I have sorted out a top name to come along next Oct for the Balloon Artistes Guild star lecture day, nothing like planning ahead.

In for a penny as they say, after suggestions from members we have plunged in with both feet to have the very first two day event.
Wed 20th July, The David Grist memorial lecture with Dennis Hogers and then on Thursday 21st July we are having a party day with two competitions and 3 mini lecturettes from guild members. Booking details for the day are;
Memorial lecture; http://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk/produ ... 70-23.html
Party day; http://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk/produ ... 40-23.html

We have booked the venue for the first care & share super day, the party day is planned for Thursday 21st July. We will be having a couple of fun competitions during the day and also 3 mini lecturettes by the balloon artistes guild members. Could all members who would like to run a 30/45 minute session please get in touch, nothing like advertising the event before even booking people to run the sessions  
The day before at the same venue we will be having The David Grist Memorial lecture given by Dennis Hogers. david-grist-memorial-lecture-20th-july-t4082.html

Booking details for the party day; http://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk/catal ... -23-1.html

Both events are free to Guild members but please let me know if you are attending, thanks.

The log cabin finally arrived about 5pm today so we just had time to carry it all through, we tried to lift the green house through to next door but it was to heavy for three of us so my son Simon is coming around in the morning to help move it.
We have the roofing in the kitchen, the doors in the study and all the smaller pieces of wood in the dining room with the rest outside in the garden but NO instructions so this may be fun in places. The last time I took on a large project, the drive it took about 2 years to finish. You get two car families well we are now a two log cabin family  

As it has been suggested we are looking into running a two day event for the first time. With the David Grist Memorial Lecture coming up on the 20th July I thought this may be the event to start with an extra day on the Thursday. Both days you would be able to book seperate if you wanted with the memorial lecture being £35 to attend and the day after £15, just a shame it would be difficult to offer a better price to attend both days or an early bird special.

I just sponsored a competition on magic bunny and there were two very good entries to view which I thought you may like to see?
This is Jordan with a professors nightmare with balloons; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3dzlChSWHI
and Danny with a pot pourri (I think thats right?) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QDjjBliOCo
There were other entries but these were the two who fought it out for the goodies, to see the others' http://www.magicbunny.co.uk/phpBB3/view ... 39&t=51409

Diane has sent me this email and I thought I would share with everyone.

Sharing Smiles in Tohoku. I hope this message finds you and your family safe and well. A major disaster like the recent earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku,Japan, really helps us appreciate what we have and reminds us tocherish loved ones even more. I was particularly concerned about the children that were affected as I was hearing various reports of their stress and confusion. Many had lost all that was familiarto them - their homes, toys, schools and, in some cases, friends andfamily. All normality had gone from their lives. They had nothing todistract them from what was going on around them. They were absorbingthe adults' stress. I packed my bag with balloons and headed up to the disaster area inthe hope of bringing a smile to their faces. In my experience as aballoon artist, I know that balloons have the magical power to bringout smiles in people aged 0 - 100, regardless of nationality orlanguage. The theme of my trip was 'Sharing Smiles in Tohoku'. I made this slide show, because I wanted to share my memories of myfirst trip to Tohoku. I hope it succeeds in showing some of Japan'sbeauty as well as the wonderful smiles I received. Despite the devastation, the strong, positive, cheerful and warmpeople I met gave me a renewed sense of hope - truly amazing people.Stay strong, Japan. My first trip -  Yamagata, Sendai, Ishinomaki, Onagawa.
From 3rd April2011 (5 days) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QERZsCajtJA    
(Beware, this videocontains audio.) I will add a more detailed account and upload the photos from mysecond trip (May 1st - 9th) to my blog soon. I am now planning my third visit. Thank you for taking the time to read this and view the slide show.                                                              

Warm regards,            ダイアン吉日（Diane Orrett)

The David Grist memorial lecture will be taking place in Birmingham on Wed 20th July with Dennis Hogers running the full day hands on lecture workshop.
Dennis is Guido Verhoef's staright man in his double act and they have 3 DVD's out with Bee Bodies, Hearts and Blossoms. http://www.ballonvouwen.nl/shop/index.p ... anguage=en
He is very talented with a wealth of balloon knowledge to share.

Dennis is also the technical guy at The Millennium Jam. I will put up the booking details shortly, the day will cost £35 to attend and free to twister club members.

Does anyone know Paul as we are trying to get in touch with him about the selling of balloon DVD's/CD's on ebay.
All his ebay listings have been pulled since this morning after I sent an email to him.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/David-Grist-Vol-8 ... 2eb5201e01

They keep trying to pop the balloon; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_OyHUqIIOU

A clip with many balloons popping to a theme, interesting? http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/ ... k-facebook

Lyn and I have been looking into getting a credit card terminal so that we can take credit payments over the phone and at the conventions and care & share days we attend and were wondering if anyone uses a company at a sensible price.

http://www.kwch.com/news/kwch-made-in-k ... 1617.story

Jason has agreed to do the interview this week, well from the 16th May and Jason is a member of the balloon artistes guild  
If anyone else would like to volunteer?

Daniel sent me the link to the cost of latex; http://www.rubbermarketnews.net/2011/05 ... s-osk.html

Jason Hackenwerth is building a balloon sculpture at Selfridges to be unveiled on the 11th May;
http://www.selfridges.com/en/Whats-On/L ... l=&rssLink

There is a competition going on to win a £50 gift voucher that people may be interested in trying to win; http://www.magicbunny.co.uk/phpBB3/view ... 39&t=51409

It never rains but pours, after working on a big project in Ireland for a week with Colin Myles I'm straight back from Dublin and have been weaving all night for another project for Tuesday with David Crofts, first of the pictures;

http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligen ... ummer.html

It's the midlands secretarys birthday today, have no idea how old and best not to ask. Sending you wishes from the big smoke xx