Bloggers' Crafting Weekend 2013 - The Latest News

 

Soooo, we are Going!  The Crafting Weekend is booked and people have confirmed their places!

 

That is the Good News.

 

The less good news (bad news for some), is that we have now reached our "Max" of 16 people. 

 

We want it to be a smallish and friendly group; also the hostel is not huge, even though it officially "sleeps" 30.  The sitting room doesn't hold all those guests at once and we need space in the dining room, for scrapping and crafts, as well as eating. 

 

I am sad to have to turn people away - sorry if it is you.  However, I will keep a "Waiting List", in case anyone drops out.  Let me know if you would like to be added to that list. 

 

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Current Plans and News

 

Facebook:

The Group has set up a Facebook Group, for all who are coming along, or interested in attending.  If you are on Facebook, you can find me ("Liz Gillum"), Ruth ("Ruth Sim") or K. ("Kirsty Frisby") and ask to be added to the group.  You'll be welcome to join in the chat and waffle.

 

Some Plans have been made and ideas discussed:

For instance, the general consenus on meals, was that we will pay the YHA to make our dinners for us, but we'll organise our own breakfasts, lunches and snacks.  Last year we had B&B plus evening meal, at the Coalport hostel.  We were given very nice dinners - three courses, plus salad - for a really reasonable charge (under £10).  

The charge this time has yet to be confirmed, but it will be somewhere around £10-£12 per dinner, I believe.   I have collected people's booking fees, but not the dinner cost, so I'll contact everyone soon, with a price for this. 

 

Jobs: 

We are going to have a Jobs List and share out some of the organisation.  Last year, I did much of it myself and was suitably shattered by the time the Weekend came round!  This year, as I have a lot less spare time, I am roping in other people.  Some offers have been made, to help with various things. I will go through these soon and get in touch.  Those people will co-ordinate one of a number of things, such as organising food for specific meals, sorting out lifts to or from the coach / bus / rail stations (if needed) etc etc... 

 

Workshops & Demos:

Some people have offered to do demos or mini-workshops, in areas of crafting that interest them.  I'll go into more detail soon. 

We will also have "Ruth's Challenge" again this time.  I'll leave it for Ruth to elaborate at some future date!

A few people have asked if I'll do something related to bookbinding - I'm thinking about this; if you have particular needs/ wants for this, do let me know and I will think about that too! 

At this point, that's as far as things have got.  More planning will be done, more ideas thought up and talked about, more cakes and cookies promised (!).... But it's early days yet.  I would like to have the money side of things organised fairly soon, since our pocket money will soon be tied up in our Christmas Shopping plans.  Otherwise, we have plenty of time to get ourselves organised (not that I plan on dawdling).

I will try to sort out "Jobs" quite soon, so we have an idea of what needs to be done and who is responsible for making sure it happens (ie. who to blame...he hee hee...).  
The rest will probably just come together gradually.

I am so pleased we've been able to get this organised.  I am sorry if you have missed out, either because the date wasn't suitable, or because you were too late to snag a place.   I'm hoping that we will organise another Weekend in 2013 - perhaps in October or November.  I'll keep half an eye open for a good venue and let you know if I come up with anything good. 

Looking forward to meeting up with my Blog friends - old and new!

XX

Bloggers' Crafting Weekend Update - New Dates Information

Hello All,

Have been trying to organise a Crafting Weekend for 7th-9th December (see previous post for info). However, there are not enough of us, who are available to go on that weekend.

 

Sorry, but I have told the Milton Keynes Hostel we don't want to book that weekend.

It seems more sensible to try for a weekend in the first quarter of 2013, once Christmas etc are out of the way.

Sooooo....

If you want to join us, would you please let me know, if you are free to come on one or more of these weekends (obviously, if you are willing to consider any of them, then it's easier to work out who is free each time and try to fit round as many folks as possible!).

* * *

 

Friday - Sunday

8th -10th February

1st - 3rd March

8th - 10th March

 

* * *

Hopefully we'll have one weekend where lots of us are free! I have avoided January, because it's still close to Christmas, we all tend to be a bit broke, rather busy etc; also the weather can be pretty horrible in January - don't want to cancel, due to snow!

Do let me know your availability. At this point, the Milton Keynes hostel is free on all those weekends, but obviously that could change at any point. I'd like to book this soon, so we all know where we are!

 

Please E-Mail me your information, as then I can add you to my E-Mail List for the Weekend, so you will receive any mail I send out to the Group! 

 

To remind you, my e-mail address: Lizziemade (at) aol (dot) com.

XX

Lizzie

STOP PRESS! Bloggers' Crafting Weekend Opportunity - Read and Reply ASAP!

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Note: there is now an Update Post, with New Dates, though the hostel information below is still relevant.

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Hello all Blog Friends!

Last year, a group of us had a very enjoyable and successful weekend away, at Coalport YHA. Ten of us met up and spent our weekend scrapping, bookbinding, gift-wrapping, making pretty stuff, walking along the canal, eating cake (of course!), chatting, chatting, drinking tea, more chatting....

See here for some of the story... and others also published their tales of adventure - Jemma,  Kirsty (there were 3 posts!), Mel, Lesley, JoJo, Julie...  We had a great weekend and want to do it again!

SO!

