2 mini announcements

1. On the right hand column of the blog, above "Blog Archives", we are opening a "local business and talent" box: Rebecca an Rita  are the first two local residents to get a link to their business. If you would like to do the same, you need to get in touch, email or telephone. click here for contact details.

 
2. A neighbour asked me to show this guitar on the blog since it was too good an instrument to be let go at the prices suggested on Saturday:  a Fender Squire Strat, in perfect condition. £60 (which is the ebay price). You can email us or ring the contact number and we'll put you in touch with the seller. Click here for contact details.

The joys of "upwards haggling": best of the Butterfly market

"So how did the big sale go on Saturday?" someone in town asked me today.
So I said: "Well, humanly it went great, and commercially, it doesn't really matter, does it?"
The person was puzzled. "How come?"
"Well, we did sell stuff, there were lots of visitors, more than we expected, the stalls didn't cost anything, so yes, we did make a bit of money."
"So it went ok then? You made money" the person said, wondering whether it was my explanation or my brain that made no sense.
"Yes, but most of us spent it immediately... on one another. And I think some of us spent more than they made."
I explained what had happened: from 10 to 11 it was rather busy with normal customers: I am not counting the "specialised" people arriving over an hour before the start and sniffing into the gardens long before any stall was up (I'll be frank, I didn't like that one bit, and we'll have to do something about it next time. We will be polite, but they will have to wait until we are good and ready: some of us are elderly, some are shy, it's our homes, so... it's not a regular car boot sale, is it?). But afterwards, it was more normal.

Then it calmed down, then a second wave,  then calmer again. Then something was started by the kids: One who had a stall with us went and bought a scooter from the family sharing with Paddy. Then my son went and bought a bracelet from Rebecca after selling a toy. Then he and two friends started going everywhere... to spend the money they'd just made. And then the same thing happened to some of the grownups : as far as I am concerned, I went and bought some of Sharon's cakes, Rebecca's shampoos, Naomi's adorable little fabric toys, a shirt from Paddy, a docking station from Ian, some pudding at Anna's stall, and so on. Then Sharon came to our stall, then Tony, Anna visited too, etc etc. And the best part was the giggles we had over haggling...upwards: "come on, your cup cakes should be 40p, not 10, they are gorgeous." Or: "No, I want to pay for this, don't give it away to me for free".

Another great, completely unexpected side was that some of us turned out to do fantastic sale pitches on behalf of the next stall, like Rodney did for Ian, whom he never met (Ian and Anne were our only "proxy" participating family: they had to be away, so they left their stall in the care of their neighbour Patrick, and did very well...). Or Nicky stopping me from getting intimidated into dropping the price of a jet cleaner.
 Or Sarah and Rebecca realising that next time, they should put up their stall together, as their styles complement each other nicely.

All in all, people seem to have enjoyed themselves, on either side of the stalls. Jasmin did brilliantly with her plants, and they were a few fantastic deals here and there: people who arrived to set up stall later than scheduled escaped the traders wave, so a couple of items that would have been "dissed" down to a ridiculous price one hour earlier made a couple of regular customers very happy, like the person on the photo here with his newly acquired chair.

A lot of ideas emerged from Saturday. Here are a few, some mad, some sound:

1.My sons suggest we hide in trees with super soakers, during the 2 hours preceding the start of the next sale, and warn traders that if they turn up early, they automatically volunteer to be target for a: "soak-the-trader-sniper-game". They were already working on the rules, teams, etc. It gives the "Buyer beware" a whole new meaning, doesn't it? Another defence system thought up was guerilla slingshot warfare.

2. Possibly swapping gardens systematically (so that our stuff is in someone else's gardens) and announcing clearly that we are doing so: this way it will become impossible for anyone who'd happen to harbour bad intentions towards people belongings to find anything out about their taste, physical strength, etc.

3. There is some immensely nice stuff and creative talent around: Rebecca, Naomi's mum, Sarah, Jasmin (and Sharon and Anna for the cakes). This is what we'll concentrate on for next time. How do you feel about a craft and talent fair, everyone?

Saturday Sale: some pictures

A few pictures for now. If you want some of them, email us, we'll send the jpeg files you ask for. I'll try and figure out a way to get bigger photos without slowing down the blog too much. Also, I erased the registration numbers that were visible. Summary of the day coming soon. After a little more caffeine.

