "Incident on The Smiler 02/06/15" (4 votes)
I'm not quite the term "best" is the most suitable one to describe the winner of what has become the biggest topic we've had on the forum. But, with 4 votes - The Smiler's crash in June and the fallout from it takes the top spot.
Best Non Alton Towers related Topic - Phantasialand 2016: Klugheim/Taron (5 votes)
Phantasialand's epic new addition for 2016 has attracted a lot of attention for it's ridiculous themeing, so it's no surprise to see this coming out as the winner in this category!
Funniest Topic of the Year - Obituary: Ripsaw 1997-2015 (4 votes)
Following the news of Ripsaw's demise last year, Tavern Landlord Ben decided to give us an obituary to the much loved flat ride in Forbidden Valley. Topped off by a glorious heartfelt prayer, this was your funniest topic of 2015.
Fail Topic of the Year - Epic Fails at Towers? (8 votes)
An overwhelming winner in this category, despite only being posted right at the end of 2015 on Christmas Eve . Despite it's short lived life as an unlocked topic, it seems many people weren't fans of "Doing epic fails" at Alton Towers.
Best RCT/ No-Limits creation - Nemesis94's TheSmiler13 (2 votes)
A very low turnout for voting for this category, so it's likely to be the last time we award it. But, congratulations all the same to Nemesis94 and his The Smiler topic.
2015 Member Awards
So away from the fun of the forum, it's the part I know you're all really waiting for - the winners of the 2015 Member Awards!
Best Contributor - Rob (12 votes)
By an overwhelming majority, congratulations to Rob, who wins best contributor of 2015. Even prior to becoming a team member, Rob has contributed to a lot of discussion on the forum, he's also been responsible for providing a lot of the photo content you see on our site and social media channels over the years. Congratulations Rob!
Best Poster - Astrodan (6 votes)
Congratulations to Astrodan for winning best poster. Known for being a massive fanboy of that theme park in Germany, and a staunch critic of pretty much everywhere else (
), Dan's posts across the forum have provided a great summary of what's going on at parks across the world. I'd also like to thank people for their amazingly constructive reasons for voting for him too . "Because it's Astrodan" and "Writes good s**t" being among my particular favourites!
The John Wardley Appreciation Society Geekiest Member of the Year Award
- John (13 votes)
As if there was ever any doubt, the poster formally known as Duckman (this year I've heard he's changing his name to a nothing but a symbol) wins by a landslide yet again. If you'd like to congratulate John, you'll find him calculating the throughput of those pneumatuc tube things they have on tills in a supermarket near you. It's a desperate time of year this closed season milarky!
Standout reasons for voting for John included, "Just look at the layout geek league", "Need there be a reason?", "Throughput" and of course the default answer...."Because he's John".
Funniest Member - DiogoJ42 (6 votes)
Yeah, I know. I've got no idea why this miserable git won either, but with 6 votes somehow he did! The overwhelming reasons seem to be for those terrible reworked songs he seems to love creating lyrics for. So congratulations and all that, I'd say have a drink or something, but it'd be more of a celebration for you manage to stay sober tbh!
Serious Member - Rowe (11 votes)
For the second year running, Rowe takes the top spot as "most SRS". Will she make it another year in 2016? Special mention right now to Ben (yeah, I'm naming and shaming you), who helpfully still persists to put his vote in as "Balsdon"...just like he did in pretty much every other damn category!
Hottest Male - MattyH (4 votes)
It was a varied list this year for hottest member with single votes to lots of people, but the clear winner was MattyH with 4 votes. Name and shame time to Ian though, who decided to vote for "The dashing devil I see in the mirror every morning.". No darling, that doesn't count! Well done for Panda's "obligatory" vote for Kieron. Nice to know you care.... Big up to single votes for "Dave's left buzzum" along with the runner up prize going to Russ with 2 votes.
