One cold Sunday morning, just after Christmas - actually it was 8th January, 06 - a group of Whoovers set off into a grey mist to visit another world. They were off to the National Space Centre, just outside Leicester, to see the final day of a Doctor Who exhibition and also the other delights of that extraordinary establishment. The group travelled in members' cars, some of which had been equipped with pretty Space Age guidance systems - SatNav - though the one I was in relied on good old human map reading and, I think, got there first.

If you haven't been to the National Space Centre, it is well worth a visit in its own right. It contains many fascinating items, some models, but most of them the real thing. Some of those real things are pretty large, which is why the building itself is a most extraordinary sight. The most noticeable feature is what appears to be a huge pineapple-shaped dome, which is really an enormous space-age plastic bag with a zip fastener up the side. This houses the rockets, among which is a Blue Streak, and the zip is to allow further of these space monsters to be added at a later date.

Apart from the Plastic Pod, there is an extensive two-storey structure stuffed with space junk, special interactive exhibits plus a planetarium, a gift shop and a cafeteria. It makes for an excellent day out for both adults and children, who are especially catered for and made welcome.

The exhibits try to put space exploration into a cultural and historical context, so there is material showing man's early perceptions of the stars and planets and early telescopes, orereys (moving models of the solar system), maps and biographies. It also looks at aspects of astronaut training, including interactive games for potential spacewalkers.

But the main purpose of the visit was to see the Doctor Who Exhibition, and the presence of that was signalled immediately you entered the main building by the imposing figure of the Annie-Bot immediately inside the main door.

This created considerable interest among the people entering the establishment, with some of the children being distinctly in awe of her.

Others showed her rather less respect though, with some naughty young persons even investigating her underwear!

The exhibition itself was fairly small, but well laid out and full of exciting things. Having been directed there by the far from weakest link of the the Robinsonbot, there were lots of goodies, mainly from the New Series, including some bang up to date material connected with the Christmas Invasion.

There was some attempt made to put the New Series into a historical context though, with some references to the old series.

But the main thrust of the exhibition was the New Series, including an imposing specimen of the first villain we encountered - the Autons. As you can see, the exhibition used rather a lot of "mood lighting", which certainly created an atmosphere effectively enough and maybe covered up some of the tattiness around the edges that is inevitable with transitory props not designed to be viewed au naturelle.

And of course, the Doctor and Rose were represented, including that jacket. Coo! - ain't he got big feet?

The End Of The World was particularly well served by specimens, containing, as it did, so many and varied alien costumes.

And talking of bodily fluids, the toilets at the Space Centre are excellent, by the way!

Some of the exhibits were dead creepy!

This model work for Aliens of London was quite stunning in its detail.

And the Aliens themselves were pretty cool too!

Including, of course, our Honorary Whoovers Member, the truly wonderful Mr Piggie! It was really great to see him in the - er - flesh at last.

The Boys from Skaro were there in force, naturally: showing contempt for stairs and also doing a strip-tease.

The exhibition wouldn't have been complete without the pervasive presence of the Bad Wolf, here represented by the Blaidd Drwg power station model.

And some truly sinister Santas, brought the whole show right up to date! (O.K., they were fake - not the real Pilot Fish fellas in the flesh, but it's the thought that counts!)

The whole day out was very memorable. We spent our time seeing things and then gathering around the tables in the cafeteria to refresh ourselves and chat about them, interspersed with visits to the planetarium. The weather may have been cold and dreary, but we got a warm welcome from the staff. Obviously the Doctor Who exhibition is no longer there - we visited on the day it closed, but the Space Centre itself is well worth a visit in its own right.