Mini Update at 2pm Saturday

Just to say a huge thank you to all those who joined us: apparently, we're sort of pioneers! Lots of visitors and customers said it was the first time they saw that sort of space sharing. If you come back on this blog tonight, I'll have done my best to upload the pictures I taken. I'll try to give a summary of the event as well, for those who couldn't make it.
P.S.: thanks to the various Saints, pixies, fairies Gods, and other entities who managed to clear the bad weather at 9am.  (Most of us did ask, didn't we?). We are very grateful.

Update at 10 am saturday

Sorry about the delay updating, but there were people waiting outside the various houses at... 9am, and with the rain stopping at 8:30, there was a bit of a mad rush to get ready. But it is all happening, the sun is shining, the cakes have sold out, the plants are being sold fast... and the traffic is quite intense, it's going really well, lots of visitors. And it's rather fun knowing almost everybody with stall, meeting their family.
Come and visit!

Preparing for Saturday sale , and for a Sunday 8th little music experiment

A few of us met today at 7 in the community garden. Thanks to Anna, Bradley, Angie, Rita, Jamie, Matie, Paul, Barbara, Paddy, Davina and Jasmin for coming, Rebecca, Linda, Naomi and Ian couldn't make it. So we're all set for Saturday.  We have chosen to concentrate around three areas, in case it rains. We'll set up the gazebos accordingly: there will be a batch of sales around 5 Ashcombe Road (3,5, 7, 9, Ashcombe Road and 19 Fraser Gardens), another one around the crescent  (outside 9-15 Fraser Gardens), and another one at 23 Ashcombe Road and opposite at 8 Fraser Gardens).
Big variety of things were mentioned: plants, DIY equipment (including electrical, but there will be ways of checking with extension leads from a few houses, drum kit bits and other musical things, toys, buggys, prams, books, dvds,  lawn mowers, bikes...
Let's see how it goes on Saturday.

About Sunday 8th: Paul from Ashcombe road, Jamie From Fraser gardens and myself will be getting together on Sunday 8th from 1 to 4 in the community garden... to play some music. We can arrange electricity to reach the garden, although the more accoustic, the better to start with. The session is open: if you play an instrument and want to join for a while, give us a call if you can (it will help preparing rain gear and furniture), or just turn up out of the blue (preferably with your music instrument, though) on the day. See "contacts" for phone number or email address.

For sale on Saturday: your pictures Updated 27/06 21:00

As promised, we are putting the pictures you send us, and if you don't have a picture, putting a mention of the special items you want to show case a little in advance.

There will be no special order: I'll just add pictures into this post as they arrive.
Of course this is non exhaustive, as many people simply won't have a chance to photograph more pricey items.

On the stalls on Saturday 30th:

- Optima Tag-along Bike. 
Very good condition, used for only one season. Reason for selling: child now old enough to ride his own.

 - Ipod touch 8Giga, white (less than 6 months old). Excellent condition. £110

- Ipod touch 8Giga, black (2months old). Excellent condition. £110

(Reason for selling : sellers (2brothers) need ipods with 32G memory). Both will be reset to factory default.

- Stagg Bass, Left Handed. Perfect condition (person chose to learn to play right handed)

Brand New Boxed JD Bug Original Kick Scooter (MS-130B)
"Red and Silver
Unwanted prize - never used.
Retails at £50.00 - make us an offer!

Thanks"

brand new venetian blinds

(here is pic of similar blinds)

Posters in town

A few posters advertising our event are now in town. I'm out of ink, but between my son and Linda, we should be able to print more tonight. For now we want to thank: Waterstone Dorking, MXS Books and the Key Shop on St Martin's Lane, All Sorts, Oxfam Books, Muddy Paws and Sainsbury's on the High Street, and the Triangle Shop on Ranmore Road.
As for the big boards at the entrance of the road, slight delay there, the fabric lining we were going to paint on is not being very cooperative (yet). We'll call it "acrylic on curtain", as soon as the two get along reasonably...

Small leaflets en route to our neighbours

Yesterday we were playing postman again, and we will carry on today after 7. Some friends of my kids are showing great enthusiasm for the project and offered to help dispatch. This is what we looked like last night: (and apologies if you heard our chattering noises).
The leaflets are very very small... We are trying to save paper, ink, etc, to make sure it all remain a free exercice for all participants. My god daughter is patiently cutting them all as I write.
We got two requests for space today, that makes it about 12 host families (1 front garden each) and 6 guests families sharing so far. We still have good amounts of space, and we can always cram a bit, provided we don't flatten our flowerbeds...
We have made the donation to St Martin's school (from some of the money collected on the 3rd), and thanks to Linda waving the wood money (of the Jubilee lunch), we can make nice posters to put in town next week when we have  good estimate of how many families are taking part).

