26th/27th June- Green Fair and beyond!

Yet another busy weekend for me!

SATURDAY

Douglas and I went to Sheffield Green Fair, an annual event now in its 40th year run by the Green Party.

I went in two capacities, firstly with Freegle, my recycling group, as we had a give and take stall there, and secondly, with my choir, Body of Sound.

We set out at 10.15 with loads of stuff junk and some books for the give and take stall, collected a fellow Freegler and some of her junk, and soon we were at the fair with the others, setting up our stall.

During the day we chatted to loads of people, explaining all about what Freegle is, and how its great to get rid of things from fridges to tellys to unwanted gifts and old books, and to ask for things that you need, like garden equipment, or maybe a microwave when yours goes "bang" unexpectedly.


We sent out 38 invites, which is the best we have ever done at an event, gave out loads of leaflets, and shifted a goodly proportion of our stuff.

During the day, Douglas helped to talk to people, then went off int
o town for a while, wandering into Waterstones, of course! He came back with a first aid kit for us to take to events, and a few books to keep him happy.

The Green Fair, as you would expect, had lots of eco friendly stalls, quite a few local pressure groups and entertainment (of a green nature) even the local green funeral directors were there with a bicycle hearse which Douglas and I thought was great! I didnt have much time to look round, but what I saw I enjoyed very much.

My older brother John was also at the Green Fair, as his alter ego Professor Fiddlesticks. Whilst unicycling round the site, he fell off and injured his ankle quite badly, making him pass out with the pain for a while. The on-site first aid came to his rescue, supplying ice, sympathy and elevating his leg to reduce swelling.

The family obstinacy gene was apparent as John put his boot back on, and managed to do some balloon modeling for the children as planned, although his ankle was still giving him a lot of pain. He kept smiling though!



He got home that evening, on his bike with all his juggling gear, and went to the hospital Sunday morning when his ankle was put in a cast due to the tip of his fibula having broken. Poor John!!

Douglas and I got home at about 6pm, not realising quite how tired we were until we sat down.

It had been a wonderful day, but we were cream crackered!! (err for Americans reading, this is rhyming slang for knackered, which in its turn means exhausted lol)

SUNDAY

Douglas opted for a day at home, and we both had a relaxing morning, but by Midday, I was up past the Northern General Hospital at Fir Vale fun day for another Freegle stall!!!


This event was very different as we expected.. the Green Fair is highly specialised, so we were bound to pick up a lot of members. the Fir Vale fun day was a general community event, with some community groups present, but an awful lot of tombola or car boot like stalls!

Im glad to say we still got quite a lot of interest, and a whole load more of our stuff went. People find it very difficult to get their heads round the concept of taking an item/items from our stall and not having to pay for them, but once they get the idea, some of them come back for more and more!! (Oh, and we frequently get asked if our laptop, that we use to show people the website is free too!!)

This is what the fun day looked like. The weather was wonderful again!



Our youngest helper, Sabi is pictured below looking very cute. Shes good at crawling, and good at standing up. For the first time ever, at this event, she took her first (unaided) step! Her mum was delighted!!! Sabi is wearing the latest designer cake crumbs round her mouth, having just polished off a rather nice cupcake from the stall next to ours.





I went home at about 4pm, happy to spend the evening relaxing in Douglases company.. and then the weekend was over again!