Hottest Female - JOINT WINNERS Ian in Drag & Sazzle (6 votes each)
Sazzle takes the top spot this year after her runner up placing last year - however she's not alone. Ian shares the prize thanks to his portrayal at a Murder Mystery weekend back in March. Some may not have seen the end result, so if you haven't - u would tho wouldn't u?
Cutest Couple - Vik and pritchcardavid (10 votes)
Another year, another award - Vik and Dave takes the 'cutest couple' award for a second time. It seems despite them both saying otherwise, everyone else seems to think they're simply destined to be together" "the 'bromance' continues on..." as one voter said!
Most helpful member - Astrodan (11 votes)
Congratulations to Astrodan, who does the double and wins the most helpful member award for another year. Special mention to Oli, who apparently helped to tie a shoelace once, and to DanB for being a 'helpful bugger'
Campest Member - Sammy (12 votes)
A landslide victory! If he had a quid for every vote, it'd probably take him off the streets for a week or so (or buy him a razor)! Everyone's favourite homeless guy Sammy wins all on his own this year, after a joint win with Ian last year, who came second with 3 votes. Work it gurrrrrl etc etc. Voters said (among other things!) that arr Sammy was "camper than Amanda Thompson after a bottle of champagne and packet of biscuits wearing her best floral coat", "Camper than Tipidorf" and "Has to be good at something I guess"
Biggest Flirt - Sam / Ant / Dave (3 votes each)
A rare triple winner for this year's biggest flirt. For those of you who have spent time with Sam in the past, you'll know the reasoning for his votes need no explanation - and indeed no one even bothered to provide one! Also joining Sam is Ant, as voter's put it...."We know what happened on the sofa" . Finally, Dave rounds off the winners with a second consecutive win for flirting with "anything with a penis". Congratulations all!
The John Wardley Get.a.life award for endless moaning - DiogoJ42 (12 votes)
Adding another 2 votes to his tally of 10 last year, Diogo takes the biggest moaner award for another year. Coming second was Rowe (5 votes), followed by Sam and Astrodan with two votes each.
2015 Meetup Awards
TowersStreet wouldn't be what it is without our meetups, so it's time to honour those who attended them last year...
Lift Scab - Kieron (7 votes)
Ever so proud of his award last year, Kieron takes the crown for a another year with 7 votes. Yup, despite having a car now, he's still scabbing those lifts where he can!
The Driving School Lift Giver Award - Craig (6 votes)
Yup, that's me. I'd like to thank my car Cilla for her service, which I've cruely ditched for a new car in recent weeks. That's gratitude for you!
Faff Magnet - Cheese (4 votes)
Cheese makes it another year as TowersStreet's biggest faff magnet!
Funniest Moment - Plant Raffle (7 votes)
Because paying out 10 times it's worth for a plant is WAY funnier than it sounds. On last year's Kermis trip, a tradition which was started a few years ago, where we set our sights on the Dusseldorf plant raffle. Buy tickets, open them, and win enough points to buy a plant - yes a real plant. A fair few euros, typical Brit rowdyness and a very bemused plant raffle owner later, and Ant had won the biggest plant there:
That wasn't all though! The yucca plant made it's way around Europe for the remainder of the trip, gained it's own Twitter account and eventually headed back to the UK in Joel's car to be collected by Ant at a later date. Month's later though, and it's still sitting there at Joel's, much worse for wear and waiting for "Daddy Ant" to pick him up. Sad times!
Best new meet member - Hitch (8 votes)
Hitch was the overwhelming winner for best new meet member. Congratulations Hitch!
Lateness Award - Sammy (6 votes)
Since the awards are thankfully on time this year, I've avoided gaining the top spot with Sammy this year! Completely incapable of being on time for anything, it's no surprise this useless git has won yet again! Serial latecomer Stigzy was a close second though, with 4 votes.
Biggest Ride Whore - John (8 votes)
Let's face it, it was never going to be anyone else as this award goes hand in hand with Geekiest Member. Congratulations John!
