Dugnad!

  The Beast from the East, or what they call ‘Thursday’ in Norway took its toll last week, but hopefully your pipes are all in order and you are ready to put away your winter clothes and enjoy the spring!

Norway have been in the news a lot recently, not only did they achieve great success at the  Pyeong Chang, Winter Olympics with a total of 39 medals, setting a new record for the most medals won by a country at a Winter Olympics. But they have been able to watch with great smugness, (in our house anyway!) as we British struggle with a ‘light dusting’ of snow! To top it all they have provided me with the title for this month’s newsletter!

Dugnad is a Norwegian term for voluntary work done as a community or collective. Volunteer members come together to help build clubhouses, or with any necessary work for families or individuals in need of help. The tradition of the Dugnad can be traced back to the rural communities of the 14th and 15th centuries.

Dugnad was definitely in the air last week as communities pulled together to help clear roads, check on neighbours, offer lifts or buy groceries. With a cynical eye on the large charities and their indiscretions it is great to hear of local communities pulling together to help raise funds for the local ‘community run’ shop. (Amberley Villagers held a quiz night recently, where 150 villagers took part to raise over £2k for the community shop!).

Dugnad was also on the menu at our Pop Up Bistro in aid of Best4Ben, which we are delighted to announce raised over £1000 with  no reports of food poisoning or nausea!
 
We are all so pleased to have attempted such a night and delighted that all 42 diners appeared to have enjoyed the evening and the food!

If we were not already aware, the Bistro night confirmed that, we are blessed with a fantastic team and a truly supportive client base in an amazing community!
And for this we are truly grateful.
There are many people we would like to thank for making the fundraiser such a huge success, they are:
Lewis & Dav, for their excellent guitar playing https://www.facebook.com/lewisanddavguitar/  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9wq-IbK_q-B4q6MlRuuwiA
Vinotopia in Tetbury for supplying all the wine for the evening www.vinotopiawine.co.uk
The exceptional salmon was supplied by Nick Dance @ Love Smoked in South Woodchester! He has a stall at the Shambles Market every Friday in Stroud
[email protected] www.lovesmoked.com
Our lovely chicken was supplied by County Quality Meats of Nailsworth.
Emily Murray, Cupcake Queen of the Five Valleys @ Nom Nom for the loan of her kitchen and eggs! https://www.facebook.com/nomnomcupcakery/
Minchinhampton Golf Club and Graham and Michaela @ Shruti designs for their generous raffle prizes http://www.shrutidesigns.co.uk/
Woodchester Valley wines for their donation of wines for the Raffle www.woodchestervalleyvineyard.co.uk
Plus thanks to everyone else who donated a raffle prize
Finally a big thank you to Matt & Hannah @ Wild Garlic Restaurant & Rooms for agreeing to my idea and the loan of their kitchen and restaurant www.wild-garlic.co.uk
I hope that we can support all of the above in the near future!
If you missed out on the evening, but would like to make a donation, here is the link https://gogetfunding.com/best4ben/