It's a Knockout

Early Season News

Post author By Phil
Post date 9th May 2019

Our 2019 season is under way and so it’s time for some Early Season News. All of our new inflatables have seen action now in our It’s A Knockout’s and we’re loving the fun they bring to our sets of games. The teams also seem to be enjoying them too ! Enquiries have really hotted up over the last couple of weeks. It’s always the schools that seem the most surprised that we’re sometimes not available for “next week” when some are already thinking ahead to booking for 2020.

Talking of schools, kids love our adrenaline games, especially our 50 foot long slide on our Silver Show. Quite often we’re at a school with hundreds of kids taking part. See our Schools & Youth Knockouts Page for more details.

It’s great that charities use us for their days. Even with the current uncertainty, charity day bookings are up. We love charity days, they are always great fun and it’s excellent to see charity’s and causes benefiting whilst entertaining. If you are a charity event organiser please see our Charities Page for details, or if you represent a small group of people wishing to take part in a public charity day please go to our Events Page.

As part of our ongoing safety programme, we’ve recently had a staff training day. As followers of our blogs will be aware, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) last year updated their guidance on the uses of inflatables (we’re told there will be another update later this year as well). The training day was ran by Peter Grand of PIPA and he updated us of changes to guidance, best practice and the BS-EN standard that inflatables are made to. For info on inflatable safety please read our blog on Inflatable Safety from early this year. We now also have three staff members who are PAT test qualified.

Tags it's a knockout news

It's A Knockout News

New Inflatables 2019

Post author By Phil
Post date 17th April 2019

Bubble Cube Inflatable — New Inflatables for 2019

We’ve introduced some great new games and new inflatables for 2019. Some of our new inflatables are called The Black Hole, Vegetable Patch, Bubble Cube and Post Boxes. Each year we spruce up our games up with new inflatables, variations and additions to give our many returning clients a fresh feel to our games.

The inflatable we’re most excited about is the new Black Hole Inflatable. This totally unique black inflatable is almost completely pitch black inside. We don’t think any other knockout operator has a similar inflatable ! We have the ability to throw a bubble and water mixture into the inside of the inflatable so the teams will be crawling through bubbles in the dark !!!!

Our “Post Boxes Inflatable” is new to our Silver Show. This is for a new games called “Picture Postcards” where the team post themselves through the First Class and Second Class post-box holes of the inflatable to collect pieces of a double-sided picture postcard which attach to a Velcro tabard.

Our new “Vegetable Patch inflatable” is another new Silver Show inflatable. This inflatable is used on the Strawberries & Cream game. the teams slide and crawl through the wet and bubbly Vegetable Patch inflatable on their way to the end of the course to collect the strawberries to place in the measuring tube.

Our Mini Knockout has a new “Bubble Cube Inflatable” (see this blogs top left-hand image).

We can’t wait to use these new inflatables and post some images so everyone can see the fun and games on a Knockout Challenge It’s A Knockout!

All our new inflatables for 2019 are made in the UK by a UK manufacturer to the BS-EN-14960:2013 standard. They have a current safety certificate issued by an independent tester that can be checked online for clarification. Please also read our blog Bouncy Castle Safety for further details about the responsibility expected of inflatable operators.

Tags Inflatable games, Inflatable Obstacles, inflatables, it's a knockout news

Charity Event Fundraising

Charity Events 2019

Post author By Phil
Post date 25th March 2019

Pilgrims Hospice charity event — Pilgrim's Hospices Charity Event 2019

Want to take part in one of our 2019 fundraising charity events? Come on, you know you want to !

Every year charity and community events use our games for their days with a view of enlisting public interest to enter a team into the day. Therefore, if you represent a small group (say for example 10 people) then you can take part in one of these open, public, charity fundraising events booked with us.

Whether you have a few friends, are a small work group, friends form down the pub, or just know some people who would love this, Contact Us to see if there is an event near you that you can enter a team into.

Pilgrims Hospcies Charity event Montage — Pilgrims Hospices Charity Fundraising Event

The images contained in this blog came from last years Pilgrims Hospices Charity Fundraising Event held in Ramsgate in Kent. We’re pleased to announce that they are once more using our games again this year for their charity event 2019. Why not take part in this years It’s A Knockout ?!?!

Pilgrims Hospcies Charity Fundraising Event — Pilgrims Hospices Charity Fundraising Event

If you’d like to take part in one of our charity events in 2019 please initially look at our Events Page to see if there are any near you that appeal. Then contact us and we’ll pass your details onto the relevant organiser. Even if there are no events near you, we can leave your name on file to let you know when we’re in your area for an event recruiting for teams.

Many charities use our games for their events. They are a great way to promote awareness for a cause and to raise valuable funds. Please see our Charities Page for details and suggestions about how one of our it’s A knockout’s can help your cause. We free of charge promote your day on Facebook and Twitter and can mention and even blog about it on our websites.

