Fun in the Sun

I'm sorry it's been a while, I started my GCSEs this week and revision has been very time-consuming and overwhelming. I've already had a few and they were really hard - I hope I did okay!

In the meantime, it's been the most amazing week for our fundraising! Last weekend, my grandparents' friends opened their garden to the public. It's absolutely beautiful there and goes on forever; it even has it's own river. They had an amazing turnout, with countless people making donations and it raised over £1000. Thank you so much to Hugh and Margaret for all your time and effort.

The other big event this week was this afternoon's football match and fun day. This was arranged by the amazing Gary Hanson and was one of the best events yet. We had stalls, food, music, bouncy castles and, of course, football! Luckily, the weather was on our side as not much of the entertainment was indoors. That being said, we did have the wonderful Tom Dulieu playing his brilliant music. I spent a while in there listening to him and he was really good. My family was running a stall with (more) slime, a raffle and some lovely jewellery made by my neighbours. We made lots of sales, raising lots more money for my surgery. The football was really good too, with a few famous faces in the mix including a few of women who used to play for the Spurs Ladies team! Sawbo FC won in the end and they definitely deserved it. During half time we had entertainment from Theatretrain, featuring songs from some of the students including myself. It was very nerve-wracking, but also a lot of fun! Overall we raised about £3000 which is absolutely phenomenal.

Overall it was my favourite event so far, and a real coming together of the community: Scouts, Brownies and friends all chipped in. I can't wait fot the next event, but for now, it's back to my exams.

Roll up! Roll up!

Yesterday was the annual Sawbridgeworth Mayfair, a brilliant community event made all the better by record breaking temperatures, and we got to run a stall in order to raise money toward my surgery. Mum and Dad had to wake up early in order to help close off the road and set up our stand. Holi and I stayed behind to sort out our last bit of slime making and labelling, as well as boxing up all the Squishies that we would sell. We got picked up, alongside all of our stock, and drove down to the fair where Mum already had the flyers and raffle on display.

We laid the slime and the Squishies out, with big pots at the back, little pots in the middle and Squishies sorted into size order at the front. I was also in charge of laying out the boxes of jewellery kindly made by my neighbour on another table. I had two friends there with me and the fair wasn’t due to start for half an hour, plus it was really hot, so we wandered around and looked out for good stalls. One particular game caught my eye: pick a ticket with an odd number and win a toy pug! I got one of my friends to try to win me one, but he didn’t manage. Luckily it was a prize-every-time game so he won me a really cute mini pug instead. 

Then, we ate and went back to the stall where we took over the slime stand. We had so many customers! Half of the pots were already gone, as well as most of the squishies! I was there for about ten minutes before Holi came back and we must have sold ten pots in that time which was fantastic. Then, my friend and I took some flyers and started handing them out. It started to become a bit of a competition, and I won by a long way so I was quite proud! 

Overall, it was a huge success all of our takings added up to over £600. It couldn’t have gone better, and I’m so thankful to everyone who helped us achieve this.

I’d specifically like to thank:

• ·         Claire Stockwell and Helen Warnok for running the Mayfair and letting us set up a stall.

• ·         My sister Holi for making the slime which sold so well.

• ·         Elena Vulliamy, Alex Faber and Abbie Shadbolt-Smith for helping us to run the stall, hand out leaflets, and sell the slime, Squishies and jewellery.

• ·         My neighbours Jackie and John for making the beautiful jewellery for us to sell.

• ·         Pets at home, The Manor of Groves, The Café of the Angels, Henry’s Dad, Beautology, The Mint Café, Sweeny Todd’s hairdressers and The Queen’s Head for kindly donating some fabulous prizes to our raffle.

• ·         And of course my Mum and Dad their tireless support.