Sunday 30 November 2014

Fundraising for cats

Good morning, it's glorious here today. A blue sky, sunshine, makes one feel glad to be alive. Here are the pictures from yesterday at Barton Christmas market. The stalls and entertainments occupy two streets which are closed off to enable people to unload. We arrived just after 10am. They remain closed to traffic until 8pm when traders are allowed to drive on and empty their stalls. I was lucky and found a parking place close by just outside the exclusion zone, which meant that we could dismantle earlier. Trade finally dropped off at about 6.30pm. 
Our stall is the one on the right with the red table cloth. I have a couple of throws for this purpose. Janet is hiding somewhere, she is a bit camera shy. They provided us with a backdrop, so only my clips were needed to fasten it to the metal railings behind us. 
I took a little stroll before the crowds built up. Wow, what an eye catching stall, as you know I like a splash of bright colours.

Hasn't she been busy, all very tempting, but I resisted.

Ten out of ten for presentation. I asked her at the end of the day how she had done, she said, very well.

At the end of our row was the stage. There was entertainment on there for most of the day. There was a lot of singing and dancing, by all ages. It was lovely to see the kids enjoying themselves. I have to say though that at times it was a little too loud for me, made it difficult to chat to our customers. 
A few fairground rides and games were in attendance. More colour. I thought the entrance price was a bit too much at £2 a go, but I suppose they have lots of costs involved in getting the equipment there and paying the ground rent.


In the middle of the afternoon came the parade, they all came past our stall. I'm not keen on the idea of bringing real reindeer into such a noisy and busy environment. I would rather see them in there natural habitat strolling and grazing in woods and parkland. 
The Burmese dogs however looked like they were enjoying it. I have seen these before at various shows, they love to meet and greet people.

Then came a lot of children dressed up, accompanied by their parents.

Dancing troupes.


The view of the stage from our stall.

As darkness fell there was another parade, led by a very loud thunder of steel band drummers.




Aha, I snapped a pic of Janet when she wasn't looking.

At about 6pm everyone was waiting in anticipation of the big Christmas tree light switch on. It was sited just behind our stall in the grounds of the childrens day nursery. A big cheer went up.

I had an email last night from Janet with the total money taken. We did very well, slightly up on last year, so we are well pleased. Although I have to admit I didn't fancy standing around for that length of time, in the end it was worth all the work. It was great to join in with the happy Christmassy atmosphere, and we had lots of laughs.

This is why we do it, an email from Janet.

Some pics of Lucky in his new home a few days after he was adopted.  Isn’t he gorgeous and doesn’t he look happy!!  Sue contacted Lucky’s original owner to let her know he had been homed and sent her the photographs.  She was so pleased and sent Sue a ‘thank you’ card.  The lady had kept in touch with Sue since Lucky came into rescue as she was very upset that she had to give him up.
We need more happy endings like that.

Thank you for reading. I hope you have a lovely Sunday.
Toodle pip.

29 comments:

  1. Well done and Janet too!
    Love the pic of Lucky, indeed a lucky cat that landed on his paws! xxx

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  2. Looks like great day, well done both of you for braving it all day. And I must say that your items seem very reasonably priced(from what I can see in the photo!). I love going to markets and stalls but sometimes the prices are so high that it's bordering on silly. Your prices look fair, which is how it should be. sold lots.

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    1. Hi. Yes we keep our prices cheap, would rather not take it all home again. We have constant donations so no need to hang on to anything. Most things under £1. Nothing more than £5.

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  3. Well done to you & Janet! Your stall looks great, really colourful and inviting.
    How gorgeous is Lucky? xxx

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  4. It makes it all worthwhile when you have happy outcomes like Lucky's doesn't it. Well done to you both for standing out in the cold and selling your wares and for beating last years total.

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  5. Is your Barton - Barton on Humber? I've got a cousin living there somewhere.
    Your stall looks good and I'm glad the weather kept fine for you with lots of people buying.

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    1. Hi SSS, yes, Barton on Humber, south of the river near the Humber Bridge. Do you want me to go and make enquiries to find your cousin? Could put some notices up in shop windows.

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  6. I'm glad they let the Bernese Mountain dog pull a little cart. They love to do that, and are banned in many places from doing it -- fear of abuse. But that guy looks so happy! what a great day you all had, very impressive show.