Tags cancer fundraising, charity, charity fundraising, enter a team into an its a knockout

Uncategorised

Friends of SCBU & Jersey Children’s Charity Fundraising Event 2019

Post author By Phil
Post date 22nd February 2019

Friends of SCBU logo

Friends of SCBU event banner — It’s A Knockout Challenge 2019

We are pleased to announce that we will be visiting Jersey in the Channels islands in 2019 for the Friends of SCBU & Jersey Children’s Charity Fundraising Event 2019. This great charity fund raising weekend is being held on Saturday 29th June & Sunday 30th June 2019. The venue being the Royal Jersey Showground, Trinity, Jersey. The day opens at 10.00 am each day with the games starting at 11am.

The event promises to be an absolute blast full of fun, water, foam and lots of laughs, and all for a wonderful cause – the precious babies and children in the Special Care Baby Unit and Robin Ward at the Jersey General Hospital.

This will be the forth year that we have visited Jersey for the charity and it has always been a great success. There will lots to do on the day including children’s bouncy castles, sideshow, entertainment and food vendors. So even if you’re not in a team, or a supporter of one of the teams they will still be plenty to do, come along and enjoy the atmosphere and the day !

If you’d like more details about entering a team you can either Contact Us or go directly to the charities information page. We’re expecting 36 teams to be taking part each day.

As you can see above everyone had a great day and it was also captured by ITV cameras covering local news. So, some along and you might be on the telly!

If you’re not on Jersey, but want to join in the fun and take part in one of our charity It’s A Knockout’s please see our Events Page to see other similar events where the public are invited to enter teams.

Tags charity event jersey, charity it's a knockout, friends of scbu, jersey

It's A Knockout News

Bouncy Castle Safety

Post author By Phil
Post date 11th February 2019

article header image saying bouncy castle safety — Mum’s & Dad’s Guide to Bouncy Castle Safety

With the recent high-profile inflatable and bouncy castle accidents that have been in the news over the last couple of years in mind, Phil Pike (the Director of Knockout Challenge) via his involvement with the Amusement Devices Safety Council has written a short guide to help the general public ask and look for the right things when hiring inflatables and bouncy castles for the likes of school fetes, fundays and events.

Bouncy castles and inflatables in general are actually very safe (and of course fun) when used in the correct way by the right people supplying them and supervising them. There is lots of technical guidance out there mostly aimed at the supplier or hirer, but members of the general public may find it hard to understand the relevance of the guidelines and how they actually apply to them when they are booking a hire or siting an inflatable on the day. So, the aim here to simplify it with a concise and easy to read “Mum’s & Dad’s Guide” to using them and also what to ask and look from an inflatable hire supplier and what to look for on the day and where to site it.

24 mph wind speed limit on all inflatables — Wind warning sign

This Guide will be a great quick source to keep on file of the underlying important points for the general public to refer to for “bouncy castles”. The headings include:

# How they are made.
# Installation.
# General condition of the inflatable.
# Anchor points.
# Wind speeds.
# Users & supervision.
# Certificates & Safety.
# The operator or supplier.
# Further reading & guidance.

At the moment the guide is currently available on the PTA+ Magazine website by clicking here:
>> Inflatable Hire Safety Article <<

For further safety information, please see our other blog: Inflatables & Safety At Events.

Tags bouncy castle safety, health & safety, inflatable safety, safety

Charity Event Discountable Dates Events It's A Knockout News

Discount dates in 2020

Post author By Phil
Post date 24th January 2019

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This page features our discount dates for 2020. As you may know, we travel all over the UK providing “It’s A Knockout” for charity days, family days, team building events and more. This travelling means that sometimes we have gaps in our diary where customers can benefit from a discounted price. With three independent travelling “It’s A Knockout” shows on the road, we will have one in your area at some point this year !

Sometimes we have the opportunity to offer discount dates as we are travelling to or from other events.

On this page are a selection of already booked dates (it’s not a full list so please contact us with your date anyway). If you are planning a “Knockout”, and your area is within 150 miles of those listed below and your proposed date is within a day or so either side of the dates listed, please contact us to see if we can offer you a discount date for the relevant “Show” that applies to the date below.

Many charities benefit from this every year and we love offering discount dates because it gives us a nice chain of dates and travelling rather than “one end of the country straight down to the other end”

Because of the current crisis, we have taken down our listed discounted dates for the moment. Please be assured that we will discount and reduce our prices as much as possible.

Please contact us with details of your event as other dates may be available.
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Tags 2019, charity, charity it's a knockout, Discount dates, It's A Knockout

Team Building

The Kings Banquet Game

Post author By Phil
Post date 16th January 2019

For a bit of visual fun and enjoyment, watch a video of our Kings Banquet It’s A Knockout game from our Silver Show. The team in relay collect the pieces of Kings Banquet Cake for his birthday and reassemble (Velcro together) it at the end of our Maze Inflatable obstacle. It’s a great fun game, bashing and weaving back and forth through the course collecting the pieces.

There is a lucky twist at the end where we ask two of the team members to lift the completed cake aloft and deliver it back down and over the Maze Inflatable to finish the game. However, this isn’t as easy as it seems as you’ll see at the end of the video.