We have an Opportunity for another Bloggers' Weekend.  This is something I need to sort out very quickly, if we are going to do it, since the YHA hostel I've found has only this particular weekend free before Christmas - and the admin. department has had another query about it today... So I have to confirm tomorrow (Thursday)!!

Anyway, this is what I'm suggesting.  If I get enough interest, to be pretty sure of having at least 10 of us, I will make the booking.  If you want to come, please register your interest today or tomorrow morning (sorry!).  I may be able to come up with something else, but I'm a bit up against it on time just now (my mum is still not well and I'm spending a lot of time helping her). 

The Proposal for Bloggers' Crafting Weekend 2012

When?  Friday 7th December (afternoon/evening) to Sunday 9th December (afternoon)

Where? YHA Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire (close to M1, rail links and coach station).

Details? We would have the Whole House to ourselves. 
It's a small hostel, with 30 beds, in 5 bedrooms.  There are also a kitchen, dining room and sitting room. We'd have it to ourselves from Friday to Sunday, meaning we could arrange our weekend (and the furniture!) pretty much as we chose.

How Much?  Assuming the minimum of 10 people came along, the basic cost would be £65 per person, for two nights, hostel hire / bed only. 
If we chose to, we could have our breakfasts and/or dinners provided for us by hostel staff.  This would cost about £15-£40, depending on what options we chose. 
If more than 10 came along, then this would lower the cost and money could be refunded to anyone who had paid up-front to secure their place (before we knew there would be more people!).

Transport?  The Hostel is at Bradwell Village, on the outskirts of Milton Keynes, just on the edge of the city and countryside (see the website for a link to a downloadable local map). 
It is very near to the main A5 road and not far from M1 Junction 14.
It is close to MK Central Rail Station (about 1 & 1/2 miles). 
There is a Coach station in the city centre also, which is served by many national coach routes. 
The city also has good bus services that pass through Bradwell Village and stop just round the corner from the hostel. 

This is the basic info.  I will be able to provide more information later on, once (if!) I have been able to secure the booking. 
We may be able to organise some activities, like we did at last year's Weekend. If you would like to volunteer to demonstrate/teach some craft or technique that you enjoy doing, then do shout.

Catering
Last year we brought along food to have at lunchtimes, plus tea, coffee, snacks, cake (!) etc.  This would also be the plan for this year (and I would like someone else to organise that part for me, as I will not have time!). 

We would need to decide whether to arrange our own breakfasts and/or dinners, or to book these from the YHA staff.  This can be decided a little bit later on.  The main thing just now is to secure the booking. 

* * *

IF YOU are interested and WANT TO COME along, PLEASE contact me tonight or tomorrow morning (by 1pm BST please!).  I will need to call the YHA and make the booking. 

I would be asking you to pay me £65 within a few days.  It would be best if you could send me the money via Paypal (easier to keep track of the money, quicker etc).  If this is a big problem, let me know! 

If we end up with more than 10 of us, I will refund extra money - I won't be making a profit from you, I promise (however, I will probably wait until we have a firm, confirmed number of people, before refunding anyone, so I only have to do it once).

* * *

I do hope we can work this out.  It would be great to see as many of my Blog friends - old or new - as possible!  This is a great chance for us, as we'd have the whole hostel to ourselves, giving us more freedom to enjoy our weekend.

Please Come!

XX

PS.  Duh... this is my e-mail address, just to make it easy for you! Lizziemade (at) aol (dot) com

Knuston Idea and Opinions Wanted

Hello again everyone.

Well, it looks as if the Pass the Page blog hop has been a success - thank you Julie, it was a great idea! 

Knuston

I'm posting again today, to see if anyone is interested in my Knuston crafting idea - see the previous post here, for more information.  I would like to sort it out reasonably quickly, so if you do want to come along - or you might do - please give me a shout.

It's not an "official" Bloggers' crafting trip or anything, just a little holiday for anyone who fancies some crafting and company in a really nice, relaxing setting.  Knuston is tucked away in a small village and is surrounded by fields, plus its own gardens, so it's a lovely and peaceful spot. 

I'm happy to make the initial booking, which will reserve the craft room for us.  But there is no point going all on my own - I may as well stay home and craft here (in between doing the laundry etc!).  If two or three friends care to join me, then it'll be worth making the booking at Knuston - I'm sure we'd all have an enjoyable break.

Bloggers' Scrapping Weekend No. 2

On the subject of Bloggers going away to do crafts...  I did promise that we'd try and organise another Weekend, particularly for those who couldn't make it in November.
The original dates that were (tentatively) mentioned, were weekends at the start of March.

I wonder how you all feel about one of the weekends at the beginning of March, or else the end of April or 2nd weekend in May?
Whenever we decide we want to go, we need to get our skates on to find a venue and make bookings.  Jo has very kindly started some enquiries for suitable venues, but I thought it would be a good idea to check who might be interested - and when.  That would help us when enquiring for availability and prices. 

Sooooo..  Who might like to go to a Second Bloggers' Scrapping Weekend? 
March - 1st or 2nd weekend - 2nd-4th or 9th-11th March?
April - 3rd or 4th weekend - 20th-22nd or 27th-29th April?
May - 2nd weekend - 11th-13th May?

Any opinions please?