Search This Blog

Thursday 19 May 2016

Sasha Celebration weekend 2016 - part 5

It was Sunday morning of the Sasha Celebration and we all gathered for breakfast together.  I brought my restored Ponfa pram to the table with Miranda who had not yet made an appearance.  My girl dressed Laura in her new smocked dress (thanks to Ginger for donating it to the raffle) and 3 of the babies came too.
Miranda, Laura and babies Amy, Leo and Daisy at breakfast
Jocelyn's girl was pleased to have a turn at pushing the pram
I also brought my Heather Maciak dolls Jenny and Lexie with the miniature knitting I'm doing for them, to show to Laura H, Jonny and Lorraine who are all knitters, but didn't photograph my little porcelain girls at the table.

After breakfast we all gathered in the room with the Robin Hood display for one last time of chatting.  My girl had got into the spirit of Robin Hood - a few years ago we had a caravan holiday in Sherwood forest so had a toy bow and arrow (and a hat belonging to her big sister).  We found some boots, leggings and a hoodie (from last year's Guide Camp) and a green sash I used in a school stage performance when I was about 7 or 8, so I didn't need to make anything - we just assembled the outfit.
Robin Hood and the display
Robin Hood at the Sasha Celebration
Some people had to leave before we got into position for a group photo.
Sasha Celebration 2016 group photo
One more joined the lineup for the Sasha Celebration 2016 group photo
Nicholas James and other dolls started to leave the Robin Hood display to find their way home through Sherwood forest.

My girl with Nicholas James in their Robin Hood outfits - she did most of the sewing for NJ's outfit
Kendal didn't have much time for her photo studio as her Sasha Brood was the highlight of the event so managed to squeeze in a few photos at the end.
Kendal photographing two Sasha dolls who had been in the Robin Hood display
Nicholas James in Kendal's photo booth
"Lights, camera, action" as Kendal photographs Nicholas James being Robin Hood
It was sad to say goodbye to people - we had such a wonderful weekend and I know I didn't manage to speak with everyone I wanted to this time.   I am really pleased to meet and chat with Ginger at last who was on her first ever trip to England, I also managed brief conversations with some of the other international visitors and some people I'd met before but not everyone.

I would like to thank Janet with her helpers Trisha and Theresa for doing a sterling job of organising the Sasha Celebration weekend in their 'spare' time.  Most people have no idea of just how much work goes on behind the scenes to make such an event successful - months of co-coordinating, negotiating, planning and checking on the tiniest details, smoothing things over when unexpected issues arise, taking risks (booking the venue means paying a big deposit) and some frustration is almost inevitable.  It is a huge responsibility and I do hope that the organisers enjoyed themselves in the midst of all the work of continually ensuring that things were running smoothly throughout the weekend.  I know they'll all have been very tired afterwards - that too goes with the territory of being a volunteer event organiser (I have experience of organising a multitude of concerts in the last 10 years for local fundraising).  I am very grateful for all their dedication which resulted in such a fun and memorable weekend together celebrating Sasha and Gregor, Robin Hood style.

4 comments:

Kendal said...

I certainly second all your thanks to Janet, Tricia and Theresa as like you, I too know how much work goes into organising events from 24 years of leading these at school... and almost never a straight forward easy task as one hopes as things continually tend to crop up however organised you think you are.
So congratulations and well done to all three of you again. I had a terrific time again this year and hope that you can now spend time recovering from all that hard work that was involved.
The Robin Hood themed display was just GREAT (extra special thanks to Theresa for her magnificent Oak tree and distributing the helpful pattern) and lovely to see how many collectors rose to the challenge with their superbly designed outfits, all worthy imo of a prize.
The craft designers and table workshop leaders were THE BEST yet again with every item a winner.
Like you I too didn't get to do as much chatting as I'd have liked as the time flew
by so quickly... as it does when you're having fun!

Serenata said...

Organising an event such as this does indeed take an enormous amount of time and effort and hats off to all involved as it really was a truly successful and fun event.

Lovely to see your photos of the final morning - didn't we all have such a lot of fun?!

jamamy said...

What an enjoyable post, I've loved seeing the photos and reading about it all from your perspective. I wish I had had the time to look at your wonderful pram restoration at breakfast but my mind was very much elsewhere at the time! Thank you so much for your wonderful words about the Celebration and understanding of all that went on behind the scenes. I think next year we need an allotted time for chat and show and tell!

Ginger said...

The last day is always bitter sweet and the SCW was not exception. I had the very best of times and meeting everyone was just wonderful. I did not have enough time to talk with everyone there but was able to speak with most everyone. I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to Janet, Tricia and Theresa for their selfless work to ensure we all had a wonderful Sasha time together. It was fantastic!

I thought your daughter looked perfect in her Robin Hood outfit and it was so nice to meet her too. I am glad she liked the smocked dress and it looked so lovely on Laura. I wish I had seen your rehabilitated pram up close but I missed it. I so enjoyed your blog posts explaining your steps as your worked your way to the final product of that beautiful pram!

Thank you again for the delightful SCW posts. :) xxx