Chat n Snap 2023

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.

Trendon Elliott and his teddy bear joined the growing crowd of evacuees at the station

St Ippolyts station welcomes evacuees

Evacuees with their suitcases, favourite toys and the amazing red gas mask

Evacuees amongst the fresh produces and luggage trolley

Mostly girl evacuees in this photo

Warmly dressed evacuee Gregors and Sashas

Mostly boy evacuees in this photo

Sasha evacuee in her stylish coat, hat and handbag

Even her suitcase and boots matched her outfit colours

Trendon Elliott in his Argyll sweater and peak cap at St Ippolyts station

Dee announcing that the sales tables were now open

No philtrum Sasha evacuee

No philtrum Gregor evacuee (I understand he forgot to pack spare underwear)

Sasha evacuee at St Ippolyts station

This evacuee reminded us of Lucy from Narnia

Sasha evacuee with a friendly kitten

Evacuee kitten?

I think that kitten likes this evacuee, maybe she smuggled her kitten to the country on the train

Gregor evacuee

Very tidily dressed evacuee Gregors and Sasha

Gotz Gregor evacuee

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. 

Trudi (centre) with the two copy Sasha dolls and our toddlers

Trudi, Louisa, Edmund and Miranda

Trudi relaxing on her chaise longue and quilt

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.

Dawn's wobbler

Re-rooted babies playing together

Two Sasha girls

Molly and Heather according to their name tags

Some of the visiting Sasha and Gregor dolls

All the visiting Sasha's near the St Ippolyts sign

Four friends under the window 

A mixed group of friends

Sashas, toddlers and baby

Gregors in classic shorts and shirts, Sashas in smocked dresses

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!)

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.

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.

Raffle prizes

More raffle prizes

Yet more raffle prizes

Raffle prizes including 4 of the 5 dolls

Raffle prizes including the wardrobe

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...

Tricia thanks Dee and Paul while Vanessa and Janet prepare to present them with gifts

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.

Trendon Elliott the evacuee in front of a sign for Norwich the Cathedral route

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.

Scotland roadtrip - part 5

Laura and Nicholas James drove from Cawdor Castle late on the Saturday afternoon through rather miserable weather in the Cairngorms to a remote cottage in the hills above Pitlochry and Killiecrankie.

The following day they went to Killiecrankie to see where a Redcoat soldier had leapt from one side of the river to the other as he tried to escape the Jacobites in the Battle of Killiecrankie. The river Garry runs through a wooded, rocky gorge, and they decided it must have been really tricky to fight a battle in this area. It was a beautiful place for a woodland walk.

The river Garry at Killiecrankie not far from the Soldier's leap

The Soldier's Leap sign says "The large, flat rock down below on your right, at the water's edge is said to be the site form which Donald McBane, a Redcoat soldier fleeing the battle of Killiecrankie, leapt 5.5 metres / 18 feet across the River Garry while being pursued by Jacobite clansmen.

Soldier's leap sign

The Soldier's leap

Laura and Nicholas James peered down at the Soldier's leap rocks

Heilan Coo joined Laura and Nicholas James to look at Soldier's leap

On the Monday morning before leaving the Pitlochry area, Laura and Nicholas James visited Blair Atholl Watermill, which is Scotland's oldest working watermill. It only works when the river Tilt is in full spate and there was a sign up explaining they've had water supply issues recently.

Blair Atholl Watermill with no water in the channel for the water wheel

Sign explaining why the Watermill wasn't running

Inside the watermill it was possible to visit all 3 levels of the mill workings to see the millstones, the driving cogs, hoppers and chutes, there were lots of information signs explaining how it worked. Laura and Nicholas James were fascinated.

Diagram showing how a waterwheel works

Nicholas James and Laura looked down at the millstones

Some of the driving cogs and wheels, drive belts and hoppers

Much to their delight, Laura and Nicholas James found that despite the watermill not running during their visit, they could still try their hand at grinding some grain as there was a mortar and pestle specially for this purpose.

Why not try grinding your own flour. Nicholas James was keen to give it a try.

"It looks like very hard work" said Laura.
"I can understand why they harnessed the water to grind the wheat for flour" gasped Nicholas James

On another level of the Watermill, Nicholas James and Laura discovered a scale model of Blair Atholl Watermill.

Nicholas James and Laura admired the model of Blair Atholl Watermill

They had tea and scones at the watermill cafe bakehouse, then it was time to go back to the cottage to load the car for the start of the journey home.

On their journey from the Cairngorms, they went past the Kinross Loch Leven though didn't stop as they had a long way to travel that day. They crossed the Forth river via the road bridge and saw the the famous railway bridge, then drove past Edinburgh (which Laura had visited with Florence in May 2014) and through the Scottish borders where they had a brief refreshment break in Jedburgh. A few miles later they reached the Scottish borders at Carter Bar and got out of the car for a final look at Scotland before travelling on to stay overnight in Gateshead then travelling home via York the following day.

Information sign about the Scottish borders, at Carter Bar

Nicholas James, Heilan Coo and Laura at the viewpoint of the Scottish Border

Laura and Nicholas James had a wonderful road trip in Scotland. They were so pleased to bring Heilan Coo home with them.