How to organise a Progressive Supper

Automatically generated from the audio, so it may not be perfectly word-for-word.

Hi, welcome to the PTA Podcast. My name is Yvonne and I've been a PTA volunteer for a few years now. But I'm just one of thousands of volunteers up and down the country who all want to make a difference to their schools. PTAs are becoming even more crucial in UK schools to boost budgets, and I find it fascinating to talk to other volunteers about the different approaches they take. So please join me in this podcast to share information, generate ideas, debate issues, and celebrate success. And I hope that you can take something away for your PTA today. Firstly, I'm excited to announce that I have received a new song suggestion for the PTA Podcast Spotify playlist, which I talked about in episode 30. I've already added it in because I think it perfectly fits the bill of what we are looking for to add to this playlist. My friend at PTA Plus suggested the song Doing It for the Kids, sung by Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue. And she says that this song might help to spur on PTA volunteers who, for whatever reason, might be feeling a bit underappreciated. Well, I think this is a brilliant choice, and I'm sure it will resonate with everybody because at the end of the day, all PTA volunteers are working hard for the kids of their school. So it all comes back to the kids, and I thought it was a perfect choice, so it's already on the playlist. So go and have a listen if you haven't already done it. Now on my podcast, I like to talk about fundraisers that I have tried at my school, but I also want to share new fundraising ideas with you, which may be helpful or just give you something else to try if you feel like you're a bit stuck in a rut or something. So in episode 5, I talked to my friend Lisa about organising a school trip to the Christmas Panto as a fundraiser. In uh episode 20, I talked to my friend Eve about how to organise a festive gift wrap fundraiser. So that might be something you might like to listen back to, especially as we are approaching Christmas time right now. And in episodes 15 and 16, I talked to Amelia about the fundraising she was organising for her school in Sweden. And today I have another fundraising idea that you might like to try. It's not something I've organized at a school before, but it's something I think could work really well for a school community. And there's an awful lot to get through in this podcast, so we're gonna get straight into it. So this is a great event to run if you're looking for something which is just for parents, and especially if you are wanting a way to enable parents to socialize and get to know each other better. It's called a progressive supper, and in a nutshell, it is an evening meal with a difference. So you get parents to volunteer to host a starter or a main course at their home, and they tell you how many people they can accommodate around um their table. Then you sell tickets to your parent community to take part in the event. And people can buy tickets as individuals, but most people buy tickets as couples, so perhaps with their uh spouse or their partner or um just a friend, so that there's uh generally two people going around together. So it means that when you go to people's um different when you go to the different places on the Progressive Supper, you will always be with somebody that you know. Everybody that signs up for a ticket, you then mix up your parents so they go to different houses for their starter, then a different place for their main course, and then everybody comes together in a central location at the end for dessert and a bar, possibly a raffle or an auction, something like that. It's not really a new idea to the fundraising circuit, and the progressive supper has been running in my village certainly for a few years, each time raising money for a different club in the village, and it's called the Progressive Supper as people progress around the village or the area, like the school catchment area, wherever you're doing it, as they move between houses for starter main and dessert. And I'm very lucky that my friends Lynn and Susan, who usually organise the Progressive Supper in my village, um, have agreed to come on my podcast to tell you all about it. They have very generously shared all their super organizing tips so that if you wanted to give it a go, you could definitely hit the ground running by listening to the whole episode of this podcast all about it. There's a lot of detailed information in this episode, as there are quite a few things to do to organise the Progressive Supper, but it's a fantastic fundraiser for the parent community, and it gives great returns back for your PTA too. So this year, I think our Progressive Supper was in February or March time. I volunteered to host a starter, and as a host, I had to cook a starter for my guests, and um my husband and I decided to host four guests, plus me and my husband, so a total of six, and as a starter host, I had to also receive the wine and drinks to go with the meal. Then as hosts, we uh sell drinks to the guests as well, which are provided by the organizers. Then at the end of the starter course, we have a list of who goes where next and also where the leftover drinks go as well, so that the person hosting main courses uh can also sell drinks to their guests. So we had, I think uh we're gonna hear the figures from Lynn and Susan uh in just a moment, but I think there are maybe 80 people taking part. So I was hosting six of those people for a startup at my house, other houses were hosting other starters. Um, we get delivered uh lots of wine and other drinks to our house, and we can sell drinks to the people having starters. Then when we've all finished our starters after about an hour, we then all move on somewhere else for the main course, and there are very clear instructions as to what to do with the drinks and where they go as well. So before we listen to all of Susan and Lynn's top tips, you will have the delight of listening to me uh doing all of my prep for the event on uh the few days leading up to the Progressive Supper. So enjoy. Right, it's the week for the Progressive Supper, and I thought I'd just do a little diary of the different things that I'm organizing in the run-up to uh Saturday night. So today is Wednesday, and the wine has uh just been dropped off, so I just thought I'd let you know what we've received. So we have in fact wine and all of the information is here in a letter. So we have um let me have a look what we've got. We have got one bottle of prosecco, three bottles of red wine, three bottles of white wine, and one bottle of a non-alcoholic drink, which is where's it gone? What have we got? Um, pomegranate and pear presse, like a sparkling fruit drink. And we have