The Mayor was in the building

Yesterday I finally had my official opening. After days of rain we had the most glorious sunny day. I was so pleased that quite a few people turned up. Inevitably at the last minute I got lots of texts and messages, to say people couldn't come , so I was a bit nervous the Mayor would arrive and it would be embarrassing with just a couple of people to welcome them. But as you can see from the photos then it was a nice crowd.

Mr Wellydog escorting them from their car to the studio. I had visions of them arriving in a big Limousine, but they drove themselves. Which was really nice as straight away they felt approachable.

There was several people taking snap shots and I am sure they will slowly appear on the Clevedon craft centre Website and Facebook page and on here and my facebook page, so keep an eye out for them.

The Mayor greeted a lot of people as he walked through and then he was introduced to me by my studio. Anna Williams, who is the daughter of our fantastic handbag maker Romy, presented the Mayoress with a small posy.

She then posed with the Mayor and Mayoress for some photos. They were very accommodating when it came to having their photo taken.

The Press photographer didn't come, luckily they gave me a days notice that he wouldn't be arriving, apparently the sporting events on a Saturday are more important. So we did get a couple of people with cameras and hopefully the paper will print one of them. The ones you see here were taken by my son and My daughters boyfriend.

The Mayor then kindly said a few words and officially opened my studio and cut the ribbon. The ribbon was fabulous and got lots of compliments as it had Wellydog written on it. Supplied by the ever helpful John at Printed on Ribbon

They were very kind to pose for some photos in front of my pictures and hopefully a shot like this is what we will send into the paper.

It turned out they were every interesting to talk to. The Mayor had a background in engineering and the mayoress obviously loved seeing the art work and loved coming to places like the Craft Centre. They chatted for quite a while and you can see us below chatting. The lady at the back is my new landlord Judy, who has been very helpful in the last few days and did a brilliant job tidying up around the Craft centre ready for the visit.

After the Mayor left my studio there was still quite a crowd left chatting and looking round, I had quite a few sales and I also had some bookings on courses, including one lady booking 10 afternoon drop in sessions and a couple who are complete beginners and want to learn to paint together.
Judy and Mr WD continued the tour with the Mayor. They didn't rush through but went into every studio and chatted to all the crafts people. The Mayoress took a card from every studio and seemed genuinely interested in coming back. They really seemed very down to earth and related very well to everyone. They also seemed like very nice people.

They finished their tour at Dot Teas with a chat and a cuppa and even posed behind the counter.

It was a great day and hopefully will be good for both my studio and the Craft Centre. The Mayor and mayoress will also probably return later in the year in an informal capacity to help us with our 40th Year Celebrations.

I would really love to thank everyone who turned up and everyone who sent me good wishes. But I especially want to say a huge thankyou to Mr WD who has been my greatest supporter and who made sure the whole day went well yesterday.