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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National
Alanna Tomazin

Changing the world, one brick at a time: Stark-raving mad about Lego

Stark Brick Builders in Medowie

In the "real world" Neville Clark tinkers on mining machinery while his friend Jacquie Stokes loans money to people. But in the Lego universe, the Medowie-based master builders take each brick to the next level.

A mutual interest in Lego led Neville and Jacquie to form Stark Brick Builders two years ago. "Stokes and Clark equals Stark," Jacquie said.

"We honestly love it. It's a real passion that we have and I don't have anyone else in my life that shares that passion ... I found another Lego nerd in Nev," she said.

The brick-building bond is one that works Jacquie said, with Neville enjoying the technics and herself beautifying the bricks.

"I like making it look good," she said.

SENTIMENTAL: Neville Clark and Jacquie Stokes with their favourite and first build - the Millennium Falcon which took 36 hours. Picture: Alanna Tomazin

Neville added: "She makes it look pretty, and I like making it move, if it moves it's pretty cool. That's why we work well, we balance each other out".

Jacquie said team work makes the dream work when building Lego.

"The build's a lot quicker and fun when there's two of us and it's easy to get into the Lego zone," she said.

The Stark Brick Builders have since shared their love for Lego with the community through hosting monthly meets at Medowie Social Club.

"Jacquie and I were building Lego at the social one day, and people started sort of coming up to us and asking what we were doing," Neville said.

"We just go down there and have lunch and build Lego, and it was just us and we thought 'Why don't we create a club?'"

After a call out to gauge interest, Neville and Jacquie brought thousands of their bricks together expecting a 30-person club meet which exceeded their expectations.

"We booked in our first event for 30 people and 130 people came," Jacquie said.

"We've had four meetings now and all of them have been sellouts. It's been unbelievable," Neville added.

The duo self-fund the meets, organise themes and provide everything needed, including prizes for the best builds on the day.

"We will never ever charge for it. Because I've always said, I wouldn't want a family not come because they couldn't afford to pay per child, so we will never ever charge," Jacquie said. "The only thing people need to bring is their creativity."

Their next meeting is set for August 21 and will include special guests Trent and Paul from the 2022 Lego Masters Australia television series.

Neville and Jacquie almost had their stardom with Lego Masters after trying out for the recent season.

"We got through to the very last round but we didn't get picked for the show," Jacquie said. "But that's okay because I honestly believe that doing what we've done now - creating this club has had a much bigger impact on our lives than what that [show] would have," she said.

The duo have plans to throw their name in the hat for the show once again and are waiting for applications to open.

Neville and Jacquie encouraged people to come along to Medowie Lego Club and join in on the endless possibilities of fun.

"We love playing Lego and now it's really taken off. Sometimes it's really hard for me not to just blow my whole wage on Lego," Neville said.

"Playing Lego allows you to block things out. For me it's like my meditation," Jacquie said.

You can follow Stark Brick Builders on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok.

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