Two glorious days (June 15, 2009)
We were thrilled that someone was looking after us and in spite of dire weather forecasts the rain stayed away on both of our Open Days. What is more with the help of our 35 volunteers the musicians of the Palm Court Trio, ,the face painter, the cartoonist,the tea ladies from Sullington, volunteer cadets, the community volunteer bus drivers, policemen friends and the local farmer who lent us his huge field for car parking the day went off without a hitch and the organisation was fantastic. The Reverend Derek Spencer from Sullington Church who had compiled the Blessing of the Animals Service with my husband Patrick Garland, was most eloquent and Ed Stewart, Lorraine Chase ,Kate O'Mara and Peter Egan mingled with everyone and posed for photographs and hopefully enjoyed themselves as well!The only problem is that we are now on our knees with exhaustion and still returning all the marquees, gazebos, tables and chairs that we borrowed from friends. Also our thanks to the sponsor of the portaloos- a very important part of the procedure- and the fire extinguishers- which fortunately we did not have occasion to use. Even the ponies and donkeys who were mingling with the public were all lying down the following day!
Will we do it again? The answer is yes . We raised £5000 over the 2 days which will keep us going for a little while but we really need to keep up with the fund raising to keep these animals going. Click here to return to the News page
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