Rehearsing - and crocheting

Rehearsals are now underway for our March 2013 production of Calendar Girls - the play - at The Brewhouse in Burton-on-Trent. I haven't forgotten that I promised you casting news, and that will follow.

Crcoheting calendar girls is also underway - with mixed results.

Our photographer, Tilley, who also appears in our October shot, has recruited her mum to the cause - and she's doing brilliantly.

Other people have made a promising start....

But the end result in this case was a rather over-sized and (frankly) deeply unattractive crocheted 'girl'.

If you know the play Calendar Girls it may come as no surprise that THIS delightful diva was created by the lady playing 'Ruth' - she of the handmade fancy dress costume etc... who means well but never quite manages to win any prizes.

She's now on crocheted doll number 2 which looks good so far..... I think she's learned from her mistakes, and maybe the canine encouragement helped.

If you would like to join the 'crochet a calendar girl' drive we can send you out some instructions in return for a small donation to the cause.

You can donate to our fund for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research easily and quickly online at http://www.justgiving.com/BurtonCalendarGirls Any small donation this festive season would be welcome.

You can also buy one of our calendar for just £8 - if you are able to collect one in person from us in Burton-on-Trent - or we can mail them out for an additional charge to cover postage and packing. See our How to Buy A Calendar page for more information.

New Burton market is christened in style

What an amazing event the PINT Arts Festival Craft and Artisan Market was in Burton-on-Trent yesterday.

Organiser Alistair Kennedy deserves a medal as he powered through the day having had just 40 minutes sleep because on Friday night he was among those taking part in Burton YMCA's Sleep Out. And let's not forget Burton Town Centre Management and The Making House who also helped make yesterday such a great success.

There was a great range of quality stalls selling unusual and beautiful gifts and cards, cakes, chocolate, chutneys and jams, clothes and jewellery - the list went on and on. The event was superbly well organised and promoted and I hope it bodes well for the future success of Burton's traditional market stall holders when they take over those new pitches on Station Street which we christened yesterday.

The Burton Calendar Girls had a great day. We met some lovely people and had lots of support. Here are Carol and Dawn during their shifts.



Dawn and me, Heather, Karen and Katie, Tilley and Bethan were splitting our time between the stall and The Brewhouse where the set crew had a busy day building mountains, a convent and the residence of the Von Trapp family ready for tomorrow's opening night of Little Theatre Company's The Sound of Music.

Carol will be the one organising our big calendar selling operation at every performance of the show - so there's plenty of time to come down to The Brewhouse any night this week and buy a calendar and chat with Carol about our calendar girl experience. Now, it's back to the Brewhouse again for a Sound of Music double dress rehearsal. See you again soon!

Burton Calendar Girls reach America

Elaine here, reporting that a link to our Burton Calendar Girls blog has appeared on a website about pets and crafting in the USA.

You may know that Carol - who writes many of these blog posts - is a talented quilter who has made beautiful bags and quilts for friends and family and also donated them as much sought-after prizes for Little Theatre Company raffles.

Knowing about my blog for Winnie the Greyhound she made me a special bag from material decorated with dogs which I offered as a prize on Winnie's blog - and it was won by Lori who writes a lovely blog called What Remains Now.
Lori knew that Carol and I were working together on the Calendar Girls calendar project so generously gave us a mention and a link when the bag arrived with her in Indiana.

Lori loves the bag - and Carol loves that it's found such a good home in America. Random acts of kindness are great, aren't they?

Meanwhile, if you know any blogs or websites who might like to link to us - do give us a shout. The more people who know about us and buy a calendar the more we can raise for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research - a charity working so hard to beat blood cancers.