Chelsea Christmas Fayre

we woke up to a mass amount of snow this morning and the decision had to be made weather or not (pun totally intended) the Christmas fayre was going to be called off or not. a difficult decision as Joe had spent a lot of time and effort in organising the fayre, and on one side of the question- how many people were going to turn up to college today and on the other, how do you organise the same level of involvement for a different day in the week. We gave Tim a call- he was already on his way to college with his shirts to sell and said that he had spoken to couple of other stall holders who were also on their way- it shone a little light on the situation that people would still be coming into college if they could. Our journey in wasn't bad either- perhaps after 3 solid days of snow people just get on with things and forget to panic about it. However when we got to college the parade ground had been closed off and it was very cold outside- not many wanted to sit outside. So part two of the conundrum, where do you put a fleet of 20 stalls if not outside in a large parade ground. Joe went off to haggle with various people for space inside the college while i went to instruct people about what was going on.

Joe triumphed and at 11am (only half an hour after schedule) the majority of the stalls were set up, lined along the corridor. In a way this was a better space than the parade ground anyway because there was a constant flow of people through the space, buying cards and food. Unfortunately there were one or two stalls that would have benefited from the space next to the Tate Britain- but overall i think everyone was happy that they were warm.

My stalls were all a bit of a mess in the end- the hook the duck and face painting didn't get set up until about 1pm because i was watching so many other stalls, whilst at the same time helping people set up, and when i did eventually get around to filling my hook the duck the paddling pool had a hole in it. So hook the duck became a little stationary after i had to remove the water. I think this was a bit of a novelty though and drew in a couple of people so they could laugh at my failed attempts. Another problem that we had was that the mulled wine stall that was borrowing my induction hob had an aluminium pan so couldn't actually use it- we fixed this in a 'health and safety nightmare' way by running down to the foundry and borrowing a piece of steel to place between the hob and the pan (meanwhile Joe ran to Sainsbury's to buy a new pan but unfortunately that was also aluminum).
My Christmas cards all sold- hooray! Gill said she had bought mine specifically to send to members of her family who she knew wouldn't like them, I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not- but she did buy them so I'll take it as a compliment. Overall we raised a good £400 which was amazing, plus Joe managed to get various members of staff to do Karaoke which was excellent viewing. So well done to everybody, especially Joe who i think will need a well deserved rest for a week after this!