Late Summer Barbecue

It's been a while since my last post so what better way to return than with the Late Summer Barbecue.

After a damp start the afternoon weather was kind to us and a great afternoon was had by all.

I think Madeleine says it best so without further ado....


"Right from the beginning with the setting up Roger, Harry, Jenny, Gill and Alan please forgive me if I have left anyone out not least David for the chairs and marquee. And the clearing up afterwards. Chris just told me he went in for three hours today and cleaned out the barbecues ready to give back to the allotment. 

Your work to get this organised, getting the place laid out so beautifully on the day, cooking the chicken legs and potatoes, the salads by Chris and Gill, the cakes - just spectacular. Mike's meat was superb the sausages so tasty and the cooking by Tiffany, Shaun, Bruce and Pat was so good that people were coming up to me saying how well everything was done. Thanks to Gill and Alan for helping so much with all the shopping. 

A special thanks to Helen and Avril for looking after the cake stall, John on the gate, Ann on the tombola and Gil and Alan with the raffle tickets and Barbara and Keith with the crafts/jewellery table and of course Jenny with the plant stall. Louise Hicks got us two really good raffle peizes and baked cakes for us. 

Marion made a colour plan of the whole site which showed how impressive our Green Gym is.
Thanks also to Michael Hewitt for the teaching session on bees - people were just bowled over with that. And I mustn't forget Neil's wine he brought with Sefton Green Gym labels and Chris's great music mix for my iPod. Thank you so much.

Another special thanks to Irene and John. Irene for donating her wonderful quilt and John for his patel painting. I mustn't forget Helen Vaughan and  Avril for the sampler and watercolour. Helen's mosaics just make the sensory area so special and of course John's giacometti like sculpture really adds something so artistic to the area. I can't wait to see Avril's mosaic for the side of the BBQ. We have so many really creative people now.

And thanks so much for selling so many tickets that we surpassed the 100 mark of people who came to see us. This doesn't count the children who came! 

Everyone's generosity made the total we got net after costs a fantastic £1000 which is what we were aiming for. I am over the moon and so glad to know you all. It makes my life so much richer!

Well that's it for now, onwards and upwards we have such great plans for the Green Gym in the future. We have enough money for the new beehives and  to do the standpipe, the gate and the hard standing inside the gate to make the area accessible for wheelchairs."

Some images from the day

Further images are available as usual on the Picasa site and I imagine Helen will add some from her very good blog

So from now on, it's down to reaping the benefits of all of the hard work of the volunteers without whom none of this would have been possible.

See you all on Thursday

@SeftonGreenGym