Mopping Up

There is some 'mopping up' to do after Love and Marriage - including, long term, whether to go for another DES -based event with a different theme such as the servant problem (yes, I'm joking) next April. We have a meeting to review all aspects of last Saturday's event tomorrow (Thursday April 21 in Moffat, whatever Googletime says on the header). The event, including some not-to-be-repeated startup expenses such as our logo and website, cost just under £7,000, less than the 'worst case' £10,000 our sponsor Forestry Purposes LLP had agreed to underwrite. We will be aiming to break even in October by increasing income and reducing costs. On the income side we can seek another sponsor, sell advertising- for instance by asking businesses in the town to take space in our programme or on our website - , increase ticket costs, and increase ticket sales. We will not be giving away Fiona's lovely flower containers, designed to look like pretty little pale green pink and white carrier bags, as we did to participants by way of a 'thankyou' at the end of Love and Marriage, unaware that they formed part of her wedding stock. Sorry Fiona. Until tomorrow, I will be making hay while the sun shines remarkably warmly, off to the hills this morning to meet a rep from Scotland Food and Drink to discuss the marketing of our Zacharry's spruce products (drinks, essential oil and fragrance). Yesterday evening I went with my grandson Harry aged 5 to paddle in the burn across the road from our respective houses side by side at the end of School Lane and we found a fossil! It could either be the skeleton of a centipede type creature or the imprint of a fern-like leaf - it has a spine and bits sticking out all the way down so it is now up to an expert such as Harry's art teacher Mrs Speirs to decide which.