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    1. Hi Boud. There were three of four dogs in the parade, couldn't get a pic of all of them. Usually at a country fair there are at least a dozen that congregate from all over Lincolnshire. You're right, they do love to pull a cart.

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  7. Lucky is so happy,he's doing a 'high five'!
    Jane x

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  8. Lucky indeed and very content from the looks of it! It was a wonderful fair from it seems from the photos.

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  9. Well done Ilona, a great fundraiser and I bet it made you feel Christmassy too.
    twiggyy

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  10. How wonderful for Lucky to have a new home...lovely to hear the previous owner is involved...oh the fair looks grand...your photos made me feel like I was there...and not able to resist a cupcake!

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  11. How great that your pussy cat stall did well. I used to be a deputy manager at a charity shop and I used to price things at rock bottom prices - everything went which is what I wanted (people getting nice stuff at a good price). Lucky cat in all senses. Natalie

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  12. Looks like a very exciting and happy day, tiring for the vendors though. Incidentally the dogs are called Burnese and come from the Swiss mountain area. Love the story of Lucky!

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    1. Hi Marie, Thanks for that, I wasn't sure of the correct spelling.

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  13. What a wonderful day you had, a lot of work but a fabulous result and fun besides! I give you enormous credit for your efforts.
    So happy to read the story of Lucky and see his photo, that is what makes it all worthwhile!
    JanF

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  14. Quite agree about the reindeer. And anyway shouldn't they be resting up. They've got a long flight around the world ahead of them in a few weeks time! x

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  15. Lucky is one lucky puddy. Great day, great result.
    xx

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  16. On the back of all the work you do to fundraise for the rescue cats today Ilona I went back to the cat rescue place where Humphrey came from last month and took all the food that he's not supposed to have that's leftover from our last cat plus a nearly new cat bed that someone gave me that H is too big for. Normally I'd put it all on freecycle but this allowed me to help more I hope so thanks for the inspiration.
    Arilx

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  17. So happy for lucky! He looks very happy. And thanks for sharing your pictures, so bright and colorful.

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  18. Glad you had such a successful day. It's a lot of work but you don't mind if it's all worth it do you. Nice that you and Janet are both able to support each other.
    Lucky looks very settled.

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  19. Looks like a lovely event, and I hope you did well for the cats. We did a sponsored knitathon last year to raise cash for the chapel and knitted squares, so some of the ladies are still sewing the squares together. As they get finished, they are donated to our local RSPCA centre for cat blankets - some of our ladies do voluntary work there and take them along for the cats. Best wishes xxx

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  20. Great photos to show us the special day and community you live in.Wonderful. Glad the profits were up after such a long day outside. Thankfully it was dry for everyone and so nice to see the kids taking part in positive activities too.Photo of Lucky says it all.It's worthwhile what you do and makes a difference.Regards, Destemona

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  21. I'm glad that the sale went so well. It looks like the day was quite cold and I imagine that it was tiring standing there all day. But it paid off for the cats and you and Janet deserve a pat on the back. Well done!

    Lucky looks so cozy and content in his new home.

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  22. Well done Ilona and Sue - there's more than one Lucky cat in Lincolnshire!

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  23. Looks like a lovely christmas market. I am happy for you that the sale went well - and the cats will certainly appriciate it!

    Take care
    Anne
    http://crochetbetweentwoworlds.blogspot.de

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  24. It looks like a lovely market so I'm glad you did well! £2 may seem a lot but it looks as if there was value for money on offer with the entertainment :)

    I laughed at the Burmese dogs… they are Bernese Mountain dogs which originated in Switzerland (where I live) and they are sometimes still used to pull the dog-cart (with huge milk cans) to the local dairy. We saw some last year in central Switzerland when the local cows were being judged on who-has-the-best-udder (really!) and they were all garlanded and cheerfully wagging the whole time :) The dogs have the loveliest character and are like teddy bears in a family - ours thought the village carneval was just for him and he adored being in a crowd and having confetti thrown all over him and all the kids fussing around, he was sure it was his party! He wasn't scared of any of the masks or noise or anything, just came home and shook confetti all over the house… LOL (and he lived a good long life to 14!)

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