to take all of these drinks, all the spare ones left over, to um our main course. So we're hosting a start at our house, then we have to take all the drinks with us when we go to our main course. Um, the letter also says that we need to take any money with us as well to hand over at the end, and we have a price list, so they very helpfully printed out a price list that we can display. So when our guests arrive, um we can sell our drinks. So a glass of wine is three pounds. There isn't a specific measure, we can just guess um how much that's gonna be. But what most people do is they buy an entire bottle of red or white, um, so that they can then take that bottle with them to their main course. So uh red or white wine by the bottle is £12, then our glass, um our prosecco is three pounds by the glass and £15 by the bottle, and then the elder um the non-alcoholic pomegranate and pear is just one pound by the glass. Oh, it doesn't really have a bottle price on that. So, so what they've done is they've actually put uh the price list on an April sheet of paper so I can actually stick it up so everyone can see the prices there, and the other thing that they've included is a list of um the guests that come into our house, and also where those people are going for their main course. So, just in case anyone forgets, or if anyone needs directions or something, it's really helpful to say where everybody's going. Um, so it also says where me and my husband are going for our main course, and we're all going to different places. So we have so there's gonna be three couples at our starter, and we're all going to different places for the main course, which is really cool. Uh, okay, it says that starters commence at seven, and then people need to be moving on to their main course, so they get there for eight o'clock. And then the other thing that was delivered in our wine box was a list of items for the auction, which is gonna happen at the end of the evening, so that we can all start thinking about if we want to bid on anything, and these have been donated by people in the village, um, and it just gives a list of details. So, I'm just gonna kind of display this on the table so we can all have a look. So, that's our wine. I now need to have the challenge of um trying to fit the white wine, the prosecco, and the um non-alcoholic drink into my fridge for the next few days, uh, which is gonna be hard and gonna be tough. So, I'm going to do that, uh, and then I don't really have anything to do until Saturday, so I'll check back in on Saturday. Okay, it's Saturday morning, and I have lots to do today to get ready for the progressive supper. So I need to give the house a bit of a tidy, and I need to prepare my starters. So I've decided to go for two options for the starter just in case somebody comes along and they don't like one of the options. Um, so we're going to make a tomato and bolotti bean soup and a salmon terrine, like a smoked salmon terrine, and I have purposefully baked starters that I can prepare in advance. So I'm going to make the soup and the terrine this morning, then I just need to reheat the soup a bit later on, and I just need to take the tureen out of the fridge and arrange it nicely on a plate, which is something I always struggle with my presentation. I'm not very good at that bit, but hopefully, it will taste nice enough that they won't notice that the presentation might not be up to scratch. Well, I'm gonna do the tureen with a um like a little side salad. So I just bought um actually a ready-made mixed bag of leaves, so it was quite interesting from the supermarket, and um that's gonna be on the plate, and then um I'm going to serve both the soup and the salmon with some uh chia butter rolls. We're just gonna warm them in the oven and add a bit of parsley butter to them so everybody uh can help themselves to that. So, yeah, I'm going to I think I'm going to make my starters first and then I'm going to do a lot of cleaning and tidying up. And chop some of these red onions up. So my recipe is a tomato and blotti bean soup. It's very easy. It's basically fry some red onions, um, add some chopped tomatoes, uh, let it simmer for a bit, add some herbs, add some blotti beans, add some balsamic vinegar, probably a few more ingredients. Can't think what they are right now. I'll check my book in a minute. Um but basically I'm going to make it now. It's Saturday morning, and then when my guests come round in the evening, I can just heat it up. And I'm also, I've also decided to make double so that my children have this for dinner. Because of course, we're feeding our guests um a starter, and then we're going out for a meal, so I need to make sure I've fed the kids. Right, I'm gonna buy these onions. So the umball to bean soup recipe, I think I just got from uh one of those food magazines. I used to subscribe to um a magazine called Easy Cook or something like that. I don't even know if it's still going, but it had really straightforward, easy kind of family dinner recipes. Um, so I think that's where I got that recipe from. And then my salmon tourine is actually a Mary Berry recipe. I do like Mary Berry's recipes, they always work out really well, so you can trust them even if you haven't um you know cooked them before. But I have cooked both of these things before. Sometimes I do make the mistake of um cooking for people coming around things that I've never made before, which can be quite stressful. But this time I really didn't want to make that mistake. Right, let's find items of tomatoes now. The other reason why I've chosen starters that I can prepare in advance is because we have a kitchen diner, so we don't have a separate dining room, and um I didn't want um my guests to be here and be trying to talk to them and also trying to cook at the same time because I've tried that before and it always goes a little bit wrong. I might forget to put to put something in the pan or something, or I might burn something because I get really distracted. So I wanted something really easy to just plate up or ladle out into a bowl so we can spend more time talking to the people who have come to our house lately because that's what the Progressive Supper is kind of all about. It's about um getting to know people in the village who you know live in the same area that we do, but we just don't see them, or we might see them around the village and just don't have time to chat to them, or we might see them around the village and don't know them and just start conversation. So um, over the years, being involved in the Progressive Supper, we have got to know more people in the village, which is really nice, and uh that's one of the reasons we do it really. Right, that's looking really good. I'm gonna let that simmer for a little bit, and then I'll turn it off and then we can just wait till tonight.

