Foxley Road Nurseries

Malmesbury School Raleigh Expedition to India 2011

PETTICOAT LANE - SUNDAY 29TH AUGUST

Great news. We've just finished the count and the sums are as follows:

Whack the Wasp £50, Cakes £180, Tombola £170, Crepes £200. Total £600!!!

After frantic baking of cakes, collecting tombola prizes and preparing crepes, the Malmesbury School Operation Raleigh stall was put up outside the Kings Arms Hotel in the High Street at just after 7.30am on Sunday 29th August 2010.

Twelve members of the Raleigh team ran the stall assisted by various parents and helpers.

I know that we are biased but we all agreed that our stall was the best looking and certainly the most tempting on offer in the the High Street and soon the smell of the crepes, expertly prepared by Mr Smith and his team, was tempting in customers.

We had anticipated 50 or so tombola prizes. In the end we had over 80 ranging from expensive "bubbly" and chocolates down to a can of Coca Cola.

The cakes were amazing and, despite stiff competition from other cake sellers at Petticoat Lane, they all sold.

Hours and hours of baking time had gone into making this scrumptious display of cakes, large and small, fruity or chocolate.

Our other major selling point was provided by the Kenny family - an interesting variation on the traditional "Whack the Rat" - here we had "Whack the Wasp." A wasp, cunningly disguised as a sock, was dropped down a length of tubing. The idea was to "whack" it before it hit the ground. Many tried - a few succeeded - but everyone had a laugh.

And all the time the crepes were being sold as fast as we could make them. And that smell .......

Our first customers arrived at 9am - the last at after 2pm - and there were precious few minutes when the stall wasn't crowded with people eager to buy cakes, try their luck with the tombola or sample the delicious crepes.

One lucky winner was Mrs Alison Lewis. Gently coerced into buying tickets, she was soon jubilantly clutching her bottle of fine "bubbly."

Mayor Patrick Godlstone tries to "Whack the Wasp"

We were delighted to welcome the Mayor of Malmesbury, Patrick Goldstone, to our stall. He tried the "Whack the Wasp" assisted by our resident experts.

Mayor Goldstone and Deputy Mayor Steve Cox

Patrick was joined by Deputy Mayor and Carnival stalwart Steve Cox, who was obviously relishing his crepe.

In all, it was a great day. Even the weather was kind to us, with only a short, light shower. The whole team worked brilliantly together right up until the end of the market. By that time we had sold all of the cakes and all of the Tombola tickets. I suspect that the supplies of batter for the crepes may well have been in short supply by this time.

We must acknowledge the help and kindness shown to us by the management and staff at The Kings Arms Hotel. They allowed us to "borrow" their electricity supply for the day to run the two crepe making machines and wished us all the best in our fund raising in the future.

Thanks also to the organisers of Petticoat Lane and the Carnival Committee for all their hard work.

Lastly thanks to : Immy Carss, Alex Copson, Julia Smith, Nicole Hitchings, James Steel, David Cooke, Rob Hinwood, Barney Kenny, Chess Fearnley, Fran Batham, Hannah Farci and Ellen Fitzgerald, plus all the parents who helped and who contributed prizes, cakes and support.

Congratulations also to Harry and Rosie Pettit who also ran a stall at Petticoat Lane and were able to raise £162.30 from their tombola.

Harry and Rosie at their stall for Raleigh at Petticoat Lane.

Offers of any help to Graham Cooke on 01666 822596.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS / FUND RAISING
22nd May	Malmesbury Music Academy Concert	Collection	Report here
31st July / 1st August	Eilmer 2010 International Kite Festival	Tombola and refreshments	Report to follow
29th August	Petticoat Lane	Tombola, Cakes, Crepes and "Whack a Rat"	Report here.
4th September	Carnival Procession	Elephant and banners	Request here & Report to follow
3rd October	Badminton Horseless Trials	Elephant and runners
11th October	Cakes Stall	School Yr 11/12 & 13 Parents Evening
19th October	Indian Evening in the School Hall	Indian food and sweets. Indian head massage. Quiz. Music.
December	Bag packing at local supermarkets

Quizzes and Competitions	Click here for details.

Party Biographies	The students and their own expectations of the project / expedition.

Sponsors	Click here to see all those individuals / organisations who are supporting us.

For more information :

Carol Hinwood

Graham Cooke

Linda Byrne

Miss Walker

Drop off / Contact points

Carol Hinwood at Foxley Road Nurseries, Foxley Road

and

Clive King at The Malmesbury Pottery, Cross Hayes.