The Ma'Garritas Funniest Drunk Member - JoshT (10 votes)
Another one of our 'default winners', as the lesser spotted Josh is one that's rarely seen without a drink in his hand! Another consecutive winner from last year's awards!
#Maaartin cheapskate of the year - John (5 votes)
If only I could be such a cheapskate, I'd be able to afford a lot more trips! Well done John for putting us all to shame with your cheapskate efforts and taking the cheapskate crown!
Meet Fail of the year - Hils' Car (9 votes)
Ah Hondas, those good old reliable cars, never let you down. That is unless you're just about to head off to a Kermis and the on board computer decides to say no to changing gear, no to drinks and no to riding Schwarzkopf goodness at the fair. A massive downer on what was otherwise and amazing trip, the spectacular (and expensive) computer fail was always going to win as fail of the year!
A special mention to Pedro
I know we have always said that the member awards are just that - voted for by members. However, this year I'd like to give a very special mention to Pedro. Now you may not see Pedro posting too much on the forum, but behind the scenes he's been quietly contributing a HUGE amount of content for EuropaStreet.
As you're all no doubt aware, we launched EuropaStreet to give people a place to discuss Europa-Park in English. Along with the forum, our Facebook and Twitter pages have give followers regular updates from the resort. Now, as a team we've been doing our own updates on our own visits, however with the park being in Germany that isn't always possible. As Pedro lives nearby, he's been providing us with a mass of picture updates on each of his visits, and his contribution has been absolutely invaluable to allow us to keep the Facebook page updated with fresh content. As well as this, he has also been attending the press conferences
on our behalf and updating us as they happen.
Without Pedro's hard work, there's no way EuropaStreet would still be going, so on behalf of the team I'd like to say a huge thanks to him for everything that he's done so far. We're looking forward to bringing you more updates this season from Europa, with a huge amount of that content no doubt coming from Pedro - so thank you!
For all the winners, you'll be receiving your signatures in the next couple days. Thanks to everyone who voted
Anyway, without further ado, let's take a look back at the joys (and downsides!) of 2015:
2015 Forum Awards
Best Alton Towers related Topic - "Incident on The Smiler 02/06/15" (4 votes)
I'm not quite the term "best" is the most suitable one to describe the winner of what has become the biggest topic we've had on the forum. But, with 4 votes - The Smiler's crash in June and the fallout from it takes the top spot.
Best Non Alton Towers related Topic - Phantasialand 2016: Klugheim/Taron (5 votes)
Phantasialand's epic new addition for 2016 has attracted a lot of attention for it's ridiculous themeing, so it's no surprise to see this coming out as the winner in this category!
Funniest Topic of the Year - Obituary: Ripsaw 1997-2015 (4 votes)
Following the news of Ripsaw's demise last year, Tavern Landlord Ben decided to give us an obituary to the much loved flat ride in Forbidden Valley. Topped off by a glorious heartfelt prayer, this was your funniest topic of 2015.
Fail Topic of the Year - Epic Fails at Towers? (8 votes)
An overwhelming winner in this category, despite only being posted right at the end of 2015 on Christmas Eve . Despite it's short lived life as an unlocked topic, it seems many people weren't fans of "Doing epic fails" at Alton Towers.
Best RCT/ No-Limits creation - Nemesis94's TheSmiler13 (2 votes)
A very low turnout for voting for this category, so it's likely to be the last time we award it. But, congratulations all the same to Nemesis94 and his The Smiler topic.
2015 Member Awards
So away from the fun of the forum, it's the part I know you're all really waiting for - the winners of the 2015 Member Awards!
Best Contributor - Rob (12 votes)
By an overwhelming majority, congratulations to Rob, who wins best contributor of 2015. Even prior to becoming a team member, Rob has contributed to a lot of discussion on the forum, he's also been responsible for providing a lot of the photo content you see on our site and social media channels over the years. Congratulations Rob!