How many times have you done the Progressive Supper? I've done it twice now. Twice, and it's brilliant. Besides it's so brilliant! A great way to meet new people in the village. We've lived here for 15 years, yeah. And I'm still meeting people I've never met before that have lived here for 44 years. And have you ever hosted a main course of a starter? No. Chicken.

And what's what's so nice about the um it's really nice that the whole village gets together and everyone is very chatty and meets people that they say hello to but don't really have a conversation with. So they have a proper conversation and get to know someone really well.

How did you enjoy your evening tonight? Oh, it was a wonderful evening. It was so nice to meet so many different people that we didn't know lived in the village and hear so many stories old and new and share food and meet people's pets. I like to meet. That was really, really lovely. And yeah, just the vibe, as you can probably hit now with everyone pack of dessert. It's just really excitable and friendly and fun and so different. Just different to anything that you probably normally do. Yeah, I can highly recommend a progressive supper. Definitely.

Hi, Lynn and Susan, and welcome to the PTA podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today to talk about the Progressive Supper. It's such a great event, and I'm looking forward to getting into all the details about how you organise it. But before we get into that, Susan, would you like to introduce yourself to my listeners?

Yes, I'm Susan. Um, I'm a stay-at-home mum. I've got two boys who are now 17 and 18. Um, and I sort of first started getting involved with PTAs when my children were at preschool.

Okay, and Lynn?

Uh hi, I'm Lynn. I'm a retired hair teacher, and I'm mum of three children and granny of six. Wow. Um I've um been involved with PTAs in the village while my children were at school and have been doing progressive suppers for a little while.

Okay, so you you both sound very experienced in the PTA world and the progressive supper world, which is fantastic. So, Susan, did you have a particular role when you were part of the PTA?

Um, I was just a general member of the committee in the preschool and also the same in the primary school. But I used to get quite involved with all the organising just because I lived in the village where the primary school and preschool was. Um so you end up getting more involved, getting people to volunteer and things.

Yeah, yeah. And was there anything about it that you liked in particular?

Um I I joined, I think, just to meet different people and also to give something back to the school and realise that primary schools need extras, which you can only help providing through fundraising.

Yeah, that's very true. And was that the same for you, Lynn?

Yeah, it was. I mean, my main involvement was organising what was called the summer fair and barbecue at the time. Ah, okay. And it was the last day of term. Yeah. Wow, the last day of term. It was the last day of term, and everybody stayed on, and uh it was just a really nice end to the term, you know. Um, and there were stalls and barbecue and all sorts of things, and it was uh good, good fun. Yeah, it sounds like good fun. Uh yes, it does. I mean that there were things like staff pupil football matches which got stopped. Oh, did there were quite quite a few broken toes and things, but it was very good fun at the time.