4 additional ideas about the Butterfly Market

Someone said they had a really good guitar to sell on the day, among other things. Another mentioned lawn mower. So what I'm offering to do is: you can take a photograph  of more valuable/ bulky items and send it to me. Then I can put all the pictures as in a catalogue on a post here on the blog, and unless you specifically want to show it's yours, it will appear as "will be on the sale on Saturday 30th". This way, noone can come and bother you at your home, if they want it, they'll have to meet you out there, it is safer.
So, we start with our first example:

This LEFT HANDED Stagg Bass Guitar  (in perfect condition) will be for sale on the 30th.

I'll try to find the best way to group and present the photos as they come, I'm not sure yet if it will be a post, a page, or something else. Just send them on, we'll figure something out.

Second idea of the day: on the day: if you have big things like a sofa, piano, or other bulky furniture, really big or awkward to move, take a good photo and email it here (ashcombe2012@gmail.com), but also print it out(say postcard size, 4x6in?)  and bring it on the day: we'll have a big  board that people can use as an ad wall, just for the day. You can also bring your business cards, offered/wanted, piano lessons, gardening skills, etc.

Third idea suggested today: if you are selling sunglasses, hats, etc, having a mirror handy at your stall will help.

We are thinking of dedicating a whole area -like one entire garden- to the children and young people, with the stalls run by them, with parents helping the youngest. Keep an eye on the blog to see if it will happen, and please definitely get in touch if you think it is a good idea and want to help.

Mini meeting tomorrow night about the 30th June Butterfly Market

As you may have seen, I shifted from our jubilee red-blue colours to yellow and purple for our posters and leaflets, mostly because of personal taste, and because they are "complementary" colours: you don't use yellow in the mix to make purple, yet they like each other as colours.
You may also have seen that there's a new phone number: I have to remove my number from the blog, because I'm getting marketting calls about claims, and debt, and refunds and whatnot. I didn't buy this sim card for the purpose, I happened to have it before, so, no money out, it is ok: we are after all trying to minimise all costs: using private gardens to mind our stalls, optimising advertising by photocopying what we can, or taking a shot of the poster with a smart phone and sharing it on facebook or twitter..., telling everyone about it. Don't hesitate: advertise away!

We won't be putting leaflets in letter boxes as much as for the jubilee lunch, again we are trying to be sensible about expenses: instead, we put some laminated posters here and there in the area, plus our sign boards. But if you want to make a few copies and leaflet neighbours in your street, go for it, and thank you for doing so, it will really help. When we know how many households are involved, we'll put a few more posters in town and possibly let the Dorking Ad know, as it is after all a rather unusual attempt: a carboot sale without cars, (or carboots), or fees... We shall see.

On the sales side, it will be just us neighbours, we simply cannot stretch  to people further away or professional traders. and will have to turn them down if they turn up on the day. We would need a different insurance cover for that: this is only possible at zero cost because we know one another a little bit. We don't even know if we can spill over onto housing association grounds. The lady at MVHA was very helpful, and in principle it is ok to use the community garden "in case" but we need to avoid going on there for trade if we can...

Tomorrow night we will be meeting in the community garden at the corner of Ranmore Road  and Ashcombe Road: there's four of us so far. It will be useful as it has been for the Jubilee Big Lunch: ideas popped up, solutions too. You are more than welcome to join us, just bring your drinks, we'll have chairs and a table, and hopefully acceptable weather.

The Ashcombe Road "Butterfly" Market (as in... not quite a Flea Market): Saturday 30th June from 10am to 1pm

