The Annual Bloggers Bash 2018

Posted on by

63

Photo by Duncan Walker

Last weekend was the fourth Annual Bloggers Bash, which was held in London. It had been nearly a year in the planning and on Saturday morning a whole bunch of bloggers descended on the George IV pub in Chiswick.

The Bash is always the highlight of my year. I have been on the committee for the event this year and had been looking forward to it for months, so The Bloke and I decided to make a long weekend of it. We were so lucky – the weather was incredible and the hotel was within walking distance of the venue. Perfect. I travelled down on the Friday and had some personal time, treating myself to some peace and quiet in the gorgeous surroundings on Chiswick House and Gardens, which was just a few minutes away from the hotel. I was joined in the afternoon by Lorna and her husband, Neil, and then Shelley and I travelled back into central London for a committee meeting in the evening.

Chiswick House and Gardens

As always, it would need numerous blog posts to discuss everything that happened, so here are just some of my highlights from the Bash.

Shelley and I being referred to as Asterix and Obelix by one of the employees at our hotel after we had left the poor guy feeling completely bemused on more than one occasion (definitely a sign that I need to start shaving my moustache).

Geoff adopting a semi-smurf look this year and going with a blue beard instead of a purple one.

My huge Hugh hug. Can’t beat them. Best hugs ever.

CLICK ON THE IMAGES FOR THE FULL PICTURE

The beautiful open beer garden outside
I finally got to meet Deb in person!
Chatting away
Harassing the ladies while they were trying to eat
The ever lovely Hugh
Before the madness began…

Geoff attempting to build our attendance numbers by mistaking a member of the public for a blogger and trying to give her a name badge and questionnaire. It turns out she was asking him where the toilet was. To be fair, she looked like a blogger, but it took me a while to stop laughing.

Meeting some of my online friends in person for the first time. After a year of talking with these girlies via a Facebook group, it was so nice to actually meet, hug and have a quick chat. I wish I’d had more time, but there’s never enough…

Watching other people meet for the first time. Linda’s surprise was fabulous. I love that every year.

Jo & Isa’s squeals when they won their award. I love it when that happens too.

Getting together goody bags for all of the attendees. This was the first year that we’d had them, and while it wasn’t pleasant dragging it all down to London, it made me happy to hand them out as people were coming in.

Listening to the presentations
Do you know any Billy Joel, Graeme?
The panel discussion
The ladies having a chat
The gorgeous chandelier hanging from the ceiling
Word, Geoffle…

Annoying Linda, Deb, Mel and Jill by taking pictures of them while they were trying to eat their lunch in peace.

The wedding. We finished for lunch just in time to see Meghan appear and I watched it in the sunshine with Lauren, Shelley and Hugh while eating our food in the courtyard. The whole pub clapped and cheered when they were pronounced as man and wife. Lovely.

Deb’s genuine expression of joy when when received her award and certificate. What a smile!

The name tags that everyone wore – Shelley made sure that we had two for Harry and Meghan should they become bored with their wedding celebrations.

Chatting
Graeme and Esther
Some of the girlies
The committee. I appear to be hitching up my trousers. Classy as always
More chatting
Adam checking out his gift from Sacha

Ritu and Sacha’s presentations. Interesting stuff, although my head still hurts from all the info.

Cake. Cake is always a highlight.

The Greenstory Stone Notebooks that were given to the overall winners of each award.

Helen and I continuing an annual tradition – our yearly duck face picture. I’m not going to share it on here this time as in a previous year someone used it in all their promo of the bash across the Internet as it was the only picture they could find of us. Not the greatest look I’ve ever had, but fun all the same.

Marjorie winning the writing competition
Asking questions during the presentations
Hayley winning her award
Just look at Linda’s face…
And Debbie’s!
The ever lovely Shelley…

The gorgeous bookshop next door.

Discussing the Avengers continuity errors with Adam.

Chatting, chatting, chatting and more chatting. My voice had almost gone by the end of it.

Seeing the live reactions to the Facebook Live videos we filmed during the awards announcements.

Watching The Bloke take candid shots of the attendees. He had been to Kew Gardens with his new camera (he hears enough about blogging at home as it is), but I think it was a little too warm for him after a while and so he came back to the event and did some unofficial Bash photography for us.

Here are all of the people who attended the Bash – it would take me far too long to link to everyone individually. There were nearly 10,000 votes for the awards this year too, and here’s a list of the winners and nominees. A massive congrats to all of you – I’m so pleased for you.

Thats it for another year! Massive thanks to Greenstory for their generous sponsorship of the awards, and a special shout out to our Bash Champions who helped with promotion throughout the year:

Deb’s World

The Wandering Darlings

But I Smile Anyway

Gin & Lemonade

Willowdot21

Esther Chilton

 

The first six pictures were taken by me, but the rest were captured by The Bloke. Attendees have his permission to use them in their blog posts, as long as you credit him via his Instagram account http://www.instagram.com/duncanw68

63 thoughts on “The Annual Bloggers Bash 2018”

  1. It was a very good day and I loved my goodie bag. I’ve never had washi tape before, so it was a bit of thrill to see some in there. You can probably tell that I don’t get out much.

    I had to avoid all the bookshops and the craft shops between the pub and the station. They were far too dangerous.

    Many thanks to you and the committee for your hard work.

  11. was thinking of you all on Saturday, and hoping that someday I will make it there…. bucket list? So glad it turned out well, I knew it would. Congratulations to the winners and to all the attendees, I am so envious!

  12. Lovely post of a lovely day and fab photos to prove it! And of course, can’t beat Hugh’s Hugs…we should award a prize to who gets the first hug next time 😉 Great to see you again Suzie, and thank you and all the committee for all your hard work making the BB, as always, such a wonderful event. Here’s to the next one!

  15. Graeme looks as though he’s serenading us all in one of those photos! Great day out, great photos, and so lovely to see everyone, as always. And yes, duck face remains between us only lol x

  19. Thanks for the mention Suzie, it was such a fun day meeting you and the others, making new friends and just soaking up the blogging atmosphere. Being a part of it all was the icing on the cake but getting runner up was a very special moment, I’ll admit! My face was sore from all the smiling at the end of the day. Thanks for all your efforts and the committee’s hard work. It was all much appreciated 😊 The photos are great!!

  21. Pingback: People. Urgh. | Suzie Speaks

  26. Pingback: Annual Bloggers Bash Awards 2018 – Deb's World

  28. Well done you and the whole committee! I love watching the video on Hugh’s blog and this is the icing on the cake! 🙂

    You all know how to put on a really fun sounding bash!! ❤

  29. Pingback: Monday Coffee | Thoughts by Mello-Elo

  30. Pingback: Surprises, Diana’s Dresses And The Annual Blogger’s Bash 2018 | A View From My Summerhouse

  31. Pingback: 2018: A Year in Review | Suzie Speaks

Comments are closed.