From the staff members or the children.

Staff members falling on children and staff being tripped up and twisted ankles, so it was uh but it was quite good fun to watch. I wouldn't recommend that, really. Probably not now, no. Or we'd have to do a big risk assessment. A little bit of risk assessment and health and safety involved there, yeah, definitely.

Fantastic. Okay. So on the podcast today, we're going to talk about an event that's been in our village for many, many years. I'm not sure how long it's been going on. Do either of you know how long it's been going on in our village?

Well, I've been in the village since the 80s and it's it's been around since then. Wow, so not not on a uh an annual basis, but it's certainly there certainly have been progressive suppers.

Yeah, oh gosh, okay. So it is definitely firmly ingrained in our village, isn't it? And uh as I said before, I think you between you, you've certainly organised your fair share of progressive suppers. Susan, how many do you think you've organised?

I started back in 2011, so I think I've probably done something like 11 or 12.

Right.

Um and if I haven't been directly organising them, I've hosted for a couple that other people have organised, so I've helped along the way.

So you basically said yes every time since 2011. I think in the village it's very hard to say no for it. I think you're absolutely right, yes. And same for you, Lynn.

Yeah, well, not as many as Susan. Oh I must sort of come lately, and I think I've done five. So um, and I did do one a long time ago, but that was actually raising money for Romania. So because I was working out there at the time.

So yeah. But even organising five, you must have picked up quite a lot of helpful tips, which hopefully we're going to get into later.

Absolutely, absolutely.

Because organising an event more than once, you can really improve it quite a lot. Yeah, make it streamline it quite bigger.

You know, we've we've got some pro formers for things now, and I tend to do all the paperwork so Susan sends it over to me and I print it off. And you know, we just change the dates and the venues and uh away to go. So once once you've got the formats in place, then it's uh it's a lot easier, isn't it?

And obviously a lot of people in the village have been on the Progressive Supper, so quite a lot of people understand already what it is, don't they? So for anybody that doesn't know, would you like to explain or could you explain in a nutshell what it is? It is.

Um, it's a village community event where people pay for a ticket price, and that allows them to go to a certain house for a starter, and then they move to another house for a main course, and then all of the people attending the Progressive Supper congregate in either the village hall or the village club or a local central location for desserts and buy more wine and meet each other and meet up after their night out, and it's all raising money for a good cause.

Yeah, and that's the key thing, isn't it? It's called progressive because it kind of progresses around the village or around the area that you're in, and I think it did have another name, didn't it? Sometime it's known as a safari supper.

Safari supper, yeah.

Yeah, and everybody basically gets all mixed up, don't they? So you could have a group at somebody's house for a starter, but then that group is split up and they all go off to different houses for the main course, and it's only at the end that everybody gets together.

That's right. And I think the good thing is as well, is that it mixes up generations. I mean the latest one we did, the youngest person was 19, and I think the oldest was 94.

94, exactly. And we do try and make sure that we mix up the generations and everyone goes to goes to their next house with different people than they were with in their first house. Yeah.

Which is so lovely because you can meet so many people in one evening that you've never met before. Absolutely, yes.

And particularly when people are working, so they're not sort of around in the daytime. You know, you get to meet lots of different people.

Yeah, and that's the beauty of the Progressive Supper, isn't it? It's really it really brings the community together and mixes everybody up, so you're talking to different people that you haven't met before, and you're raising money for a local charity. So it takes lots of good boxes, doesn't it?

Yeah.

So um it's a pretty big event. So where would you say the best place to start with is for for getting the ball rolling and getting it all started?

I think um to start with you um need to work out what you're raising money for. So obviously with the PTA you'll be raising money for PTA funds. Um you then need to think uh who will possibly want to host a starter or a main course in the village or community that you're doing the event in, because it does mean that people have to open their houses to people they don't know and also cook for people they don't know, so they have to be comfortable doing that. Yeah. Um and until you work out how many hosts you've got, you can't really work out how many people can come on the Progressive Supper.

Yeah.

Um so usually we aim to try and get 10 to 12 people hosting starter courses and 10 to 12 people hoping hosting main courses, and ideally try and get enough participants to have enough people between 80 and 100 sort of participating, really, is the aim. Yeah, because then you can raise a lot of money, which is great.

So each host um also has to say how many people they can accommodate in their well round their table, don't they? Including themselves, including themselves. Yeah. So what kind of numbers do people go for on that?