Some ideas just don't pop up unless the circumstances are right. You guessed already? The Jubilee Big Lunch brought about the idea for this event.  Better yet, it is the fact that we all know each other a little bit better after the 3rd June that makes it at all possible. Here goes (and I'll promise I'll explain the butterfly oddity in a moment):
If you do a garage sale on your own, you get all the hassle of having to put flyers here and there, and then you get a few people, but it is a lot of work for not such a big result. Now, what happens if not 1, not 2, but 15 households do a garage sale on the same day, at the same time, in the same street? First it's much more fun, second, if you are a bit shy, it's much easier, and third, if you advertise together about all of them as one event, you are bound to get more interest than on your own.
So... Linda and Jasmin and I talked. Then we talked to Paddy, then to Ian, then bumped into Rebecca, then talked to Rachel, then Iris... they are all doing it: almost all houses from 1 to 23 Ashcombe road, and, so far, all those we managed to disturb on n.8 to 20 Fraser Gardens. Everybody we talked to so far is in.
Now... how do we make it even more fun and interesting for no cost at all? We tell everyone within 2 minutes walk (which means, anyone who will be close enough to bring their stuff and set up their stall without having to use a car) about the spare space we have in our various gardens so that people who don't live on that portion of road can join and mind a stall alongside us. Obviously, this time round, accomodating everyone will be possibly challenging, but if it goes well, we may get permission to close the road next time round, in which case, the space increases enormously.
If all of us are on private property, sharing as friends and neighbours, we can do it, you see? All we have to do is be flexible and a little disciplined about sharing the space. But most of us have already met, which will make it easier.
Therefore: click here to read all about this Butterfly Market (it will be a copy paste of the posters until I can write more). We just made the concept up: like a flea market, but not quite. More colourful, more carefree, and all about cross pollination and looking around rather than other nutritional habits (no offence to the fleas). We may accidentally be the first ones to use the concept of Butterfly market, and this is mostly because one of my friends is dyslexic: today I was telling her excitedly about the fact everybody in the street is keen to do the sale, and she said, great, we can all "browse and just butterfly... I mean flutter by." and there is was... the Butterfly market. After all, we all say "flea market" without flinching, so, time for the butterfly to have a go!

Within 3 days we should place posters and info about the next event.

A very brief post tonight, as a few of us only just decided, after a meet, to set the wheels in motion for a community get-together on the morning of Saturday 30th (of June). We need to chat to a few neighbours on the Ashcombe-Fraser portion of the road (where the event would take place, but without closing the road). If we get enough positive anwers, then we'll go full throttle very quickly, as it is only two weeks from now to then. So, do keep an eye on the boards and blog. More news as soon as we know we are good to go.

Jubilee big lunch: the budget. (It's good news)

The whole budget for the Big Lunch, as in "money out", not counting all the donated, lent, recycled bits and pieces is under £150. And the chipping in on the day brought nearly £100. This is rather terrific news. It means that money won't be a problem when we organising other parties, because we can all chip in a pound or two for a whole event.
I thought it would be boring to check all the various ways Linda and I saved/spent money towards the party. but actually, I ended up having fun: click here to see my  (illustrated) report. And let's have another big lunch soon. When anybody hears the word  "sunshine" on the forecast, let us know straight away!
Addition on 15th June: the Blue T-shirts. I had forgotten to include them, although they were all paid for among the organisers. So, you can go back to the Accounts page if you missed that very important bit!

Sunday photo party is postponed, due to weather forecast

Dear all, we are not cancelling our little photo get-together, but it now seems wise to postpone it by a few weeks: they are announcing rain all day for Sunday. This is not very photo paper or computer/electronics friendly.
But what we'll do is combine the photo mini party with another event this summer. As soon as we work it out, we will announce it on this blog, on the 2 boards and, hopefully we'll be able to play postman again and deliver an invitation to your door (expect a different colour this time: Linda and I both need to refill on blue ink printer cartridges!

Dorking Ad article

Some of you met Sam Blackledge on Sunday, as he walked past our road by chance and stopped to chat with a few people. Linda and I later sent him a picture, and the result is a really nice article in this week's Dorking Ad's  Jubilee Special (page 2-3). Thank you to Sam for that nice extra souvenir of the day.

 

Photo party next Sunday: preparations

Note on the 8th June 2012: this party has been postponed due to bad weather forecast. We will announce a new date as soon as we can. (see post two titles above)

Linda and I briefly met today to do a minimum start up planning for the photo party. My apologies for this post: it is a bit long. scroll right down to the pictures if you don't fancy the read!

We will conjure up a large fabric screen (makeshift but good), we can get our hands on a decent projector which will connect with a laptop. Then we will project what we have, photo and video. We'll put a few tables and chairs in the garden, everyone brings their own drinks and nibbles (and if possible cups/glasses, but i'll have a few basic plastic ones in case). You can also bring a blanket to sit on the lawn. We still have the extention lead from yesterday which we can keep it a bit longer.
We'll need to watch the children and organise an area for them to play safely. Any help with that will be most welcome: the area we can use is much, much smaller than the closed road!
We hope to see many of you again, and also some neighbours who wanted to come to the Jubilee party but were unable too.