Best Poster - Astrodan (6 votes)
Congratulations to Astrodan for winning best poster. Known for being a massive fanboy of that theme park in Germany, and a staunch critic of pretty much everywhere else (
), Dan's posts across the forum have provided a great summary of what's going on at parks across the world. I'd also like to thank people for their amazingly constructive reasons for voting for him too . "Because it's Astrodan" and "Writes good s**t" being among my particular favourites!The John Wardley Appreciation Society Geekiest Member of the Year Award
- John (13 votes)
As if there was ever any doubt, the poster formally known as Duckman (this year I've heard he's changing his name to a nothing but a symbol) wins by a landslide yet again. If you'd like to congratulate John, you'll find him calculating the throughput of those pneumatuc tube things they have on tills in a supermarket near you. It's a desperate time of year this closed season milarky!
Standout reasons for voting for John included, "Just look at the layout geek league", "Need there be a reason?", "Throughput" and of course the default answer...."Because he's John".
Funniest Member - DiogoJ42 (6 votes)
Yeah, I know. I've got no idea why this miserable git won either, but with 6 votes somehow he did! The overwhelming reasons seem to be for those terrible reworked songs he seems to love creating lyrics for
. So congratulations and all that, I'd say have a drink or something, but it'd be more of a celebration for you manage to stay sober tbh!Serious Member - Rowe (11 votes)
For the second year running, Rowe takes the top spot as "most SRS". Will she make it another year in 2016? Special mention right now to Ben (yeah, I'm naming and shaming you), who helpfully still persists to put his vote in as "Balsdon"...just like he did in pretty much every other damn category!
Hottest Male - MattyH (4 votes)
It was a varied list this year for hottest member with single votes to lots of people, but the clear winner was MattyH with 4 votes. Name and shame time to Ian though, who decided to vote for "The dashing devil I see in the mirror every morning.". No darling, that doesn't count! Well done for Panda's "obligatory" vote for Kieron. Nice to know you care.... Big up to single votes for "Dave's left buzzum" along with the runner up prize going to Russ with 2 votes.
Hottest Female - JOINT WINNERS Ian in Drag & Sazzle (6 votes each)
Sazzle takes the top spot this year after her runner up placing last year - however she's not alone. Ian shares the prize thanks to his portrayal at a Murder Mystery weekend back in March. Some may not have seen the end result, so if you haven't - u would tho wouldn't u?
Cutest Couple - Vik and pritchcardavid (10 votes)
Another year, another award - Vik and Dave takes the 'cutest couple' award for a second time. It seems despite them both saying otherwise, everyone else seems to think they're simply destined to be together" "the 'bromance' continues on..." as one voter said!
Most helpful member - Astrodan (11 votes)
Congratulations to Astrodan, who does the double and wins the most helpful member award for another year. Special mention to Oli, who apparently helped to tie a shoelace once, and to DanB for being a 'helpful bugger'
Campest Member - Sammy (12 votes)
A landslide victory! If he had a quid for every vote, it'd probably take him off the streets for a week or so (or buy him a razor)! Everyone's favourite homeless guy Sammy wins all on his own this year, after a joint win with Ian last year, who came second with 3 votes. Work it gurrrrrl etc etc. Voters said (among other things!) that arr Sammy was "camper than Amanda Thompson after a bottle of champagne and packet of biscuits wearing her best floral coat", "Camper than Tipidorf" and "Has to be good at something I guess"
Biggest Flirt - Sam / Ant / Dave (3 votes each)
A rare triple winner for this year's biggest flirt. For those of you who have spent time with Sam in the past, you'll know the reasoning for his votes need no explanation - and indeed no one even bothered to provide one! Also joining Sam is Ant, as voter's put it...."We know what happened on the sofa" . Finally, Dave rounds off the winners with a second consecutive win for flirting with "anything with a penis". Congratulations all!
The John Wardley Get.a.life award for endless moaning - DiogoJ42 (12 votes)
Adding another 2 votes to his tally of 10 last year, Diogo takes the biggest moaner award for another year. Coming second was Rowe (5 votes), followed by Sam and Astrodan with two votes each.
