We arrived in Whitby on Thursday afternoon to be met with a great big black cloud and hailstones. This brought a smile to my face as I remembered all the times we’ve nearly been blown off the cliff or washed down the hills with the torrents, our full skirts acting as sails in the wind and our carefully sculpted hair destroyed in an instant. This is the Whitby we know and love.
We set up our wares in the smaller room of the leisure centre, spent some time getting to know the stall holders we would be spending the next three days with and then retired for a few drinks in our hired cottage.
We had a great time with Sock Horror on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and had fun getting to know those of you that could come to visit us there. It was lovely to chat to the people we had met on previous occasions and show off our latest creations and great to introduce new people to the concept of Sock Horror.
This year we also hosted a raffle to win one of our Caged Sock Horrors: Everyone that bought a Fluff Creature or Sock Horror was entered into the draw and the winning ticket drawn on Sunday evening. The lucky winner is Grant Walker...well done Grant.Other news from the weekend:
For me the Whitby Goth Weekend is more than just an opportunity to flaunt Sock Horrors. It is about getting together a lot of the mates I’ve made over the years. We’ve been going to the Goth Weekend for 13 years now (and that makes me feel really old!) and as you can imagine we don't always go for the music, although this year the game was raised and bands we were excited to see were there; Voltaire and the Resurex in particular but also Christian Death and Specimen. Over the years we have built up a load of traditions; one of our favourites is the ‘Tat competition’.
The Tat Competition is nothing to do with who has the best tattoos (although we do regularly compare those), but is a game that we play over the weekend. Each person in the group has to go shopping for the best (or worst, whichever way you look at it) piece of tat. The most dreadful ornament you can find in the shops of Whitby for under £5. The one item that you would hate to have in your home or that makes you wonder who on earth thought someone would want one of those.
At the end of the weekend we get a stranger to judge our entries and chose which item is the most hideous; this usually involves placing them all on a table in a restaurant and getting the waiter to decide. This year we were lucky enough to stumble across Voltaire as we were leaving our cottage, needless to say we asked Voltaire if he would be our critic, and he and his girlfriend helped us out. What a funny man, he had us all in stitches as he narrowed down the selection and provided his verdict. Fortunately we got it all on camera...which we will post on youtube. Thanks Voltaire!
So, what does the winner get? Well, he or she gets to display the entire group of entries in their home for a whole year! I guess it’s a double edged sword but it’s all good fun (and scary how quickly you stop seeing the offensive objects around your home and stop explaining to visitors that said objects are not really of your tastes but are displayed as part of a competition!) At the end of the year all the items are collected together and made into a trophy for the next winner, who auctions off the trophy on eBay; the funds of which are donated to S.O.P.H.I.E.
I will post another blog shortly about the whole affair once we have listed the trophy.
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