About the pictures:
If you have made quite a few pictures and would like to share them on Sunday then you can drop a usb key in my letter box with your pics on it (and your name on the key!); it can be a disk too. I'll give it back to you as soon as I am done copying them (or at the party).
If you only have a couple of photos to share: you can email them to ashcombe2012@gmail.com.
If at all possible, choose jpeg format, and even better if you can do as I did for mine: each file has: the photographer's initials, the date, and a number from 001 to 100, for example: cemc_030612_sp008.jpeg.
If all that is complete alien language to you, no worries, I'll rename the copies I make. This way, we won't end up with several identical file names, and we'll know who the photographer is.

On the day, we'll find a way for you all to pick your favourites and either copy them on the spot or get them emailed to you.

If you want to help in any way preparing this party, please give us a call or email us.
And let's keep an eye on the weather forecast!

More photos : Maya Pulford's first selection of portraits

This is not exhaustive... more great pics will be ready on sunday.
Sorry I can't make it bigger on this post.

First batch of photos

Let's start with the pictures I have at hand. Here is a little composition (made to try and fit the blog). More aboutnext Sunday photo party later tonight. Here are some of the ones already processed:

Thank you all!

Here is a "family shot" we did today. It was worth  the effort, wasn't it?
A massive thank you, from Linda and me, to all of you who joined today. It's 23:45 on Sunday 3rd and I'm still buzzing from the exhilaration of meeting you all (except my feet who went to sleep  roughly 2 hours ago, when  I was busy trying to make a panorama on Photoshop Elements and not paying attention to them). And a huge thank you to all those who helped clearing up the road, assembling and disassembling gazebos, improvising tents for the Sound system, sweeping the mud away, etc.
We'll try and find a way to make it possible to download large  pictures like this one from the blog, although I have no idea how (if any of you does, get in touch!).
We'll write more tomorrow. Keep an eye on the blog (and on the boards) to find out when the photo party is. (it should be next Sunday).

Bunting part one: done!

 

 We have made good progress today, putting bunting on both sides of the road. Linda, David, Ben, Sarah, Paddy, Alex, Raph, Maya and myself took part today. Thanks to all those who brought bunting: we used absolutely everything we had and went to town to get more to put across tomorrow. It is a really big road when you start decorating it!

Here are a few more pictures of the morning's event:

from top to left to bottom right: Sarah and I; Ben and David in backgoound with Alex, Linda and Paddy watching; Linda and Alex; Iris; Sheila (with coronation medal she inherited), Linda, queen of bunting; David;

And after a moment of fairly sustained panic and a fast dash to town ( due to a missing cable, the one with black bit at one end and a red and a white thingy at the other), we are pleased to announce that we have a rather nifty sound system for tomorrow and a thorough playlist (6 hours long, give or take) compiled by Alex.

Wear bright colours tomorrow! Come at 11 if you want to help with the set up, otherwise, see you a little later, and don't let the weather intimidate you. 

Weather: we (us and our 6 gazebos) are not deterred!

It's true the weather forecast for Sunday is not great. But I remember the party 3 years ago: I got completely drenched less than two minutes into dragging the road closure signs. It wasn't a little shower. It poured for 10, 15 minutes. I thought, "Oh dear, that doesn't look good". And then it stopped. And then we had sunshine, then 2 hours later, a few drops, and then quite a bit of wind. But we had a great party, and plenty of time to savour our lunch, listen to music, play with the kids.
Besides, we now have a respectable amount of gazebos (and one of them is massive). They are not red, blue or white, but... they are definitely waterproof. We'll cover them in balloons and bunting. So, we'll be fine. Unless we have an actual 6 hour long thunderstorm, let's not worry and let's go for it.

We'll target 1pm for lunch, but if you can't make it until later, it's not a problem.
If you decide at the last minute that you want to join, don't hesitate at all. Last time we were far from filling the entire road. It is a rather huge space, once it is car free.
Please remember to label all your belongings, including the kids scooters or rackets (we got a couple of accidental swaps last time).
Also remember that there are no toilets on site, since everyone lives nearby. You'll need to pop back home.
Any questions, you can call us on the contact number. Or look at the home page, which covers the basics.
We are really looking forward to meeting you all. See you Sunday!

Special Message

Linda just emailed me that on her way back home she bumped into a lady who said she was not sure she should come because she's on her own and doesn't know anyone.
So, special message to all people hesitating for the same reason: do come on Sunday, just bring some food and drink for yourself, and if you are alone, never mind the table and chair, just come and we'll make sure there are extra chairs and all for you. To all of us who can bring extra seating, let's do that: better too much than not enough. And if you are worried because you don't know anyone, well, within 3 minutes, you'll know a dozen people: just go to Linda or me when you arrive, or any of the kids with a "crew" blue T-shirt, and they'll find us for you. You can sit with us to start with, then mingle at your own pace.
The same goes for people who have trouble walking, or can't walk at all. If you want to come, but need some help, just ring us and we'll arrange something. There'll be a bunch of youngster who will happily help (the blue T-shirts. Linda and I will wear the same on the day, to be easier to spot). The number again is: 077 395 07 965. Don't hesitate.

