So why did you choose the Invasion?

Well, how it works with Obverse is that every so often they open up for submissions for the forthcoming years.

and they do it like a month, two-month gap, window rather, for each era of the show.

So, look, the main reason I settled on The Invasion was because I absolutely love it.

I mean, let's be clear.

But I think it's also a number of things.

I think it's one of the most influential stories in Doctor Who history because it's very clearly part of the era that it was made in, the swinging 60s.

It

Give us a little insight.

Well, it's important on many levels.

These days, I think the big sort of fight is to...

It's great these crafts to sort of ward off these factory-made cheap imitation rip-offs of boots and saddles and keep that sort of tradition alive of transmitting this tradition orally across generations between and within the communities rather than relying on big factories in Texas or Mexico or something like that.

So it's part of a way, you know, the folks involved in this community express themselves.

It's a way to translate knowledge, as I said, and to sort of transmit cultural values.

Stephen, tell us about this year's Congress and a little bit about what happens there.

Yeah, so these, we've sort of called them gear maker gatherings in general, and they've been happening for about, this will be the 12th year these gear maker gatherings uh that this will be the third cowgirl congress so we have four different groups that rotate we have a saddle makers uh saddle maker summit a rawhide rendezvous a silversmith symposium and uh through all those first three i noticed you know a couple women always show up and a lot of women that are going to be here uh next week uh but that there are always a couple women in the background um you know in a room sort of consumed by these uh you know dudes really and so for the fourth one we decided to separate the women and sort of highlight them on their own so that one is sort of spans the the art form from from chaps and saddles and and silversmiths and and there's a couple fine fine uh painters in there as well as well as pulled wool saddle blankets that that kind of thing