We like this game as it’s not set that the fastest or fittest team will win when the end-twist of delivering the cake a-loft is played out.

The Kings Banquet is just one of the eight games on a standard Silver Show Knockout. Click here to visit the page dedicated to this set of games. Plus also see our Silver Show blog article from 2018 for more pictures and info.

Remember to Contact Us for more information or if you have any questions.

Please visit our YouTube channel for more of our great It’s A Knockout videos.

Tags Inflatable Obstacles, Kings Banquet Game, team-building

It's A Knockout News

2018 It’s A Knockout Digest

Post author By Phil
Post date 28th December 2018

Well, it’s that time of year again to look back at the previous 12 months and reflect on our 2018 It’s A Knockout year. As usual it’s been a pleasure being out on the road performing our It’s A Knockout game activities for a variety of clients and the public. As ever, we’ve been all across the UK taking our games to a variety of events such as charity fundraising, schools, festivals, town/village shows, fun days, team building, and the off party and private event.

Whether it’s been a national charity day, a big fun day or just a small team building event we’ve enjoyed 2018, and hope that everyone who took part had Fun fun fun as well.

Of course there was that great period of dry and hot weather in the middle of the year which we will all remember. For us it happened in the middle of our “busy-busy” part of the year. It started about a week before our big Jersey charity weekender and lasted until the end of July (when the English schools break up).

Summer It's A Knockout — Summer It’s A Knockout 2018

Our it’s A knockout games are great for team building and in 2018 we’ve supplied games packages for small team building days for as little as 30 people, right up to large days where 500 have taken part.

Team Building It's A knockout — Team Building It’s A knockout

Our games are ideal for schools that want to keep a lot active simultaneously. Our largest in 2018 for 700 students in one day! (we can easily do more though)

We saw a longer season than ever this year, with work through October, November and December. Indoors or outdoors, Christmas party’s, Santa Run’s, team building and more, it’s been a Knockout Year.

And we’re already looking forward to 2019. New games and inflatables are planned, and we can’t wait !!!

Bookmark our News/Blog page for the latest from us, or Contact Us for our 2019 events.

Tags it's a knockout news

It's A Knockout News

Knockout In The Rain

Post author By Phil
Post date 23rd October 2018

Overall 2018 has generally been a good year for It’s A Knockout weather. However, come September time, it did turn a little for the worse. This brings us to a question often asked of us… “What happens to a It’s A Knockout in the rain?” Well, to be honest, the answer is, it carries on regardless. Sometimes, we prefer it ! You’re going to get wet on the games anyway, so what’s the difference?

The pictures shown here in this blog were taken at a Cornwall Hospice Care fundraising It’s A Knockout day in Truro in September 2018. You’ll see that everyone had a great time. 33 teams turned up (only 3 dropped out last minute) all raising money for the charity.

Knockout In The Rain.

Our wet games and inflatables are going to get wet anyway no matter what the weather happens to be on the day, in fact when it’s raining it saves us a job of throwing water on them as Mother Nature is doing it for us. So rain is definitely not a problem. Our watch points though are making sure areas do not become muddy and of course the wind. But, these are “watch points” for normal days anyway. Just get the teams to bring a team gazebo with them and this can act as a base to keep their things dry whilst they are having fun on the games.

To read more about how a charity can raise money using one of our It’s A Knockout’s please see our Charities page and also our Charity FAQ’s blog.

Cornwall Hospice Care.

If you’d like more information about the Cornwall Hospice Care charity and their work, please go to their Facebook Page or visit their website Cornwall Hospice Care.

Tags charity fundraising, hospice fundraising, knockout in the rain

Fundraising

Santa Run Obstacles 2018

Post author By Phil
Post date 11th October 2018

A fancy dressed team at a hospice charity day

Our It’s A Knockout inflatables don’t get a rest in the winter months (oh no!), they can also be used by charity’s as an exciting addition to their Charity Santa Run Events for Christmas 2018. We’d prefer the Santa Run Obstacles laid out in a concurrent straight line course as this helps us with our marshalling them for safety purposes. We can offer inflatable courses from just a 150 feet long to massive 300 feet long.

santa's running through inflatable obstacles — Santa Run Obstacles 2018

Colourful Inflatable Obstacles.

They add a great colourful and visual element to add to a Christmas charity fundraising Santa Run event. The Santa’s will enjoy running along, and bashing down, and climbing through the bouncy inflatables part of there charity run experience. We supply our own power generators, just give us a nice long grass area to lay the inflatables out on and we’ll do the rest.

Santa's running down the inflatables — Santa Run Obstacles 2018

We can also supply a PA sound system for the day to help you with the Santa Warm Up routine and for any event introductions, announcements and presentations.

To get an idea of the inflatables that we use for the courses, please see our Packages Page.

Contact Us.

Please Contact Us and we’ll talk you through how it all works.

Tags charity fundraising, Inflatable Obstacles, santa run