Twilight Market 2017: a night to remember!

 

Our aims for the Twilight Market were to have fun, build community and raise funds for the BEPS gardening program. We are delighted to say that we have achieved all three!

 

The weather gods were merciful and our community had a wonderful – if a bit damp – night of fun, music, food and celebration. And although the crowd was smaller than usual, due to the very wet weather, we’re happy to say that the Twilight Market still raised a decent amount of money for the school's gardening program. 

Thank you to everyone who contributed!   

The Twilight Market is the biggest fundraising event of the year for Brunswick East Primary School and it doesn't happen without an enormous effort from our whole school community - the students, parents, carers and their extended families, neighbours, colleagues, and the schools' teachers and other staff. As well as the wider commuity who come along to enjoy the event.

 

We'd like to particularly thank the following people.   

 

Top of the list is our totally amazing Principal, the ever-present Janet. Thank you Janet for all your support. Closely followed by our unflappable deputy principal Jill, and lead teachers Bec, Jenny, Julie, Mark, Melissa, Peter, Sapphira, Sarah, and Suzanne.

 

The wonderful BEPS office staff Marianne, Maria, Wendy and Jenny for their tireless work and cheerful smiles over the past weeks.

 

PLANNING & ORGANISING: Anthony Alembakis, Carol Gravelle, Justine Jones, Jane Kemelfield and John Walker, aka. ‘the Organising Committee’. Plus all those good eggs who helped with countless bookings, administrative tasks and just stepping in to do what needed to be done: Ro Chabchoul, Libby Smith, Kate Jeffery, Kirrily Hammond, Cate O’Neill and Helen McDonald.

 

RAFFLE: Carol Gravelle, John Walker, Jenni Wanigasekera, Jane Kemelfield and Anthony Alembakis for prize-hunting. Tarryn, Zoe, Maryanne, Gabriel, Helen, Cate, Donalee, John for sponsoring 4th prize. And the group of dedicate parents who got the tickets printed and distributed; Carol, Jane, Jus, Lisa and Ro.

MARKETING & COMMS: Carol Gravelle, John Walker, Kari Elise (social media), Jacquie Moon (graphic design), Kath Cashion (website) and Bundit Puangthong (chalkboards) for getting our message out. And to our resident meme-genius Jane Aguis.

BEPS teachers played an even bigger role in the Twilight Market this year with each Learning Community running a part of the event:    

BICICLETTA brought us heaps of fun with the Lob-a-Choc and Poo in the Loo carnival games, ably supported by Lisa Lyons.

SU NI CIELI ran the Book stall, expertly coordinated by Mandy Cooney.

Il NIDO put on an amazing display at the plant stall with their delightful scarecrows. Thanks to Melita Shilton for sourcing so very many plants.  

TERRA VERDE for organising the Chillout Zone.

ORRIZONTE students for all the signage and decorating during their Friday crafternoons.

TRICIOLO parents transformed Alveare with their glorious Disco decorations.

ALVEARE's toy stall display put Myer’s toy department to shame, artfully coordinated by Carolyn Hicks.

           

 

 

Special thanks to all the parents and others who stepped up to be team leaders, and the many, many helpers:

BAR: Ruth Giffney and Stuart Brookshaw, with helpers Trish, Ginny, Fiona and BEPS-alumni Michael Hole

BEER: Tim Gravelle and his merry volunteers.

CAKE STALL: queens of all things baked, iced and sprinkled Jane Agius and Rachel Alembakis

CRAFT STALL: calm and cruisy crafters Sally Colpoys, Kate Gorman, Wendy Atkins, Elissa Walker, Rachel Alembakis and all the gorgeous BEPS Makers who stitched, knitted and glittered, drew and printed beautiful hand-crafted, heart-warming riches made with love, for the craft stall.

DUNKING TANK: supreme ninja warrior Zoe Austin-Crowe.

 

FACE-PAINTING: with their third-eyes shining, Emily Snow and Anke Kindle.