Latest (and last) pre-party meeting

We did forget something tonight: we didn't take a group picture to put on the blog. Sorry about that!
To new faces joined: Anne and Sarah (Chalkpit Lane and Ashcombe Road respectively), along with Laura, Davina, Paddy and Mati.
To keep things short, here is what we discussed/decided:
- We start putting up the bunting on Saturday 2nd at 10am, we meet outside Linda's at 23 Ashcombe Road. We'll try and set up poles for the bunting going across, and set up the bunting parallel to the street. If you want to help, that is great, w'll see you then.
- We'll put a "costs board" up on Sunday: we have keep the expenses to a minimum, are borrowing or being given bits and bobs, Linda and I are happy to not get any money back for the printing, but there's one thing we had to do: take an insurance for the event. So Paddy will circulate on Sunday and if we all chip in a small amount each (five pounds a family or so), we should have enough to cover that and whatever is left will be donated to St Martin's school for kindly letting us use their car park (and borrowing their traffic cones too).
- There'll be a talent/skills board : from babysitting to car mechanic skills, from Italian to tap dancing, it would be lovely to find out more who can do what, so bring your business  cards, or pictures of your art/craft: it'll go on the board, then on the blog.
-There'll be a Golden book or Golden poster for everyone to sign on for memories.
-We are thinking of doing a photo party the following Sunday in the community gardens: Everyone can bring their best pictures/video from the day, and we'll have a projector and big screen. We'll fix a time on Sunday.
I hope I'm not forgetting too much. Thanks to everyone who came tonight, and with all  fingers vigorously crossed for decent weather, we see you on Sunday!
(Saturday for the ones coming to set up the bunting).

Last meet up before Sunday: Wednesday 30th

We'll meet once more on the evening of the 30th in the community garden, for an informal chat.possibly 3 . We have put the road signs out as well as two copies of the official TCA paper. We also put a few "no parking" mini posters, along the road, mostly because this is a road where cyclists leave their cars when they go for a ride, and they'd be in for a surprise if that happened on Sunday!

See you tomorrow at 7pm...

If we don't have fences, how about this?

Just a bit of fun doodling, trying to imagine what would look ok and be safe, plus allow extra parking, since the Council can't provide fencing and signs due to high demand. By the way: we'll get started with the bunting a few days before the party: we'll set up the ones alongside the curbs, not across the road.

Prep Meeting on 23rd May

From left to right: Mati, Linda, Constance, Laura, Sharon, Davina at tonight's meeting 23rd May

As you can see, and apart from my younger son Raph zapping around with his footbal, it was a women only meeting tonight (and no highjacking at all this time, promise). Lots of topics got discussed, bunting got measured (Mati shrewdly acquired olympic amount of it while stocks last-ed). As during the previous two meetings, the exhilaration of getting to know one another almost eclipsed the preparation aspect of things. Aren't we a strange species: living a few feet apart, and whenever we meet at last, kicking ourselves for not doing so before. There is a special feel to having-lived-so-close-all-this-time-and-not-knowing-it. Anthropologist should look into it, really.
So, on the un-written agenda we had:
- do we wear name tag stickers or not? Decision: we'll make stickers and markers available, and all people present will wear one, and then, people are free to wear one or not.
- how do we show the road is closed on the day, since, due to high demand, no road signs are available, unless we hire them for a price. Solution: we'll say it with cars: Linda will park hers on the east side, me on the west side, and we'll have "road closed" written on a sheet secured to the car. Plus the official memo from the council will be featured in laminated pouch at either end from next week on (that's the law).
- we now have four teenagers and 2 grownups who are keen to wear a t-shirt that says "crew" on it (and actually do some useful work on the day, that goes without saying). But thanks to Alex and Jools, we will have a bit of a surprise about the T-shirts. Come and find out on the day! (be aware it won't be on the cost list though, each person is buying their T-shirt, we are having them made at "love your logo" in Dorking).
- we have an official photographer for the day, Maia. She is very young, but very very talented. She did took this photo (above), she's got a knack for getting people to look good. So she'll be taking pictures of every single participant on the 3rd, to create a vast wall of smiles, printing the best shots on the spot.
- we are now sure that a secondary party can take place after 6pm for those who don't quite feel ready to go home. We'll clear up the road and re-open it, then we can carry on in the community garden (where we were tonight). Weather behaving, obviously.
- for decorating and getting the bunting up, please be there at 11am on the 3rd. We have a few ladders, no need to drag yours around, but it's a lot of bunting to hook up!
- there'll be a wish board: we talked tonight about some of us wanting to do choir, some blues, some tap dance. Well, just in case there is six of a kind and renting the school hall becomes an option, we'll write it all down.
-be ready, there will be guest books, posters, group photos...and figuring out a mini who's-who-where (in a nice flexible way). Don't feel obliged of course, but if you are indeed coming on the day, then you'll probably enjoy being part of the memories. Don't be shy.
My sincere apologies for the rough style of this post, I just didn't have time to make it shorter.
The conclusion of tonight was: everybody who turned up is pretty exhilarated. So that's a good sign, isn't it? (weather gods, this comment was meant for you)(pretty please).
All the best, see you next week.
Constance

