Swing for Skin: What a blur!

So, it was nearly a week ago and I'm only just getting round to doing this.  My manage is going to walk in any minute I swear and say, "Show me what you've done today...."

Aside from work politics!  Swing for Skin was last weekend and it went swimmingly!  We've raised just over £1,000 for DebRA which is just amazing and would not have been possible without all the people who attended and bought raffle tickets, thank you so much to everyone!  I knew it would all come right in the end (aside from some minor hiccups with the raffle, I'll come to that!)

So I wore a dress from an online catalogue for the larger lady which was sourced for me by the fantastic Miss Matilda of Able Grable.  It was a nice dress, but not what I had hoped I would wear, but that serves me right for A: Not sticking with going as a nurse with my mum and sis and B: For being too overweight to buy anything vintage!

Andy and I, post 2 glasses of wine.....

Managed to get my hair done by Lipstick & Curls, well, one of their helpers, she was lovely.  Still haven't mastered Victory Rolls.

Ma and Lex dressed as nurses - and looking infintely the best dressed there, dammit!

The evening went in a bit of a blur if I'm honest, I used my two drinks tickets on wine which went right to my head and I ended up acting like a dozy cow for the rest of the night!  I did try and take some arty shots of the lovely afternoon tea we had (brioche rolls with smoked salmon, egg or ham with mini scones, brownies and sponge - NOM!) but I think the boat must have been swaying as they were all blurry....

Entertainment for the evening was provided by the super Polka Dot Dolls who were just fabulous (my mum wants to hire them for my wedding, she hasn't stopped going on about them since!!)

The Polka Dot Dolls

What else happened?!  Honestly, I'm really gutted because I don't really remember any of it, I really was that smashed!  And I'm gutted because there were so many girls I wanted to meet: Gemma from Retrochick, Landgirl1980 (you can tell I didn't meet this lady, I don't even know her name!!), Perdita's Pursuits (although, we did meet, briefly at the Rockabetty Party in April!) and, the one girl I really really wanted to meet, Annie.  I was gutted not to have met her as I heard she looked stunning!  Hopefully we'll have some kind of mini reunion at Christmas or something in aid of DebRA and I'll try to not get pissed so quick and actually have conversations with people!! 

So, at around 10pm, it was time for the big raffle announcement!  I took to the mic and in my best Bridget Jones impression, announced Commander Grant (who was a hit with the ladies.... ahem....) who took centre stage with the Polka Dot Dolls drawing the tickets for us!  This is where it fell apart a bit, we knew the big prizes, the Pashley, the Gin, the Able Grable and Rockabetty Studios vouchers, but all the other bits, which people had so lovingly donated, fell straight out of our heads and me and Lex and Andy were left a bit stuck and it was excruciatingly embarrassing!  But we got there, and I don't think too many people noticed.  It was a shame though because most of the winners weren't aboard and I think that left some people a bit deflated (yes, I saw your faces, I know how annoyed you were....)

 

And after that, I spent time 'out back' helping the lovely Kim (Melissa's mummy!) with the last few raffle prizes, Lex took to the mic again for the Silent Auction and I managed a rather drunked attempt at the basic Charleston stroll whilst the Polka Dot Dolls sang a beautiful rendition of Sing, Sing, Sing!

Here's some more photos from the night:

The Mums!

Easy tiger!

Fooooood!

Our amazing Captain for the evening - Melissa!

We have a winner (Finally!) This lady won the Rockabetty Studios package and was VERY excited!

This sums up the night for Lex

A few dancers left whilst Johnny Vercoutre played some tunes for us

The fabulous Auntie Maureen, who saved the day and was the most genuinely lovely down to earth vintage gal I've met so far!!

Melissa in her gorgeous custom Able Grable - it looks almost electric blue, amazing!  And, check the red shoes!!

So that's pretty much it, over, for another year!  We're planning next year's all ready - dust off your circle skirts and petticoats, we're heading for the 50s and have some really super surprises lined up already!  Stay tuned for more vintage fundraising action!!