FOOD: How good was the nosh?! Once again, Team Food served up the most amazing feast for us all, under high-pressure circumstances that would have seen even the best Master Chef crying in a corner. Thank you Jenni Wanigasekera, Paul Schaffer, Amelia Savage, Michelle Jacobsen and Ange Koutsofrigas for leading the food team and to key helpers Michelle Cimoli, Suzie Hafey, Natalie Vom and Adrian Francheschini (inventor of the BEPS Cheese Toastie, an instant classic).

KIDS’ CAFE: the zooper-dooper Melissa D’Agostino

LEMONADE STALL: the lushious lemon-ladies Ali Duffin, Helen McDonald and Cate O’Neill

SILENT AUCTION: donation-seeking dynamo Maja Herr and everyone who sourced donations. Special mention to Art teacher Vanessa for organising beautiful student group artworks for the auction catalogue.

SNOW CONES: our very own frosty-the-snowman Byron Raleigh and his team did it again, even in the crazy weather and with the ice delivery truck delayed by the rainy traffic. And Claerwyn for sourcing naturally-flavoured cordial.

        

  

 

STUDENT PERFORMANCES: thank you to our wonderful teachers Sarah and Clare, and the instrumental music teachers Emma, Nick, Julian, and Brett and Yanai for organising a spectacular display of student talent! We were treated to fantastic performances by the junior and senior choirs, a wonderful range of solo and ensemble musical performances, and an unforgettable calavade of ukeleles!

 

STAGE: thank you to John Walker, Gideon Couzens, Greg Blades and Tom Martin - who kept the music pumping and everyone entertained all night. A huge thank you to Alex Sangster for stepping up as our MC again this year and to Lou Barbon-Elliott for working her magic to get the hall decorated with just hours to go.

 

The evening program commenced with BEPS' very own Su Rogerson and her JASSisters for their heavenly three-part harmonies of jazz classics. Next Spaghetti Western had the crowd tapping their toes to some excellent country and western tunes. Closing the night was mosh-pit favourite The Lex Pistols, whose line-up included partners-in-crime, Reggie Ewing and Dave Owen, belting out rock ‘n’ roll anthems, accompanied by the coolest members of Melbourne’s legal fraternity.

Special nod and thanks to band namesake Justice Lex Lasry for supporting our event and keeping the mosh pit (average age four) bouncing around all night long.

 

WASTE: Congratulations to Libby Chow and Peta Christensen and the Waste Reduction team. No, it’s not another band - these are the people behind the re-usable cups and the assortment of clearly-labelled bins. The Twilight Market generated much less waste this year, thanks to their well-organised cup-washing system and their tireless work behind the scenes clearing up the mess while everyone else had fun. Thank you all, and especially Trish Lloyd, Simone Litchfield, Chris Ennis, Catherine Dyer, Al Mondi, Shannon, Ann-Siobhan, James, Dom, Peggy, Lou and Dan.

 

SET-UP, PACK-UP & CLEAN-UP: Thank you to everyone who got drenched when helping with set-up on Friday, especially Tom Martin, Hadyn Burns, Ettore di Pilla, Kate Jeffery, Rob Atkinson, and Susi Allender. John Walker for running countless errands in the Goget van. Thanks to all who helped with pack-up on Friday night. Thank you Marleen Plate and everyone who came on Saturday, for picking up all the pieces and restoring order at Saturday’s clean-up.

 

VOLUNTEERS: Thank you to the many, many people who signed up for volunteer shifts, and everyone who came with good humour and high spirits to turn a wet and gloomy day into a successful Twilight Market. And an extra special thank you to Jus Jones for coordinating the army of volunteers and to John Walker for organising the OHS Induction Guide.

 

 To everyone else who helped in ways great and small,
and those who came along to enjoy the night:
we sincerely thank you, each and every one!

 

From the Organising Committee:
Anthony Alembakis, Carol Gravelle, Justine Jones, Jane Kemelfield, Libby Smith and John Walker