End of the challenge

Hi guys, sorry for the delay in making this post. We've been rather busy since the challenge ended.

Alex and Gabriel kindly updated our blog and Twitter pages when we were away, so there were updates about milking the cow. You may have also heard us on Radio Suffolk during the week.

We baked a variety of cakes and biscuits during our baking challenges. All the recipes were from Rachel's 1930s cookbook. We made Brussel's cake, angel layer cake and 'easily digestible biscuits' with added chocolate chips for our chocolate chip cookies challenge. Although we had some problems when we were baking (small kitchen, weighing scales which stuck, no temperatures to cook by) all the cakes tasted really good. This can be confirmed by Rachel's family, who ate all of the leftover cake before she even had a chance to unpack it. Rachel decided it was safer to not walk around the village wearing her Norwich shirt, but she did wear it from 8am until about 1.30pm when we left to sell the cakes. From the cake sale we got £17.30. We also got sponsored £20 by Alex's family on the same day.

We got sponsored £5 by Kat's cousin to make an item of clothing during the week. During the closing ceremony of the Olympics we knitted scarves, gloves and a hat for a teddy. Rachel discovered why she stopped knitting in her childhood, and only just managed to make a small scarf. Kat managed to make the rest of the outfit in the same amount of time.

We both listened to a lot of classical music and made a lot of puzzles. Kat is crowned the Scrabble queen, as she is unbeatable. Everyone tried to take her on, but were still beaten.

Handwashing laundry was hell. We had to wash our clothes in the bath using soap powder. We only had our hands to use, and had to climb in with our laundry to wash it. The soap stayed attached to the clothes no matter how many times we tried to rinse them. Taking waterlogged clothes down stairs is very tiring, as we both tried to stall the laundry for as long as possible, and therefore had a lot of clothes to wash.

We posted our letters on the Friday. Kat used a fountain pen that didn't work and left drops of ink everywhere. We just think it makes it look more authentic. 

Kat read Brave New World first, and was very impressed with it. The book also fell apart during her time. Rachel then read it on the Saturday. We were both more fascinated by the science in it than the fiction, and spent Saturday evening talking about it.

Unfortunately, we couldn't do the Lindy Hop during the week, as we could not learn it without a visual aid. Gabriel watched the video and tried to teach us, but it didn't work. We did it straight after the stroke of midnight on Sunday by watching a YouTube video and copying it. Kat was definitely better at it, and also had the dancing partner of Gabriel. Rachel just copied half of the video without a partner and fell into a hedge.

Milking the cow

Sorry for the delay on this one - had to figure out the editing system first! -Alex

So, on Monday, we went to milk Belle the cow. She is apparently the (test tube) daughter of the dairy cow of the millennium, which lives in Canada. Here she is, look:

Kat was first to milk the cow. Belle wasn't particularly cooperative at first, and it wasn't long before the bucket was kicked, but some milking did indeed occur.

Then it was Rachel's turn. Belle was quieter at this point, but with the bucket... misplaced, Rachel only really got to see that she was doing it right before we had to stop.

Then we got to say hello to the front end of the cow, and headed home. One challenge down. You may also notice that we're wearing our 1930s-style clothing, in keeping with the challenge. 

Big Declutter total

Sorry for the long wait for this total. Rachel was in charge of the money and forgot to post the actual figure when we counted it up.


The total amount  we raised is £21.71. Not a lot of money, but every penny counts.


Thank you all for your help.

Milking a cow update

Rachel got in contact with Colette a couple of days ago. It is now confirmed that we will be milking a cow at Rendham Hall on Monday, but not Jane the cow as she calved late. We will now be milking a cow called Belle (or Bell), who is a Friesian (we think). 


We should be on Radio Suffolk whilst we do this challenge, so keep an eye out for updates on Twitter and on this blog.


The number of followers we have on Twitter have doubled in the last month, so thank you all for your help and support.

The Big Declutter

Kat and Rach were up at 4am to run our fundraising stall. From 5.30am to 1.30pm we ran our stall, which had a coin water drop, guess the number of sweets in the jar, sponsorship forms and free painting for children.