Well, some people do six, and then we've got some people that'll do twelve, fourteen for starters. Yeah, wow, okay. So it just depends how confident the person feels. And yes, you do find that some people will start off going, I'll have six, yeah, and then if it goes all right the next time we do it, they'll they'll have a few more, you know. So um yeah.

Yeah. And what's what's your strategy for getting people to say yes to being a host? Because I imagine that is one of the hardest parts of the organisation.

I think it is Susan's got a good set of thumb screws.

I just approach everyone with a smile and politely ask them. But um, but basically, I think because in this village, some of the older generations have been hosting it for years and joining in, yeah, and they want to give something back which is absolutely fantastic. Also, we find with some of the younger hosts that we've now got on board, they've attended Village Progressive Suppers over the years, really, really enjoyed it, and also worked out that actually it's fairly straightforward hosting and having people around, and no one minds, it's just such a fun evening. No one really minds if it goes pear-shaped, um, everyone just carries on. Yeah, um, so it's really good fun. So I think um we've managed to uh convince people that it's a lovely idea to host and be part of a fantastic evening. Yeah.

So I think that's how Adrian and I started hosting because we came on a couple of progressive suppers, not knowing anything about it. And the first time we went, we were so blown away with how much fun we had and and who we met and and everything, and and then because you then really understand what it is, and then we felt able to say yes to being a host um another time, so it was was really helpful to go on it first and then see. But obviously, if you're organising it as a PTO for the first time, people might not have had that experience. So I guess you'll just have to be smiley and friendly and and twist people's arms. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So the so once you've got some hosts on board, um the the numbers of people that they can accommodate then dictates how many tickets you can sell, doesn't it? Yes, that's right.

So we sort of work out how many um people everyone's going to host for, and then you obviously have to balance how many people can host for starters with how many people can host mains because you've got to get the same number. Yes, so we sometimes have to swap people around, or Lynn and I often end up doing whatever course we need to do to fit in with the numbers. Okay, okay. And we often end up going from our eights to tens to elevens back down to nines because extra stool from the other room sort of thing.

So we're quite accommodating over the years I've worked out. But uh because we have to be really you know, so and um and people uh have preferences as to whether they would like to do a starter or a main course or you know, so is what is the preference?

Do you do most people go for one of the well I think they change actually, yes.

Generally they do go for one or the other, but um people often think oh starters is great um because then it's over and done with.

Yeah.

But but also you have to do your starter and run off to the next course, or if you're doing a main course, then um you know you can't concentrate on the starter and you've got to go and get you know, but if you've got your main course, then you can just enjoy having everybody there. So people have got different preferences for different reasons, really. So it's uh but it's it all it all works out in the end, isn't it?

Yeah, and I think everybody on who's on the Progressive Supper understands if somebody has to dash off.

Oh, totally, absolutely. Oh but you souffle's, you know, don't worry, off you go, you know, it's it's fine.

I think it's all part of fun of the evening, isn't it? It is, yeah. And holding in a community like ours in our village, the fun part of the evening is we try and get people to go from one end of the village to the other end of the village for their various courses, and then you see everyone crossing over in the village and they all know that they're all on the same event.

So then people are all waving at each other, oh, where are you going? You know, it's like yeah.

And it is, and that's what makes it such a great event as well, because if you are um at a if you are taking part and you go to someone's house that you don't know and you're sat with people that you just don't know, there's so much about the Progressive Supper that you can talk about, which kind of helps to break the ice, doesn't it? And then you get to the show.

And then you talk about where you've been or where you're going to, and yeah, no, exactly. So that helps break the ice a bit, really. Yeah. Very much so.

The nice thing you find as well is that people that have never met each other before who've met at these various starters and main courses, then you you look around the village hall where everyone's meeting afterwards for desserts, and they're all talking together, which is actually really, really nice to see. That yeah, it it is lovely.

I mean, you can take a little moment and step back and just look and just think, Oh, lovely, you know, everybody's mixed up and talking, and yeah, yeah, you know.

Yeah, and I remember from from when we first took part, um, you know, we met quite a lot of people that we didn't know, and then we're able to say hi to them when we see them in the village or other village things, and it just you know helps you get to know your neighbours, doesn't it? Really? Which is really great. So um, so once you got so just sort of rolling it back a little bit, our progressive suffer is generally um sort of in the winter time, isn't it? January, February time. Yeah. Um so when would you start finding the hosts? When do you do that part?

