toil and trouble...

You may have noticed I have not posted for a while (again), although not due to general idleness and apathy this time (I know, I'm a disgrace to the species), I just haven't had proper access to the tinterwobble so have been unable to keep you updated with The Incredible Fundraising Adventures of Jenfer. Aaanyway, the past month and a half has been a nightmarish rollercoaster of trying to organise a jumbo fundraising Hallowe'en party in the too-stylish-for-words venue of my local village hall. This has been made all the more difficult - particularly for my poor parents - with my moving three hours north of said venue as opposed to a five minute stroll down the road. Hall hire and DJ were sorted no problems, (thanks to bob and george for the free music ;)... not sharky and george though sadly - the presence of the crimebusters of the sea would've been pretty awesome), but when it came to actually selling the damn tickets, things began taking rather an unpleasant turn for the worse. It appeared that nobody wanted to come to my party.

However, due to excelleing badgering on several wonderful people's parts, we managed to sell enough to just about fill the hall, only finally deciding that we wouldn't have to call the entire damn thing off about three days before it was supposed to take place. So, tickets sold, decorations kindly borrowed from the garden centre where my mum works, costumes at the ready, we were set to make what we hoped would be about £500 altogether. Ticket sales had already reached about £300, and with the addition of a raffle and a promises auction with prizes and promises kindly donated from the lovely people of chilton, we thought we might just about get another couple of hundred. What we didn't account for was the fact that people were pretty much off their heads by the time bidding commenced, and so stupid amounts of money were being thrown about, like the £32 paid by Rob for two hours worth of my mum's ironing. Furthermore, a couple of pre-party bids by some people who couldn't attend pushed profits up significantly, resulting in a grand total over the whole evening of £1001.

Pretty successful I think you'll agree. Pictures are here for anyone who wants to see my mum dressed as a witch and rob dressed as a rubik's cube lurking somewhere in the background. It's pretty cool.