Happy New Year!

A bit late with the New Year's greetings, I can't believe we're nearly half way through January already!

After the wet and windy weather leading up to Christmas we're hoping for a bit of winter sunshine to cheer up the January and February markets we'll be attending.  We certainly had to battle the wind and rain at the Castlefield Christmas Market but it definitely didn't dampen spirits and we even welcomed North West Tonight who aired part of their show live from the cobbles.

North West Tonight live
from the market

Yorkshire Imperial Brass Band

We were entertained magnificently throughout the evening by the Yorkshire Imperial Brass Band  with fabulous arrangements of traditional Christmas music.  Their playing definitely lifted the spirits and brought a smile to everyone's face and Kate from The Groovy Gang Handmade Soaps and Fiona from Rose & Lee Vintage Living joined in the entertaining and tried their hand with the fundraising bucket!

Fiona of Rose & Lee Vintage Living (photo
courtesy of Kate Peterson - Groovy Gang
Handmade Soaps' Facebook page)

We made some fabulous new friends including Fiona from Sciolti Chocolates , Lela from DoodleLove and Melissa from Jopp Design .  Also 'neighbours' with us were the lovely Louise with her gorgeous macaron and fabulous friend Gina with her beautiful Cornelius Potts and Uncle Monty cards.  Her stall looked fab, as you can see below!

The fabulous Cornelius Potts and Uncle Monty

We had to experiment with several different positions for our display tables as we proceeded to spring various leaks in the gazebo roof throughout the day and evening and managed to stop the drips with varying degrees of success!  We still managed to make it look pretty  and were pleased with how our new banners looked on one of their first proper outings.

Asif and Jodie did a fantastic job getting the event organised and they had a great mix of stalls offering some great quality items.  The BBC's presence was a great bonus and the brass band were brilliant and created a lovely atmosphere.  A little less of Manchester's trademark rain would have been nice but it seems to have been a recurring theme in the run up to Christmas - here's to a crisp and dry one this year!

Looking forward, it's the first Altrincham Vintage & Artisan Market this Sunday.  It's crept up on us quickly this time.  It will be in the usual location in the covered market area on Greenwood Street, Altrincham from 11am to 3.30pm and will be the regular mix of vintage clothes and other items, artisan crafts, food and entertainment.  There's always a great friendly atmosphere and it's well worth a visit.  We'll be there with our Jacy&Jools contemporary jewellery and our quirky JJKitsch range with a fun vintage vibe.

There's a great article about the market in the Messenger, by the way, and you can read it here

See you there!