The Annual Bloggers Bash: The Highlights!

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And so it was that I found myself walking into the entrance of The British Library, ready to meet a group of bloggers for the Annual Bloggers Bash, which had been organised by the lovely Sacha Black and her committee – Hugh, Geoff and Ali. I had said goodbye to The Bloke, nervously smoked a cigarette and navigated my way through the hoardes of people on their way to Kings Cross Station. I had been looking forward to it, but inevitably had been anxious all morning, and the fact that I left it a bit late to get ready, had to redo my make up after poking myself in the eye with my mascara (although, I remembered to do both eyes this time) and spent twenty minutes curling my hair only for it to all promptly fall flat half an hour later due to the heat didn’t particularly help.

However, when I got there I realised that I had been worrying about nothing. I was greeted with a massive hug from Hugh, who was easy to spot wearing his Bloggers Bash t shirt and a huge smile (oh, and trousers – I realise my description made it seem like that was the only thing he had on) and after some introductions I settled into conversations with people that I have followed and talked to online for a long time.

Here are my highlights:

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Geoffle. Geoffle brought cake. I like cake. I like Geoffle

Geoff, who will be forever known as ‘Geoffle’ sporting a bright pink beard and producing cake. Life is always better with cake, and his cake was awesome.

Talking. So much talking. Everyone was talking to everyone else. People had travelled from all over the UK, and Ali had come from Ireland, and Connie from Germany. Within half an hour I’d had a chat with Graeme, Helen, Elissa, Hugh and Mel, and the atmosphere was lovely.

Listening to Helen’s accent. She’s lived all over the world, and although she currently resides in the UK, she has developed a Canadian/Australian/English accent and I found it fascinating just listening to her talk. And she’s as lovely in person as she is online too.

Sacha’s speech. She had put so much of her time, and indeed, herself, into the planning and organisation of the event, it clearly meant a lot to her, and I was pleased for her that it was such a success.

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Sacha giving her speech…

Talking to Helen and Mel about their novels. It takes a lot of guts to be able to do something like that, certainly more than I have, and it was really interesting to find out how they went about it.

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Helen, Mel and me in the pub afterwards…

Giving a tutorial to Lucy from Blonde Write More on how to communicate with her daughters, which I’ve developed after working with teenagers in inner-city Birmingham for the last ten years. For those of you who are interested, it generally involves moving your hands around a lot while proclaiming something as ‘sick’ if it’s good, while talking through your nose. I’m looking forward to finding out how her daughters responded.

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Hugh giving his speech… No idea whats going on with my face here.

Hugh. Just Hugh. As every bit a gentleman in person as he is online, he was warm, funny and a genuinely lovely bloke. And he gives great hugs. I also found it incredibly sweet how nervous he was when he was reading his speech out for the awards.

Receiving some unbelievably flattering compliments from Dylan about the blog. I didn’t quite know what to say at the time as he caught me completely off guard, but thank you Dylan, you absolutely made my day. I wished I had more of an opportunity to talk to him, but we always seemed to end up on opposite parts of the room.

Talking to Sue about her very inspiring son. I had read her amazing post about him last week, and the way that her face lit up with her obvious pride in his achievements was a brilliant thing to see. Incidentally, for those of you that would like to add to hundreds of pounds that he has already raised, click on this link here…

The staff at Pizza Express who joined in our applause and celebrations, and the waiter who was obviously trying to keep calm while blatantly wanting to punch us all in the face for paying our bill separately.

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Lovely bloggy people…

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More lovely bloggy people…

And finally, the awards. Yes, I was absolutely gobsmacked when I was given not just one, but two awards – the ‘Inspirational Blogger’ and ‘Services to Blogging.’ After I had stopped shaking, I was asked to give a speech, and my mind went totally blank. Despite being able to make a fool of myself in front of teenagers on a daily basis without any concerns, having to talk in front of adults, particularly articulate and intelligent adults is a completely different thing, and I awkwardly said ‘thank you’ and sat down.

Thank you.

Thank you for nominating me Hugh and Lisa, and thanks to everyone who voted. I’m honoured and still a little bit overwhelmed by the whole experience. What started as a way to express the thoughts that were swimming around my brain during what was a very difficult time, has now developed into something that has introduced me to a wonderful community of supportive and creative people, and I’m not being melodramatic when I say that it has changed my life. Thank you Sacha, Hugh, Geoffle and Ali for organising such a wonderful event.

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Winner!

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Winner!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the winners of all the awards – click here to see Sacha’s post!

I’m a bit gutted I didn’t get the opportunity to talk to more people, but I can see that everyone had a brilliant time.

Here’s to the Annual Bloggers Bash 2016!!!!!

You can also find me on Twitter and Tumblr @suzie81blog, and don’t forget to check out my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/suzie81speaks ,my Pinterest page http://www.pinterest.com/suzie81speaks and ,y Instagram page http://www.instagram.com/suzie81speaks.

