Last week I told you we were hosting a party to celebrate with the Goslings who are leaving the island – this week we have the results of that party ….. What a lovely evening.
It was very well attended by lots of people who wanted to show their appreciation. Jay and Lionel Fernander of Sunset Inn did a great job – Jay in the kitchen produced a great spread – just cocktail party food. We had conch fritters, chicken wings and grouper fingers and on the healthy side we had a selection of cheeses as well as fruit kebabs.
Rather than a big cake we had six dozen cupcakes made by the very talented Tanya Knowles of Mo Sweet’s Bakery in Palmetto Point. She uses edible ink to print on to rice paper – often she prints photos of the party person – but on this occasion we just had their initials printed on discs and popped onto some of the cakes ….. Â They looked great and not a single one was left at the end of the night.
Everybody mingled for the first 45 minutes of the party – then I called the party together to listen to the people who wanted to say a few words to Chris and Alison. I started off by telling everyone who wanted to speak that they were limited to a maximum of 3 minutes. There were at least 10 people who wanted to talk so it all added up to a reasonable amount of time. I figured that if you couldn’t say wanted you wanted to say in that time then there was something wrong ! Everybody by and large stuck to the time limit and brevity was the order of the night – it worked a treat. It didn’t appear that anybody got bored – which as we all know can happen sometimes !
At the end Chris gave a lovely speech and somehow there were not the floods of tears that we all were expecting. It was a joyous occasion – just as I had hoped it would be – simple food, plenty to drink and grateful people gathered together to say their thanks to two very special people – inspirational role models and heroes in our community…….
Not too much writing but lots of pictures this week .
Finally I have to give thanks to all the people who helped pull this party together. I woke up at 5.30 am on the morning after the party and was horrified to realize that I hadn’t publicly thanked everybody who played a part in getting it all together. My only excuse was that I was on such a high after everything coming together so well and also so thankful that I hadn’t broken down with emotion once that evening that it unforgivably slipped my mind.
So firstly to Jay and Lionel Fernander for all they did, to Bristol Wines for generously donating wine to the occasion, to Hance Febles of Potlatch for also donating wine. To Dion and Carlene from Island Design on Cupid’s Cay who made the cards that so many people signed – great job ! To Tanya Knowles for the cupcakes – to the staff at Sunset who did a great job that evening. To everyone who stepped up to the mike to give tributes , to my good friend Amanda – who thought she didn’t do much but actually helped me more than she knows ! And to my lovely husband Bob who went with the flow of my latest idea to have the party in the first place – Happy Birthday for Saturday Bobby Boy …..
And thanks to all of you who came and made the Goslings feel special that night……
14 thoughts on “Celebrating with the Goslings ……”
Giving the Farewell Party for the Goslings was such a wonderful gesture, well done, is it possible you could send me an email address for them so I could say goodbye too, they have helped so many in the Community, thanks, Sue Roberts
I have spoken to Chris and he is very happy for you to have his email address – it is cgosling1949@hotmail.com We could not let them leave without a tribute ……. Thanks for responding….
I am so happy you had a wonderful celebration for them..a kind tribute for giving people..blessings to your future !
Thanks Skip – nice to hear from you……
Absolutely lovely gesture by everyone. I am bias but they are such a great couple and team. Lutra’s loss is our family’s gain. Thank you to everyone who made the night so special for my mum and dad. Xx Clare
How lovely to hear from you Clare – I just popped in to the Blood Drive here in GH and told your Dad I had just had a comment from you !
Thank you so much for doing this for my mum and dad. Such a lovely and kind gesture for them. They don’t realise just how immensely proud we are of them, what they’ve done/achieved on Eleuthera and what brilliant role models they are for us/their grandchildren! Despite all that my sister and I, our husbands, kids, dogs and cats 🙂 can’t wait to have them home, we’ve missed them more than they’ll ever know. And we promise to take care of them for you all lol. xx
Wow – heard from you both now ! We too are hugely proud of them – they are as I said inspirational role models and real heroes. Enjoy your precious time with them – I know you will…… It was truly a pleasure and an honor to have this party for them to thank them for all that they have done – and are continuing to do up until the very last minute ! Have lots of fun with them….
Chris and Alison have contributed so much to Eleuthera for so long you could have
3 minutes oral tributes going on for decades.
All of us that have loved this Island will miss Chris and Alison.
Thank you Kathy for sponsoring their recognition and recording your blog for those of us, not on Island, to feel the love and recognition for Cris and Alison.
Les and Susan
Lovely to hear from you and pleased that you got to share this part…… very special people who will be sorely missed….
What community spirit and friendship! That’s what makes Eleuthera special – the people who live there and share their lives. We need more of that in the world…and thankfulness.
Thank you Donna…..
I am grateful to have seen Chris and Allison this week and had no idea they were leaving until they told us. They are very special people and will deeply be missed by Gene and I.
Sorry I only just saw this ! We will all miss them …..