When the cat's away....

One of my favourite places in the whole world is the garden centre and with Ivan (Mr Bicknell) away, I can be naughty and pick up the odd plant or two, however today I did have a legitimate mission and didn't feel too guilty about going.... THAT badger has driven me to take drastic action and I have been FORCED to create a badger proof vegetable patch!

Just a few little purchases...

Keep your fingers crossed for me....

Second day of the holidays and all alone....

So Ivan (Mr Bicknell) packed and flew off to the Alps ready for 18 days of the mad and dangerous stuff which I am trying very hard not to think about......I am hoping that I can find enough stuff to do to fill my days so that I am not constantly fretting!

So after leaving him and Stewart at Gatwick, I headed over to help Ellie with her stall, armed with a selection of my own wares - turns out I could have left my goodies at home pretty much, as although I had lots of great comments - people just weren't parting with their cash, however, many of them did take part in the raffle which is what Ellie's stall was all about and she did manage to raise a decent amount for her charity CLIC Sargent, which of course is what it was all about.

Let's hope that this stuff all does the job it's meant too...

Fortunately there was no room in Ivan's (Mr Bicknell) pack for our two cats Scratch and Sniff...
Hmmmm, 25% of not much!
Ellie and Graham.
My stuff!

First day of the holidays.

I am very sad today as tomorrow Ivan (Mr Bicknell) flies off to the Swiss Alps with his friend Stewart for 18 days of scary climbing - I am trying not to think about it as this is a regular occurrence, but it still fills me with dread each time. So I have busied myself with housework and getting ready for the stall tomorrow with Ellie.... 

Finished lavender bags.

IT'S FINALLY HERE!!!

We thought it would never come, but at last, the end of term has arrived, and not a moment too soon either, I was practically on my knees! So today was a day of desk tidying - yes, almost there, but you will have to wait for the photo - still a bit to do!

We also, courtesy of out wonderful college chaplain Bill, had a 50's inspired tea party to celebrate, he was even kind enough to have a word with his boss to keep the rain away for a few hours! There was splat the rat, a treasure hunt, afternoon tea and Pimms - hooray! Ivan (Mr Bicknell), Mark and I played Croquet on the lawn and to my great surprise, not only did I win a nice bottle of 

white on the tombola, I won the treasure hunt too and walked away with a box of chocolates and a bottle of champagne! Goodbye Alton, see you in September!

School's out for summer!

Pimms and cream teas - what more could we ask for?
We ALL missed!
If you unplug the battery it is super easy!
The treasure map,. but where will it be?
Under the hut on the right actually!
There were huge bowls of sweets everywhere!
Not bad for an afternoons work!

Wednesday - A VERY busy day!

So today was HECTIC! Too many things for one day, but a fun and exciting one as a result!

To begin with my day commenced with the production of a salad for tonight's art department BBQ, this year it's at Annie's house (you'll see her in action later!),this is Annie's new house - she only moved in a week or so ago, so it is something of a housewarming too which should be fun - Annie is well known for her dance moves, so the evening should be fun! As I have already subjected you to one stupid arty shot of meal preparation recently, I didn't feel I should repeat myself - so you will have to guess what broad beans, beetroot, pine nuts, rocket, parmesan, artichokes, olives and avocado looked like - very good actually!

Next came our second Jordan team building exercise in what the college calls its Dynamic Learning centre - lots of bean bags, pods and bright colours actually does make it quite a fun place to be, so with the help of the outlook rep, team games were played, planning was done and acquaintances better made - I have to say they are a great bunch of students and I'm quite sad that our trip isn't for a longer period of time.

My team...

The boys
The girls
Post-it thoughts on what lies ahead...
Ivan (Mr Bicknell), always over the moon with a new T Shirt!
Careful planning

Presenting to the parents - scarily good and well organised considering they only had an hour!

Next came THE PERFORMANCE, never before have I encountered so many over-excited 11 year olds in one place! The evening was amazing, even if it only lasted an hour, the hard work paid off!

Martin making some last minute requests for some stand in dragons, funny that once they saw the glow-sticks they all wanted to swap to be dragons!

Alan - our boss - meeting the dragon for the first time!
The audience eagerly awaits.....

By the time everyone had said goodbye and were heading off home, we were in the mood for a party and headed over to Annie's armed with salads and maybe the odd bottle of wine - a fine time was had by all, the following pictures might give you an idea of just how much Mark and Annie enjoyed themselves - dancing so furiously that you can barely see them.......


Come on - get down!

Helping Ellie.

Sadly, one of my loveliest students was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer this Easter and was therefore unable to complete the course, hopefully she will return to us next year to pick up where she left off, but in the meantime she has been busying herself with raising funds and awareness for the charity CLICK sergeant which is aimed at providing support for children living with cancer - a very worthy cause obviously, and as part of her endeavours, she has been collecting raffle prizes for a stall at a local summer fete, to be held this coming Saturday in Lower Bourne Farnham. To show some support, Emily (another lovely student) and I are also going to have a stall of our own handmade items, with a decent percentage of our sales (hopefully there will be some) going towards the charity. Therefore it was time to build up some stock! Lavender bags, always a winner!

The production line..

Where it all happens - Ivan (Mr Bicknell) and I are lucky enough to have a studio at the top of our house - any good paintings you might see are his not mine....
Unfortunately it looks a bit like my desk at work - chaotic, burt I DO know where everything is!!

The end of the year - nearly there....

So, with Deborah's very valuable help, the last of this years show has been cleared away. Georgie and Ivan (Mr Bicknell) have been disassembling and removing the flats and the cleaners will soon be working their magic ready for the new term - which will probably be here before we know it! Time then for me to give you a glimpse of what's to come, this year's AS students have been busy working away on their "Design Diaries", these are simply visual record books of both the big BTEC/Foundation show and any trips that they have been on (Clothes Show, Grace Kelly etc), which can then be referred back to at later dates for ideas and prompts. They should have also evaluated the work and had a go at some visual responses of their own - well in an ideal world anyway! You will be seeing quite a bit more of the work by these guys from September - but here is a tiny taster.....

Bye A2. Hello AS......
Hazel - oh so funny...
Sally.
Vickie.
Emily or Lexi....
Emily or Lexi....... Sorry, forgotten!