We raised no money at all before 8am, even though we were singing, dancing, acting and guiding lost car booters. Our first customer happened to be a man who is 'living in the 1930s' himself. He told us his house was decorated 1930s-style and that he drove a 1930s car. We were rather impressed.

In total, after a lot of begging, we raised about £21. The actual total will be announced when we find all the loose change we were given. Until 11am we only had £2.70, so we are very glad of the last-minute surge of support.


This is what our stall looked like at 5.30am. Kat painted the signs for us (there were entry forms for sponsors, and more signs were on the table to explain pricing). We did rearrange the stall after this, and Rachel did remove her camera bag. The whiteboard showed a list of challenges that we had been set.

We are also very impressed by the artwork that was painted whilst we were running our stall. A few children took part in our free painting sessions, and some had their photos taken for our blog.

If anyone wants their paintings, just email us: rachelkdell@gmail.com and put 'Big Declutter paintings' in the subject. We'll give you an address where you can send a stamp addressed envelope and have the paintings posted to you. The paintings left behind are below.

Due to the low amount of money raised today the 'guess the number of sweets' competition is still open until next Sunday evening. It is 20p a turn, or 3 for 50p. You can donate via our donations page: http://www.justgiving.com/the1930schallenge




Thank you all for your support.

Guess the number of sweets in the jar

For our fundraising at the Big Declutter this Sunday we are holding a guess the number of sweets in the jar.

To ensure we raise as much money as possible we are also allowing our online followers to guess.

Add your guess to the list via our fundraising page: http://www.justgiving.com/the1930schallenge Each guess costs 20p, 3 guesses for 50p. Make sure you write your guesses in the message and make sure we can contact you if you win. You can always email Rachel your guesses too to ensure we can contact you if you win - rachelkdell@gmail.com

Don't worry if you don't live nearby, we will find a way to reach you.

Thank you

Big Declutter Update

Kat and Rach now have some 1930s style clothes and shoes ready for our challenge. We will wear these at the Declutter this Sunday.


The Declutter is being held this Sunday at the Suffolk Showground, and we will be there from 6am until around 2pm. Our stall is going to be next to EACH's, so we will be in a prime location and can be found easily.


Kat has made an art deco sign for our stall, and we will have business cards to hand out to anyone who wants to help us spread the word.


We are going to have buckets for donations and will be taking new sponsors. There will be activities for children, although we are yet to confirm what these will be.


If anyone has anything they believe will help us during our challenge please feel free to bring them to us. We would especially like family recipes and ideas for daytime entertainment and tips on how clothes would have been washed, as this is one of our week-long challenges.


Thank you all so much.
Kat and Rach

Alex Day

Rachel emailed him a while back, not expecting much, but in the hope that we could get someone with much more influence than ourselves to help us spread the word. 


Today we got an email back. He posted a link to our fundraising page to his 108 000 followers. 

In the two hours since that was posted, we have had 6 new sponsors, bringing the total up to 7 today. £24 in one day.


We really cannot thank him enough for this. Hopefully when we wake up we will have even more sponsors.


Thank you all so much. 

Big Declutter, Trinity Park

Kat and Rach are going to be at the Big Declutter this Sunday, from 7am to 1pm. We will arrive early to set up, and leave late to pack up, so don't worry about missing us.


We will be dressed in 1930s clothes and will have sponsorship forms and cards with our details on. If we have time we will also be selling homemade sweets.


If anyone has anything that could help us during our challenge, such as recipes or old clothes or board games we would greatly appreciate it. Although we are trying to find things ourselves, we are limited by our student budget.


We hope to see you on Sunday,
Kat and Rach

Food

Rachel's mum has a recipe book from the 1930s, which will be used as the basis of what we cook each week.


As useful as this book is, we still need more ideas, especially for drinks. We are also planning on making sweets and lemonade, so it would be brilliant if you guys could help us with ideas and simple, cheap recipes.


Please leave comments below, as it would really help us.


Thanks.