If you want to help out...

We got a call yesterday from a lady on Ashcombe road who will be joining on the 3rd and can provide an extra four seats and oval table, as well as a 3x3m marquee on the day.
This is great. If you have that kind of garden furniture or games and are willing to bring them, you can:
email Linda (ashcombe2012@gmail.com), call me (Constance: 07739507965), turn up on wednesday 7pm in the community garden (see Contact page) or write a comment to this post, although you may need a gmail address to do so.
It looks like we now have about a dozen "extra" seats already accounted for, so it will make things immensely easier for the eldest of our neighbours: they don't need to bring their own.
If you want to help out with the decoration: give us an idea of what you will be bringing and either leave it with us or come early on sunday to set it all up.
If you want to help elderly neighbours out, again, let us know, and come early on the day so that you can carry things for them or help them along.

Meeting up, Wednesday 16th

                                       (Linda, Ian, James and Paddy at the prep drinks tonight)

Had we mentioned before that the meetings wouldn't be formal?
We literally "bumped" into most of the participants today, when we were taking pictures on the road, like Ian from 3a, Paddy, from n5 (both on the photo). they were not planning to come to the the meeting, to be fair, we sort of highjacked them, but it turned out to be a lovely meeting! good knowledge and input for the party, particularly about cables and electrical matters, and helping with finding places to place poles/posts for the bunting, among other things.
Not featuring on the photo are Bern (Chalpit Terrace),  and Maia, who had left by then, and Jools (Chalpkit Terrace as well). Bern will help with sound matters, which means that between Paddy, Bern and myself we may now be able to put a music stage together, cables from here, speakers from there, etc.  Don't worry, it won't be too loud. But if it is windy, it will be a good alternative to not hearing anything at all! Mind you, we are not sure at all we'll have all we need in time.
As for Jools, he and my elder son Alex are the first two of a "crew" of young local residents who will help, a little bit like "roadies", to make things happen: help people if they are struggling with taking their table/chairs to the road, help decorate, help clean up afterward, keep an eye on things. This is good news. If you want to hop on board, get in touch (mobile number on contact page).
Thanks to all those who joined tonight. It was so exhilarating that we thought we should meet up like that in the community gardens regardless, on a regular basis. It was so simple: bring your own glass and drink, the rest just follows (I have about 15 chairs. beyond that, well, hopefully it will be warm enough next week to sit on the lawn!).
Bear with us about the blog itself, we are not exactly webmasters (and i'm an intergalactically bad typist), but we're exploring what "blogger" can offer to make this web address the easiest information portal we can. Finding out about the "pages" option (home, blog, photos, main menu) was like a breakthrough last week!
We have just put our leaflets/posters online here for you to email them on or print them if you like.
We wrote a message about moving the cars away from the road on the 3rd, and will distribute it soon, let's say, a week before the event. (you can find it on the "road closure" page).
Last but not least: it was suggested that all the decoration gets put on between 11 and 12 on the day, and a photo is taken every 5 seconds to make a stop motion video of the street mutating into a party zone. Sounds like a great idea. get in touch if you want to help with it. (mostly by timing when the bunting goes up!)
All the best,
See you next week.
Contance

Next Informal meeting tonight 16th May: it won't be hard work.