We aim for about six months beforehand, don't we? About September when we start thinking about it just because it needs to be a date in everyone's diary to get everyone able to be there. And that's why it's ended up traditionally being in the winter months because we did one year try and start to do one in September because we thought it would be nice and sociable and people could have pins and yeah barbecues outside, but actually we found that most of the hosts, um, especially the older generation, were away, understandably.

So it's ended up being and then March time because it's not quite so awful. Yeah. Well, I don't think we've ever had snow, have we?

But we've uh I think we've had it once I did with the um actually funnily enough with the first preschool one we did. Right. And that was at the end of January, so I think we did have snow. Right. But we still carried on with our snow. But you know, it's magical.

Have a snowball fight halfway around. Absolutely.

Yeah.

But it it is great to have um a winter-based event though, isn't it? Because I guess it is all inside, so you don't actually have to worry about the weather. So if you are looking for an event in the winter, then this is an easy one to do, isn't it? Yeah. Okay. So you've got your hosts back in September, you've got six months to go. When do you start selling tickets or opening up the ticket sales to the rest of the village?

We don't usually start selling tickets until about January time. We sort of leave it to six, eight weeks before the event to sell the tickets, and we sort of um in a way try and build up a little bit of hype to get people interested by advertising it in the local village newsletters.

Yes, and and you we use social media a lot more than we do now as well. So we've got the village Facebook page and we use that quite a lot. Um we're always using limited tickets, all of that. Yes, oh yes, even though we've only sold two, we still say better get it put, you know. Letting out the secrets. That's fine. Just just building up a hype, really, isn't it?

But it's such a popular event that you do find that tickets do sell out quite fast. I was gonna say, I don't think you've ever struggled to sell tickets. We haven't, I don't know.

We've certainly never had any left over. No, no.

We sell our tickets in the village shop, so we don't really want to be selling them for months and months on end and put extra pressure on the shop volunteers. Right. But by just doing a short, sharp period of sale for six to eight weeks, um, it seems to work.

And one of the things is that the hosts all buy tickets as well. So it's not just the people attending. Yes. It's everybody buys the tickets.

Yeah, because they've got to be included in the numbers, haven't they?

Because they do go to a start or remain, of course. So what we do have to do is we now have two separate lists of ticket sales, um, because you have all of the host tickets that they have to come and pay for, and then you have general ticket sales where you have to include and write down everyone's information, so their name, um, contact details like their phone number or email address and their dietary requirements.

Yeah, because of course it's not just as simple as just selling a ticket to someone, you have to get all those details because then you have to plan where they're actually going to go, don't you? And then give them their itinerary if you like. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, great. Um so you've got your hosts, you have got your tickets for sale, you're gathering your um attendees. Um oh, could you just tell me about the tickets for the desserts? Because we haven't mentioned the desserts part, because that's a separate that could be a separate ticket, couldn't it, for the desserts.

Yeah, so I mean that that's just but a way of adding a bit of extra money, really, because a lot of people are quite interested, but may not come to the the two previous courses, but but for an additional amount, I don't know how much did we pay five of this five pounds this year? Yeah, um, you can come and have a glass of wine and a dessert. Yeah. And then you're still part of it and meet everybody. So if you're a bit of a nervous attendee, not sure about going to people's houses, yeah. You can still be part of it at the end, really. So um that's we've only added that on in the last couple of years, haven't we? Um and that was a year that we only had a limited number of hosts, we didn't have any more big tickets. Okay. We could put out more tickets for people to come and uh enjoy the desserts.

And are those tickets popular?

Reasonably so, yes, yeah. I mean we probably sold ten this year, so yeah. So it's um it's all an extra bit of money. That's a great idea. And not massive effort really. Yeah, it's um yeah.

So basically people can have their own dinner at home and then still join in, come down to the club also.

For any reason if they're working late or they've got to take their kids somewhere to a club, yeah, you know, but you can get back by nine o'clock we normally gather.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

So you're finding people to volunteer to host to cook a starter or a main course, but you also need to find people to make desserts, don't you?

We do. Um, and what we try and do is because um Lynn and I organise the Progressive Suppers in the village, we organise them for various different causes. Um we try and get someone involved from whoever wants the um to raise the funds to help us with the desserts. So we ask them to get sort of 10-15 desserts volunteers to be um bring along desserts for the event um and also do cheese and biscuits, which is very popular as well. Very popular, yeah. Yeah.

