Photographs by Sara McConnell
Back in April, on a cold but sunny Sunday morning, whilst celebrating the OBG's first birthday a seed of an idea was sown.... to have a summer picnic with fun and games, crafts and face painting, an opportunity to celebrate our community and maybe raise some money to get our sling library off the ground.
Over the following weeks and months the idea germinated and was planted in some beautifully fertile soil; the creative minds of the planning team for the event which included our general admins (Veronique Bergeron, Julie Duncan, Nancy Lentini-Brown, Aline Kelly and myself, Tami Grosset) and also included the wonderful Kim Brooks and the talented photographer Sara McConnell.
On Sunday 21st July, we finally saw our event flower and fruit! And what a sweet bloom it was!
The picnic was held in Hampton Park, Westboro, where there is a cool shaded area under some beautiful leafy trees. It was a sunny warm day with a refreshing breeze. A perfect picnic day!
We settled in next to the play park and wading pool and quickly took over the space. A patchwork of picnic rugs covered the ground, some as colourful as the wraps and carriers that members were enjoying with their bubs and tots.
At 1:00pm we were mostly assembled. The Silent Auction items were available for bidding and Angela Thain, the baker of the most delectable 'everything free' cupcakes brought a few boxes for us all to enjoy and tempt us to bid more!!
Older children were invited to decorate a doll or teddy carrier using fabric markers. It was adorable seeing so many 'wrappers in the making' wearing their lovies and stuffies for the rest of the afternoon!
The highlight of the afternoon, for many, was the Wrap Off! Members were invited to take part in a speed and style competition. The twist was that instead of wrapping their baby they would be wrapping a bag of potatoes. This lent the benefit of putting everyone, even our most experienced wrappers, at beginner level. You'd be surprised how tricky it is to wrap spuds- there's no legs for a start!! Points were given for speed and for a neat job with a secure finish, even tails and tight rails.
There were 5 heats; basic ruck, reinforced ruck, double hammock, front wrap cross carry and poppins hip carry. The contenders did an awesome job of wrapping in front of a large cheering, and sometimes jeering crowd! Generally the OBG is a pretty non-judgemental group but in this case the judging was, at times, fierce!!
Our wrapping champions are;Basic Ruck- Caro, who did a lovely neat job in just 19.3 seconds!
Reinforced Ruck- Megan Brunetti, who's stylish finish tipped her to the top, although Johanna Persohn won the kudos for being the speediest!
Front Wrap Cross Carry- Shelley Guilfoyle, who did a great job making this carry neat, supportive and swift.
Poppins Hip Carry- Johanna Persohn, who made this position truly her own! What a great job!
Each winner received a unique trophy!! As well as a 5 minute session with our official OBG Picnic Photographer, Sara McConnell!
Throughout the afternoon Sara McConnell worked her photography magic offering 5 and 10 min sessions to individual mums and taking some impromptu shots as she wandered about the picnic ground. Sara completely captured the magic and spirit of the event so perfectly.
It really was a perfect day for a picnic!
(The silent auction is now over and the money is slowly rolling in. We collected cash donations at the picnic as well and will be adding both these numbers to the money raised at last months Salsa event. We can't wait to announce how much money we've raised but want to wait for all the numbers to be added together! Stay tuned and thank you for your patience!)
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