| This year’s Christmas networking event had a fundraising element. On the night six members arrived with their masterpieces , having taken on the challenge to design and decorate a gingerbread house, as supplied in kit form by Safe In Sussex. Every ‘house’ had taken some theme, representing a business in royal icing and multi-coloured sugared accoutrements. On the HSEnergy Group house, if you looked closely, you saw some EV charging stations and storage batteries. It was topped off on the roof with solar arrays made out of biscuits. EBISS arrived with a very accurate model of their new site on Victoria Gardens, complete with some superlative frosting and filigree piped icing work. Lorna, the artisan behind this amazing work, had won an internal design competition. Imaginative use of wheat shreddies covered the roof and chimney stack of The Woolpack giving it an old English country farmhouse look. Fresh Display expressed strong design aesthetics with a classic take on this Christmas tradition. The BHBPA entry presented a model of how Victoria Business Park will look when double yellow lines are implemented on multiple sites around the business park. Amanda Anstee Editing & Proofreading showed an exceptional attention to detail and an imaginative use of the kit, including a miniature gingerbread Oxford English Dictionary, this complimented a theme of punctuation that ran through all its decorative elements. Overall £240 was raised from the sales of gingerbread kits. As Deb West from Safe in Sussex remarked:. “Thanks so much for getting involved in Gingerbread House Fun. To give you an idea of money spent, a refuge worker costs us £140 a day & four welcome packs for children arriving at a refuge would cost about £100…I look forward to the 2026 Comp!” |
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| The Chair of BHBPA, Mark Jackson of HPC, was our co-judge alongsde Deb West from Safe in Sussex. It was a very close competition and Mark acknowledged all the hard work and imagination that had gone into each creation. Nevertheless, there had to be just one winner. |
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 Mandy Anstee with her winning trophy and our other gingerbread house decorators With 40 booked to attend we enjoyed a relaxed evening of networking with mulled wine, home made sausage rolls and mince pies, all generously provided by Dee & Lance. The team at The Woolpack were great as always. Many thanks for hosting our event. |
| Richard Cox – CEO 07393 728688 richard.cox@bhbpa.co.uk |