The Day Many Lampshades Were Made!

Saturday saw a very special day for me in Exeter at the Hub on the Green. After a few months of planning, Quincy Lampshades came to town to run two workshops with the aim of raising money for the CHARGE Family Support Group. Ruth who is Quincy Lampshades sent me a message in autumn of last year and told me that one of her oldest and dearest friends has a young daughter with CHARGE too and she had been wanting to organise a fundraiser for some time for the Support Group. The CHARGE community is quite small and it turned out I knew of her friend and daughter Saffie though we had not yet met.

Of course it was a no brainer to do this and with a few emails back and forth support for Ruth’s idea fell into place very quickly and tickets went on sale. We tweeted, facebooked and  emailed. So many people retweeted details which was SO heartwarming and both workshops sold out. There were two workshops, with the morning 29 in attendance and the afternoon session had 25.  I went to both workshops and had such great fun. I met some truly lovely people and it was fantastic seeing everyone’s lampshades come together.

  In the morning I made a lampshade for Jesse’s room which has a fab retro robot print on it. It will be a little while before it can go up as his room is in redecoration mode. A lasting memory for me is the laughter coming from Ally’s table (Shaldon Bakery). She giggled her way through and it really made me smile. It was lovely seeing so many have such fun and I have to say that her Macaroons are the best I have ever tasted! They didn’t last long!

There were two other CHARGE mothers in the workshops. Tracy who is local, I have been in contact with for over a year when I knew I would be relocating down here. Our children are quite different in their needs. And Julia, Ruth’s close friend who drove down from Wales to attend in the afternoon. Without whom really, this wouldn’t have happened! Again our children are quite different. That is the thing with CHARGE as I have written before. It is such a broad spectrum it is unlikely you will meet two children with completely identical issues yet there are naturally common bonds between them.  The understanding and ease in which we are able to talk about our children can’t be found anywhere else.  And I always find it a relief to have the opportunity to talk with other parents. This is why the CHARGE Family Support Group is also so important. It brings families together with Family Days around the country, usually in conjunction with Sense (the Deafblind charity); because many of our children have multi sensory problems. The money that has been raised will go towards these days and is so needed. For that I would like to thank every single person involved. All of the companies who are listed below that gave free of charge their services and every single person that came and made a lampshade. I hope you know that all of you have made a difference.

People that must be thanked are:

Joey (Hub on the Green)
Lyndsey James (Sorbet Design)
David and Paul (Needcraft and Needprint)
Ally (Shaldon Bakery)
Vicky Hammerstein (Hulu Yarns & Fabrics)
Fraser (Ruth’s husband)
Ann and Ray (Ruth’s mum and step-dad)
Peter and Sarah (Ruth’s dad and step-mum)
Jane and Tony (Ruth’s sister and bro-in-law)

Left to Right: Ally from Shaldon Bakery, Afternoon workshop

As a result of these workshops, Karen from Cosy Corner Quilts /  High View Crafts  is making a quilt from all the scraps of fabric that was left. This quilt will be up for auction with all monies going to the CHARGE Family Support Group and I will be posting details up of this when it is ready.  Ruth at Quincy Lampshades is also auctioning off her demonstration ‘June Song Tea’ lampshade that she made during the workshop, details of which are here. Again, all proceeds will go the CHARGE Family Support Group. Everyone paid a minimum donation of £20 for the workshop and the current total is £1153.30 which is fantastic!

Left to Right: Julia, Me, Tracy = the CHARGE mums!

On a final note I have to thank Ruth the most. She is an awesome woman. She has worked so tirelessly to make this happen and I feel really blessed to have been a small part of this big process. You can read her thoughts on the day here. I also met a local blogger Jules at the event, who turns out is a  friend of Tracy’s. Jules will also be writing up about the day over on her blog.  I am continually amazed at the serendipity I am experiencing having J in my life. He led us to live in Exeter and far bigger things than I could ever have imagined.  I wonder what’s around the next corner?!