 

137 thoughts on “The Annual Bloggers Bash: The Highlights!”

  2. Congratulations on the very much deserved awards! Have your feet touched ground yet? I would still be floating on air, head in the clouds, etc etc etc!

  6. That looks amazing!!! Congrats to all, for being nominated, winning, and most of all, for enjoying each others company! Glad everyone had such a lovely time!!! 🙂

  10. Congrats again Suzie!!!! I didn’t realize you were a fellow brummie!!! I’m coming there on Tues to see my parents for a couple of days!!!

  12. I have been really looking forward to this post! Huge congrats again. It looks like you had an amazing time…I love your pictures 🙂 In a similar way blogging has been life changing for me too as it has led to opportunities that I never dreamt possible and the people I have met are the icing on the cake 🙂

    • Thanks so much my lovely! It’s strange how a hobby has become a huge part of my life and i know it’s done the same for you! Onwards and upwards – you should come to the next one!

  15. Congratulations on the two awards! Isn’t it fun to actually meet the people you’ve been reading, what a terrific experience for you! Onto 2016!!! 🙂

    • Thanks very much! I can’t take any credit for the organisation of any of it – that was Sacha, Geoff, Hugh and Ali – but i’m sure there will be one next year!

  20. Amazing! I wish I lived in London now… thanks for sharing the fun and for the outstanding blog that you have.

  21. Many congratulations on both your awards and it was very nice to meet you yesterday. I meant everything I said, by the way, so you can now get flustered all over again. 🙂

  23. Congratulations on the awards, Suzie. Much deserved. Must say I’m feeling rather jealous writing from distant Australia. Would love to be there. xx Rowena

  24. Congratulations my dear! I am so incredibly happy for you with not one but TWO awards! The bash sounded lovely! What a wonderful experience to meet some of the UK bloggers in person! Yeay!! Cher xo

  25. Hip hip hoosuzie! Most splendidly well deserved awardster, if I may say so (anyone who compliments my cake is a HERO, first class). Grand to meet you and so glad you enjoyed yourself. As for a venue for next year I understand the Vatican may be free, so we may do Rome instead.

    • Thanks Ula! I can’t remember how it came about but one of the bloggers mentioned how great your blog was the other day – i can’t remember who but you certainly have fans!

  31. Congratulations and sounds like a great time. Hopefully I can make it next year. I have one very serious question to ask however…what type of pizza did you have?

  37. Reblogged this on graemecummingdotnet and commented:
    The Bloggers Bash clearly went very well on Saturday (I should know, I was there). And it’s great to see the blogs already appearing and giving us different perspectives on the day.

    This one from Suzie demonstrates why she’s a double award winner (and that was just over lunch). Strangely, still can’t tell she sounds like Peter Kay…

  41. Why on earth do I look as if I doing the ‘birdie dance’ in that photo? Yes, you spotted how nervous I was when I had to do my speech. I don’t know why but I get so nervous when having to stand up in front of a crowd of people. All the words start to come out wrong and I seem to go into panic mode.

    It was such a real pleasure to meet you Suzie. I hope you didn’t mind the hug? As you can tell I seem to enjoy giving out hugs. The moment I saw you arrive I knew who you were and wanted to hug you. I hope the knees didn’t put you off!

    Congratulations on your two awards. They were most certainly deserved.

    Thank you for being part of the event and making it the huge success it was.
    See you at next year’s event (if not before).

    • Thanks so much my lovely, and if you don’t mind me saying, you’re a great hugger haha! It’s strange how all the bloggers I spoke to were the same in that they were just like Sacha described herself – introverts in extroverts bodies.

      • I think just about everyone there was exactly how Sacha described herself. Maybe to be a blogger you have to follow that criteria? I have a funny feeling that next year’s event is going to be huge.

      • I agree – we all feel comfortable when writing our thoughts down, but suffer from anxiety and nerves when having to talk in front of people! I think you may be right….

  42. That’s so exciting – two awards!!! Congratulations. Looks like you had a wonderful time. Wish I could have been there to meet all those interesting blogging people.

  43. What a fantastic event! And congratulations on your wins. Well deserved if you ask me. You’re so inspiring and supportive to new bloggers and you’re one of the blogs that keeps me going when I feel like it’s all too much hard work. Keep it up!

    • Thanks so much Stacey, and what a lovely comment! Really pleased you like the blog, and I’m delighted that it inspires you…

      I think the trick is to only blog when you are in the mood to do so, otherwise it seems like a chore!

  44. It was lovely to meet you, Suzie!! I’m really looking forward to next year’s bash, though I’d suggest a round table so we can all talk to each other more easily 🙂

    • Hi Conny! It was lovely to meet you too, however briefly. Still think it’s amazing that you came over all the way from Germany! How was the rest of your trip after you left?

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