We are meeting in the community garden tonight from 7 to 8pm. To find us, go to the corner of Ashcombe and Ranmore roads. You'll see a square patch of lawn tucked away behind the hedges, with a few tallish fruit trees on it. We'll be there. If the weather turns bad, come and knock on 19Fraser gdns door (right behind the community patch on the ashcombe side) : we'll meet in my kitchen. As we already said, we are trying to keep everything very simple. The important thing is to meet to get to know one another, since we all live a couple of minutes apart. We didnt regret it in 2009. Rather, we were kicking ourselves for not doing it sooner! The preparation is more about what games people can bring, who wants to perform music, who like to do face painting, who can lend a badminton net, etc. So, maybe see you there. Constance

For your amusement

For your amusement, here is a picture of Linda ( unvoluntarily hiding under theblue and yellow umbrella) and me (red and white) when on the very first evening we went knocking on doors and got pretty much soaked (flyers included) in the process. My son was part of the expedition and took this picture with a mobile phone. Linda is holding the paper saying how pleased the Queen is to hear about so many street parties (we got one message especially for our party, we'll scan it and publish it on this blog soon). Fingers crossed for less rain, we have quite a few houses left to visit in the next few days!

                             

First preparation meeting on 9th May

As promised we held an informal meeting tonight. Linda and I weren't sure if anyone would turn up at all, but, good surprise (considering how utterly damp it is out there), two people came, Mati from Fraser Gardens and Hannah from Ashcombe Road. We had the meeting in my kitchen, after wimping out from the garden marquee. Next tiem i'll take a picture of us, for fun.

Mati got quite a bit of bunting from the Factory Shop, so we have a few hundred feet headstart. Any additional bunting will be welcome, of course.
We will be asking residents of 1 to 23Ashcombe Road if it is ok to stick a thin high stick or post of some kind by their fence, to allow the lovely little union jack bunting thingies to hover nicely from south to north sides all the way down the road. If you want to help on that front, post a comment, email us or ring us (see "contact").

Second decision: we will be putting a small flyer on the windscreen of cars parked on Ashcombe road to tell them the road will be closed on the 3rd and it would make a world of difference if they can park away from the road closure perimeter (St Martin's school have kindly accepted to let residents use their front car park on the day). Also, it would make it a lot easier for residents to come and go on that day.

Third decision: we are keeping it as simple as we can. the way each of us can help is:
-being autonomous in bringing their food, drink, furniture as much as possible, and marking or labelling their belonging (we still have an unclaimed mug from 3 years ago!)
-helping out with the decoration : either decorating their fence or access if it is visible from the party area, or getting in touch to contribute or lend bunting, balloons, etc. Please get in touch.
- helping out by bringing play gear that they like: badminton set, table tennis set, basktet ball, giant chess, etc. If you are bringing something, please let us know, so we can arrange the best spots (shuttle cock will not break a glass, but a basket ball will!)
- helping neighbours with their own stuff if they have difficulties bringing chairs, tables, etc. If you think you or your neighbour would have difficulties of that kind, let us know, and if you want to volunteer to help them, same thing, get in touch.

See you next Wednesday 7pm, if you'd like to join us on mext meeting.
Constance

What we can do to make it great

At the moment, it's just Linda and me organising. And the concept is pretty simple:
1. we get the permission from the Council to close our portion of Ashcombe Rd. to traffic on the 3rd.
2. We circulate the information so that everyone who wants to join knows what, where and when.
3. We cross many fingers for decent weather.
4. On the day, we drag the Council road signs out, like this one:

Shortly after, the kids come out on their scooters, bikes and miniature tractors and start reclaiming the now huge car free road, which really is one of the nicest things to watch: the street is completely different, it's vast and safe. Beware, cars will look weirdly huge and metally for a few days after that.
Then the grownups suss out the layout and  gradually get their tables, chairs, parasols, food, relatives, friends out on the road.
And then everyone gets to chill, chat, eat.
That's it really.

So that is the basic layout.
But of course it will be more fun with some live music, some games for the kids (and the grownups, why not), some decorations (bunting, ballons), wirth some cakes, face painting, etc.
Last time we had: face painting, live music (and jamming), and Rock'nRoll dancing, plus table tennis, chalk drawings on the road, and some basketball.

So if you want to:
help, have decorations, can make decorations, have ideas for the party, have skills to use at the party, have a ping pong table, a badminton set, if you can play an instrument (but will only play if other people are playing), if you want to dance... then get in touch. Better even: join us on the prep drinks on:
Wednesday 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30rd from 7 to 8pm in the community garden at the corner of Ashcombe and Ranmore Road. Just bring your own drinks, and your ideas.
If it is raining, I'll be hosting in my garden (there's a marquee), at 19 Fraser Gardens, right next to the community patch.