SOLD OUT

Thank you thank you thank you for being part of the Garden Party. It’s going to be (in terms of the number of people) the largest event we’ve run to date, and that it sold out over a weekend in advance is amazing for us. So thank you thank you thank you all. We’ll be sending an email out to everyone shortly with stuff you need to know but here’s some stuff to whet your whistle. First… TO THE BAR:

THE BAR

We’ve raved about the food over on the blog here (some of the most exciting foodies from around Yorkshire will be selling food and drink on the day. Please arrive hungry and support these great people), but we’ve yet to mention the bar…

N.B. We do have to point out that our license means we can’t allow people to bring their own alcohol on site, however we’re very pleased to be offering a full bar at decent prices. Non of your £4 a pint festival prices at our party!

The lovely Andy Wright is running the bar for us this Sunday. Andy will be keeping us in liquid finery for the day with a range of beers, wine, and everything from super swanky cocktails through to healthy kids drinks. Andy manages Verve in Leeds, he’s super chirpy and a proper good egg. If you have any bar questions or just want to say hello to him, he’s on twitter at @freepourthinks.

Back by popular demand, there’ll be Leeds Brewery‘s wonderful Ho Ho Hope and Social (which some of you may remember from the Christmas Snowball). It’s a stunner of an ale, and will be accompanied by it’s lighter sister beer, the ace Leeds Pale. As per all our beverages, we’re doing them at decent pub prices.

Our Openers – The Old Time String Band

I’ve raved about The Old Time String Band over on this blog before so I won’t go on about them except to say that Martyn Roper and Daisy Thurkettle-Roper, are very much what the Old Time String Band name suggests, and they’re just charming. We think there’s going to be a lot of people getting in at doors (midday) so make sure you get to the main stagey bit in time. It’s in plain view of the bar so you’ll be reet. [wink]

I really can’t stress enough just how excited we all are about all the music we have on this Sunday, and our brilliant openers will be on stage at 1pm so please do get in and support them early on.

Lovely Twitter stuff

If you don’t already use twitter, now might be a lovely time to start. There’s a big bunch of people talking about the event and the lovely stuff we’ve got going on this Sunday. We’re @hopeandsocial on Twitter, though it’s worth following Rich (@thehuxcapacitor) and Ed (@edhombre) as they’re the ones who hang out there most.

There’s a couple of hashtags (tagging a tweet just is a way of talking about a topic) that are worth a look. #hsgardenparty is where people are talking about the event as a whole, #hsblackbird is for pictures of the lovely Milliput Blackbirds that we’ve asked you to make (if you got in in time). We’re trying our best to add all the pics to the hsblackbirds.tumblr.com too. Some gorgeous stuff gone up there. Amazing. If you tag your tweets (and pictures or other media) simply by typing #hsgardenparty for example, or say hi to us by including @hopeandocial in a tweet, there’s sure to be lots of friendly Hope and Social revellers who’ll say hello.

Bring your wiggly hips

Just a couple of hints here. There will be a video, it requires wiggly hips, and we hope it will involve you. It’ll certainly involve Laura Kidd though, so if you want to know more… ask her. ;)

I’m not going to say too much about this though because…

… there have to be some secrets

We’re hopeful that you all find that we’ve got enough stuff to keep y’all happy, however we’re encouraging you to engage with the Garden Party. We’re not laying it all out on a plate for you so please do explore (respectfully, obviously. It’s lovely @annjj‘s home after all ). We do trust you to be good little Hope and Social revellers. ;)

So please do explore the areas of the Old Rectory. We hope you’ll find delights all around:

Things To Remember

Your blackbird
A blanket, bean bag or deck chairs!
Enough clothes
Cash!
An empty and pre-stretched stomach
A camera
A book to swap
Your dancing shoes
Your young heart

And Finally (for now)…

…if you’ve clicked all the links above and still want to know a bit more, here’s some links to stuff about the garden party elsewhere on t’interweb.

Main Stage Music
The GIANT Have Fun Make Art Mobile blog on Culture Vultures
Party, Party, Party. GARDEN PARTY!
Party Food
There’s the aforementioned gorgeous #hsblackbird models coming in here.
There’s the brilliant Rhona and Malc‘s amazing Sleep Sound Hammocks
and here’s the small and perfectly formed Hammock Stage, curated by @simonwiffen
and over on the main stage

See you Sunday

H&S
x

PS – You should be getting an email through with this info on and more. Please do read it. Ta!

PPS – Here’s a panorama of the main bit of the garden from the flagpole. Have a look around.