2015 Meetup Awards
TowersStreet wouldn't be what it is without our meetups, so it's time to honour those who attended them last year...
Lift Scab - Kieron (7 votes)
Ever so proud of his award last year, Kieron takes the crown for a another year with 7 votes. Yup, despite having a car now, he's still scabbing those lifts where he can!
The Driving School Lift Giver Award - Craig (6 votes)
Yup, that's me. I'd like to thank my car Cilla for her service, which I've cruely ditched for a new car in recent weeks. That's gratitude for you!
Faff Magnet - Cheese (4 votes)
Cheese makes it another year as TowersStreet's biggest faff magnet!
Funniest Moment - Plant Raffle (7 votes)
Because paying out 10 times it's worth for a plant is WAY funnier than it sounds. On last year's Kermis trip, a tradition which was started a few years ago, where we set our sights on the Dusseldorf plant raffle. Buy tickets, open them, and win enough points to buy a plant - yes a real plant. A fair few euros, typical Brit rowdyness and a very bemused plant raffle owner later, and Ant had won the biggest plant there:
That wasn't all though! The yucca plant made it's way around Europe for the remainder of the trip, gained it's own Twitter account and eventually headed back to the UK in Joel's car to be collected by Ant at a later date. Month's later though, and it's still sitting there at Joel's, much worse for wear and waiting for "Daddy Ant" to pick him up. Sad times!
Best new meet member - Hitch (8 votes)
Hitch was the overwhelming winner for best new meet member. Congratulations Hitch!
Lateness Award - Sammy (6 votes)
Since the awards are thankfully on time this year, I've avoided gaining the top spot with Sammy this year! Completely incapable of being on time for anything, it's no surprise this useless git has won yet again! Serial latecomer Stigzy was a close second though, with 4 votes.
Biggest Ride Whore - John (8 votes)
Let's face it, it was never going to be anyone else as this award goes hand in hand with Geekiest Member. Congratulations John!
The Ma'Garritas Funniest Drunk Member - JoshT (10 votes)
Another one of our 'default winners', as the lesser spotted Josh is one that's rarely seen without a drink in his hand! Another consecutive winner from last year's awards!
#Maaartin cheapskate of the year - John (5 votes)
If only I could be such a cheapskate, I'd be able to afford a lot more trips! Well done John for putting us all to shame with your cheapskate efforts and taking the cheapskate crown!
Meet Fail of the year - Hils' Car (9 votes)
Ah Hondas, those good old reliable cars, never let you down. That is unless you're just about to head off to a Kermis and the on board computer decides to say no to changing gear, no to drinks and no to riding Schwarzkopf goodness at the fair. A massive downer on what was otherwise and amazing trip, the spectacular (and expensive) computer fail was always going to win as fail of the year!
A special mention to Pedro
I know we have always said that the member awards are just that - voted for by members. However, this year I'd like to give a very special mention to Pedro. Now you may not see Pedro posting too much on the forum, but behind the scenes he's been quietly contributing a HUGE amount of content for EuropaStreet.
As you're all no doubt aware, we launched EuropaStreet to give people a place to discuss Europa-Park in English. Along with the forum, our Facebook and Twitter pages have give followers regular updates from the resort. Now, as a team we've been doing our own updates on our own visits, however with the park being in Germany that isn't always possible. As Pedro lives nearby, he's been providing us with a mass of picture updates on each of his visits, and his contribution has been absolutely invaluable to allow us to keep the Facebook page updated with fresh content. As well as this, he has also been attending the press conferences
on our behalf and updating us as they happen.
Without Pedro's hard work, there's no way EuropaStreet would still be going, so on behalf of the team I'd like to say a huge thanks to him for everything that he's done so far. We're looking forward to bringing you more updates this season from Europa, with a huge amount of that content no doubt coming from Pedro - so thank you!
For all the winners, you'll be receiving your signatures in the next couple days. Thanks to everyone who voted
