A poignant theme of 1940s Evacuees was Dee's choice for the Chat 'n Snap this year. This was very topical in the light of wars happening around the world currently and fitting considering that Sasha Morgenthaler had been moved by the sight of refugee children arriving in Switzerland during World War II which subsequently influenced the Sasha doll face designs.
Dee and her husband Paul created an incredible backdrop for a fictional St Ippolyts railway station (the nearest railway stations are Stevenage and Hitchin, there never was a branch line to the village of St Ippolyts) with young evacuees arriving in the countryside from bomb damaged London. More and more Sasha children arrived wearing 1940s clothes, carrying their gas mask boxes (and in some cases actual miniature gas masks made by their owners!), suitcases, teddy bears and parcels. Our blond boy Trendon Elliott joined the bewildered throng of evacuees. I brought along the Evacuees room box (1/12th scale) which my elder daughter and I had created when my younger daughter was born. I placed it at the end of the display, near our doll.
I gave my daughter the camera to photograph the scene as I knew she would do a better job than me and she did! I think she enjoyed getting some individual photos of some of the dolls and their accessories, the details achieved were incredible.
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| Trendon Elliott and his teddy bear joined the growing crowd of evacuees at the station |
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| St Ippolyts station welcomes evacuees |
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| Evacuees with their suitcases, favourite toys and the amazing red gas mask |
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| Evacuees amongst the fresh produces and luggage trolley |
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| Mostly girl evacuees in this photo |
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| Warmly dressed evacuee Gregors and Sashas |
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| Mostly boy evacuees in this photo |
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| Sasha evacuee in her stylish coat, hat and handbag |
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| Even her suitcase and boots matched her outfit colours |
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| Trendon Elliott in his Argyll sweater and peak cap at St Ippolyts station |
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| Dee announcing that the sales tables were now open |
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| No philtrum Sasha evacuee |
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| No philtrum Gregor evacuee (I understand he forgot to pack spare underwear) |
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| Sasha evacuee at St Ippolyts station |
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| This evacuee reminded us of Lucy from Narnia |
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| Sasha evacuee with a friendly kitten |
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| Evacuee kitten? |
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| I think that kitten likes this evacuee, maybe she smuggled her kitten to the country on the train |
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| Gregor evacuee |
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| Very tidily dressed evacuee Gregors and Sasha |
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| Gotz Gregor evacuee |
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| Trendon Gregor evacuee |
We had brought some other dolls to the Chat 'n Snap to go in the general doll display. For the first time my newly restored Sasha studio doll Trudi attended an English Sasha event, sitting comfortably on her chaise longue sofa with her quilt spread on it and a vintage book about the countryside to read. Alongside her a couple of want-to-be-Sasha course dolls sat down to chat (I don't recall who they belonged to). At the foot of her sofa, our toddlers Louisa and Edmund stood patiently alongside Miranda. Nearby was Laura and Nicholas James with Heilan Coo.
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| Trudi (centre) with the two copy Sasha dolls and our toddlers |
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| Trudi, Louisa, Edmund and Miranda |
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| Trudi relaxing on her chaise longue and quilt |
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| Miranda at the left, other visiting dolls, Laura and Nicholas James with Heilan Coo |
There were plenty of other visiting dolls, including Dawn's recently refurbished wobbler.
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| Dawn's wobbler |
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| Re-rooted babies playing together |
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| Two Sasha girls |
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| Molly and Heather according to their name tags |
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| Some of the visiting Sasha and Gregor dolls |
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| All the visiting Sasha's near the St Ippolyts sign |
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| Four friends under the window |
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| A mixed group of friends |
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| Sashas, toddlers and baby |
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| Gregors in classic shorts and shirts, Sashas in smocked dresses |
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| Colourful outfits and hair for this group of Gregors and Sashas |
There were several sales tables and we prowled around looking first before making a few choices (my daughter was a sensible influence in helping prevent purchase of more dresses as our Sasha girls have more clothes than we do!)
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| General view of the sales tables with the St Ippolyts station of evacuees in the background |
There was an adoption area too - for people to put dolls they wanted to sell (with the price) and for others to choose then find the owner to pay.
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| Adoption corner |
There was a giant raffle, with 5 dolls (the draws for these took place at intervals throughout the raffle) and lots of other prizes - the raffle is always epic in length and towards the end if a ticket was drawn, the winner was asked to take 2 or 3 items to clear the table of prizes a bit quicker! We won an early brunette baby girl with 2 additional outfits, plus several other prizes.
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| Raffle prizes |
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| More raffle prizes |
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| Yet more raffle prizes |
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| Raffle prizes including 4 of the 5 dolls |
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| Raffle prizes including the wardrobe |
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| The five raffle dolls (we won the brunette baby) |
During the day we had lots of conversations with other Sasha enthusiasts, including some who were new to collecting Sasha dolls as well as plenty of familiar friends.
At the end of the raffle there was a special presentation to Dee and Paul to thank them for organising the Chat 'n Snap events from 2013 onwards (only a break in 2020). Dee had previously said this was the last one, there will not be one in 2024 because the Sasha Festival is taking place in England that year, however she said there might be a Chat 'n Snap in 2025 because she had an idea for a theme...
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| Tricia thanks Dee and Paul while Vanessa and Janet prepare to present them with gifts |
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| Dee with her flowers |
When we were tidying away at the end, I brought our evacuee to the rest of our dolls who were displayed beneath the St Ippolyts sign and took a group photo of them.
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| Trendon Elliott the evacuee in front of a sign for Norwich the Cathedral route |
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| Our Sasha and Gregor family (with Heilan Coo) who attended the Chat 'n Snap 2023 in St Ippolyts |
Thank you to Dee, Paul and all your helpers for a superb day (apparently over £1010.86 raised for charity at this event), we had a very good time and it was lovely to catch up with the Sasha community again.
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