What a day!

We were so busy having fun and running around I barely remembered to take any photos today to document it which is always a good sign.

The day began with breakfast with everyone, and then the registration of anyone arriving today, before I gave a little welcome talk and thanked everyone for coming. I was nervous about doing it but really wanted to give my heartfelt thanks for everyone who had booked a place and supported us. The retreat had been so many years in the wanting, and then planning, that I felt very emotional thanking everyone.

The backstory to the Bead Sparks retreat is a long and winding one which began when I taught my first residential beading course, well over a decade ago, and discovered all the fun I had doing it. The realisation that this type of experience was a whole different thing than separate day classes, sparked an idea in me and it was great for to see it today finally came to fruition.

It had been many years of plans, potential schedules & venues but I was always wary of doing anything which would impact the UK beading shops I believe it's vitally important to support. So, although I had spoken to different venues many times over the decade, my plans were always put to the back-burner.
But then, in 2018, when it was clear that many of our beloved bead shops were closing (or stopping running classes) and that lots of the students and beading friends I had made over the years were feeling the loss of shops and classes, and a real need for more community, I once again approached Missenden Abbey (where I had first taught 8 years before) and got the ball rolling…

Fast-forward to today.... and then we were off!

It was a full beading day and I was teaching my Ochrana necklace and it was wonderful to see so many variations appear over the day.

Lunch was fun with all of us together, and a raffle for some amazing prizes we'd spent months gathering, and then the afternoon passed in a blur of beading before the big evening event...

The Friday evening social was something I knew I wanted right from the outline planning many, many years ago. I didn't want the class to end and then everyone just sit in their room, and I knew we'd be too tired to bead every evening, so an evening event was the effect thing... and it was just a matter of finding the right special guests... and this year it was Swarovski!

The evening also passed in a blur of sparkle and extra gifts (the glass of fizz we all had certainly helped with this) and it was great to learn so much about Swarovski and their Fall/ Winter 2020/2021 range as well as behind the scenes information about trend predicting, crystal manufacturing etc.

By the end of the night I'm sure we all fell into bed exhausted but excited for the next few days.