Annual Bloggers’ Bash

Early arrivals at the Bloggers’ Bash, greeted by Sacha before registering. Picture courtesy of Hugh Roberts.

I’m starting this post by giving the bloggers among you a very important date – Saturday June 10, 2017. Put in your diary now. This is when the annual Bloggers Bash takes place – and you really don’t want to miss it.

 

I went to London for this year’s Bash; somewhat nervously it has to be said. Apart from worrying about whether, not having met any of these people before, I would find myself sitting alone in a corner I was concerned about getting lost and never finding the venue. I have no sense of direction, have serious problems in distinguishing left from right and absolutely no idea which way is south – or west or north. And I don’t have a smart phone.

“Then I turned left…no, right, well, whatever, I got here.” I have no idea what I was holding forth about. Picture courtesy of Hugh Roberts

What I did have was several sheets of paper with directions prepared by the ever-patient DH for each stage of my journey from when I arrived at Euston Station. I walked to Kings Cross, dispensed with paper one and followed the next set of directions provided by one of the Bash organisers Geoff Le Pard. I had other bits of paper to direct me from the Bash venue to the hotel I was staying in and from the hotel back to Euston. I only got lost once.

As soon as I arrived, the warm welcomes and hugs from the organisers – Sacha (the Boss), Hugh, Geoff and Ali instantly dispelled all my anxiety about sitting speechless and friendless in a corner. People just seemed to fall into conversations. It was amazing to be able to talk to bloggers I’d never actually met but who were most certainly not strangers. I met new-to-me bloggers, too, and people I knew through commenting on blogs we follow. The place was buzzing. And it was noisy. Put 50 plus bloggers in a room and the decibel level could raise the roof!

The all-important envelopes for the various award categories. Photo courtesy of Hugh Roberts

Blogger Awards were given out – you can see who won what on Sacha’s blog here – and there was a blogging master class by Luca Sartoni who works for Automatic, owner of WordPress. Luca was somewhat astonished to discover how much re-blogging we do. I think we were equally astonished at his astonishment.

Bloggers came from Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales, Lichtenstein – and I knew I shouldn’t have started this paragraph because I can’t remember where everyone came from. It was a truly international gathering.

It was a fantastic day. Online friendships were cemented, new friends met to follow online and the wonderful, warm, fuzzy (maybe that was the gin) feeling of belonging to an amazing blogging community.

Hugh Roberts, one of the organising team, filmed the proceedings. I suspect all of us granted permission without realising we were then expected to say something to camera without being given a second to prepare!

Hats off to the organisers, who did such a fantastic job. I’m so looking forward to next year’s Bash. Put that date in your diary now. June 10, 2017.