Well here it is Sunday afternoon the 1st of May and our first big workshop is at an end. I feel at a loose end after the time & work our group has put into this weekend. Months of planning, organising, changing plans, reorganising, changing plans again, phone calls, emails and just when we think we have  it all done & dusted, we find something we've missed or you've overlooked, and yep start again. All of you who have organised any event bigger than a birthday party for a 3 year old, know what we are talking about.

Firstly we would like to thank Kay for her wonderful teaching, dancing and advice to make this weekend a success. And yes I think we can call this weekend a success, we haven't started to read the feed back forms but the verbal response we recieved has been very positive.

We would like to thank every dancer & non dancer who came to this event;

From our own club members (quite a few have never been to an away social let alone had to face the pressure of workshop weekend);

To the Tassie Clubs from Launceston, Tamar Valley, Westbury, Sheffield, Devonport, East Coast, Burnie/Wynyard & Hobart;

To all the Victorian Clubs (When I fight my way thru everything I brought home last night I will find the list and mention every club that attended, - I still haven't unpacked my car)

And of course our visitors from the far north -  The Feral Mustangs (Gail & Kathy)from Darwin. 

I don't want to miss a single club because everyone we met this weekend was warm, friendly, accepting, forgiving, fun loving, generous and well I have just described the "line dancers fraternity" haven't I ? 

 Our Club especially wants to acknowledge the VERY generous donation to our fundraiser for the Local Womens Refuges in Devonport, Ulverstone & Burnie, from Penny. Honestly I nearly fell over when she made her donation. All I can say is that  this money will go a long way to helping the Women & Children who are victims of domestic violence. THANK YOU !!  Will keep everyone posted on our final tally. $3,000.will be donated.

Unfortunately we had some Mic problems on the Friday Night, (3 Mic systems, you'd  think one would work !!!! go figure.) we overcame this and carried on.  By Saturday all was sorted and no more hiccups. The other "problem" was requests. We did say a set playlist then requests on the night. With 20 plus Clubs obviously we could not play every clubs every request. On the Friday & Saturday Kay & I went thru the requests and made sure every club had at least one request.
This is how our workshop playlist & request will work in the future.

Also some probs with seating. In the future we will be doing the seating arrangements for the meal on the Friday, so make sure you let us know who would like to sit near or who you would like to avoid (bribes taken - cash, major credit cards, gratuitous gifts etc).
Saturday workshop & social seating should not chage greatly.

The" Entertainment" on Friday was, hmm, well, see for yourself in the  photos. 2012 will not be X Rated Promise, would we lie???
We did an exact, no alterations, copy of the Royal Wedding on the Saturday, lots of people laughed, I don't know why.

At the end of the day;
Friday night was good,
Saturday Workshop better,
Saturday Night Social great fun.
What more can we ask for?
I will leave some space for Linnie to comment on the bus tour, which I am led to believe was great.

Yes Jenni, that's right. Firstly a BIG thank you to our Bus Driver & Tour Guide, Tarni who we only booked on the Friday after a request from Kay's group who had 17 people wanting to see a bit of our patch (would take too many cars to accommodate that many people). So thanks Tarni, you did such a great job, we've booked her again for next year.
We had 26 on the bus and after a buffet breakfast at the Beachway Motel we picked up passengers with Anvers Chocolate factory our first port of call. Lots of sweet tooths here by the looks of the shopping that was done! Next stop was at Ashgrove Cheese Farm for a bit of cheese tasting and a hot drink.
Then it was on to Sheffield where we had booked in for lunch at Tazmazia. The owner "Brian Inder" wanted a line dance demo in the cafe but unfortunately none of us had any music with us :-(
When Brian found out most of our group were visiting from the mailand he was very generous and gave us all a complimentary (FREE) guided tour of the maze and his Village at Lower Crackpot (miniature village). It would have cost us $17 each to go through there so a HUGE thanks to Brian, you're a living legend and made the day for our mainland tourists with your stories.

Then it was back in to Sheffield for a wander around the town and to check out the Murals. A bit more shopping for some and another hot drink for others.
Again thanks Tarni, and I'm sure everyone had a great day! Maybe next year we'll fit in a winery or brewery as well!

Cheers for Now
Lots of thank you's, love, best wishes
to all our favourite dancers who came to Ulverstone
Jenni G