It is late 2003...

So, the ingenious idea that is revburpee, how did it all come into being?

Once again, another invention that can be put down to the University of Warwick. Is this the result of hours of research and painstakingly predicting what is the next big thing that will sweep through the country we call Great Britain?

Well.. in a word... no. It was down to a boring seminar. Not uncommon in the Institute of Education as you reach the end of your course and they run out of things to tell you (you can only be told how to plan a lesson so many times in four years). Hannah and TP whiled away the hours drawing on pencil cases, dreaming of road trips and doodling, until, one day, these doodles took on a life of their own. Yes! Inspired by a fusion of a Tranmere Rovers Car Football Kit and the wonder that is Revelation, the carburpee was born!

We decided to move quickly, afraid that our secret would be discovered by some high-powered rev person and banned, or worse still, copied! A trial run was necessary to see if the dreams that we had in our heads would actually work in reality. Hannah began the tiring job of creating the shape of the burpee. Cruising the Rev websites around the country, she compared logos and eventually settled on a design for the burpee to beat all burpees. With the Rev logo emblazoned on his chest, he was ready to go!

The Christmas holidays arrived, along with Kennedy (that's TP's car), the perfect time to give carburpee his trial run. Undercover, H and TP legged it to Lazer Lizard, had the burpee laminated and sidled our way down Health Centre Road to where Kennedy was waiting at the bottom. The moment of truth, being a dab hand with scissors, TP cut the hole and inserted the sucker. Burpee was ready!



A quality photo that proves it really was us, as you can see Hannah taking it, clever!

Not wanting to rest on our laurels before the cookie had crumbled and the pudding had been eaten, we tried other ways of attaching the burpee to the sucker. A dangling effect was tried, but we found it meant that burpee was not as clearly seen by the great British Public through the window. "But hey", we thought, "this could still be of use, some people don't have cars, others can't even drive, lets have a carburpee for people without cars!" And the windowburpee was born! Prototypeburpee was joined by 8 friends, one each of the 8 types of burpees we produced. They were presented to the choir in a Pause for Thought, this website launched and the world overrun with burpees. Probably. And so the story ends, but it really is only the beginning!

 

Update Easter 2006...

Perhaps not yet overrun but definitely expanding! We now only do the sucker in the middle of burpee, not at the top as it makes it easier and it works in both types of window anyway! Revburpee has grown and keeps on going, even though H and TP have real grown up jobs and did slack off burpee making for a while. Burpees are still available at National events and made on request. There are now Burpees with National, Aberdeen, Bristol, Bangor, Cambridge, Durham, Hull, Keele, Warwick and York Logos on, we have Burpee and Revver On Board signs, and some people who ask really nicely even have personalised ones! If you're in a choir that doesn't have a burpee available yet, get someone to send the logo to Hannah and there'll be one soon!

We revel in pride, joy and over-excitement each time we turn up at a Rev event and see Burpees adorning so many car windows, we love finding our friends' houses by looking for Burpees in their windows, and we love that if we are lost on the way to a National event, it is possible to follow people who have Burpee merchandise decorating their cars.

We have set free to all the choirs 2 'Travelling Burpees', "Burpee" and "Burpette". You may have them as members of your choir right now! They were given to choirs so they can have adventures in all Rev locations, and then get passed on at any Regional or National event so they can continue their journey through the world of Rev. You can watch and contribute to their travel record by clicking on 'Travelling Burpees' on the left hand side.

We hope you love and cherish your Burpees and that they bring you great Rev joy and also spread the word about Revelation!

Well done for reading to the end, I think you are the only one so far!

Back to the top