And so do they do you think they probably approach people but who are perhaps not hosting? It's another way for somebody to get involved, isn't it? Yes, that's right.

Yeah, very much so. Yeah.

And I have to say that the dessert table at the Progressive Supper is my favourite part of the Progressive Supper. It's my idea of heaven. I think you're not alone in that.

I know exactly. And I think I think what's good as well is that when you've been everywhere and you come back and then you've got this huge table laid out with all the I mean, it can look lovely and we it does you know, make an effort to put flowers and things on it and all that.

You do dress it extremely well.

So it has a bit of a wow factor when you do that, you know. So yeah.

So j just for the listeners, what happens at the uh the village club or the village hall at the end of the Progressive Supper is everybody goes there and there is a huge table or a couple of tables with tablecloths on and they're full of desserts and plates of cheese and biscuits, um, and you can just help yourself to anything. And so there's cakes, there's trifles, there's mousses, there's everything you could think of, and you can go along and just take a little bit of a few different ones you want to try, or a big piece of your favourite thing, and everything's labelled, isn't it? So you know exactly what it is, and um it's it's quite uh an amazing array, and there's always just such a huge variety of stuff, isn't there? It's it's really great. Yes, my favourite part.

Yes, was getting that value.

In fact, it's my favourite part so much that I have to be a bit careful how much I eat at the main course just to make sure I'm gonna be able to do it. Because I would hate to get them and not be able to have anything at all, or be too busy talking to other people. Yeah, but that is the problem, yeah. That is the problem, yeah. So another part of it, which I assume is quite difficult, is once you have your list of hosts and then your list of attendees, is trying to decide who's going to go where. So, how exactly does that part happen?

That usually happens over a few hours with a bottle of wine. Yeah. Um, and we bottle of wine? Yes, sorry. And we um just try and look at who's coming, and as we said previously, we try and mix up everyone in the community. So we try and mix up young and old, and also because we've been doing it for so many years together as well, we've got lists of who's been with who for previous progressive supplements. Oh wow. So we do try and mix people up.

Yes, yeah. And we take note if we've had feedback from previous years about things as well. We do, yeah. And also you've got dietary considerations as well. Yes, yes. Um, people with lactose intolerance and gluten-free, that sort of thing.

Yeah.

Um vegetari now interestingly, vegetarians used to cause such a kerfuffle. It is 10, 15 years ago, we don't even bat an eyelid now, you know. It's just it's incorporated. So um, and there are m many hosts that are quite happy to accommodate those things. Absolutely. But but there are also be people who feel not confident if they're going to have a true celiac with them, you know. So um so we have people we know now that are happy to to host those sort of courses, really. So it does take a wee while it does take a week.

And also we want to make sure that everyone that's going and attending has a fun night as well. So we want to make sure that they're with a nice mix of people that they might know to their or for one of their courses and then they see some other people they know. So um they know somebody, they're not going into somewhere where it's completely new.

So yeah, and I mean I guess you know, mums and dads at school they sort of know each other a bit anyway, weren't they?

Yes, I suppose it depends on the size of school because y in a way you can you can not know that many other parents sometimes, can't you? I suppose it depends. You might know the parents of children in your kids' class, but then outside of that you might not. And especially in other years. I imagine at a bigger school in parents in other years, you probably just don't see them or talk to them. So, yeah, that would be a great way of really mixing things up.

You could find if um you were a little apprehensive about going, you could instead of just going around in a couple, you could do four friends or you could do two couples together, which might make it easy for some people, especially initially on the first one if they're trying this.

Yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah, because most of the time I think people do go in couples, don't they? Tend to, yes. Um or two friends together. Two friends, yeah. Um so that then at least you have someone that you know with you all the time, don't you?

Absolutely. From an organizer's point of view, it is quite easy to organise with people in twos, whereas with bigger numbers it is harder to accommodate people in certain situations.

Yes, yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah. And so with the sort of dietary requirements, because you don't actually tell the hosts what to cook, do you? Everybody has a free choice on what they make. So, how is there quite a lot of toing and froing between you with the list of dietary requirements and then going to the host and seeing if they can accommodate that?

We usually have a chat with the hosts initially, sort of six months previously, and just say, Would you be okay doing vegetarians? Or would you be happy doing celiacs or dairy-free? Um, and also from previous uh information, we know which hosts are happy to do things. And sometimes some people say I'll happily do vegetarians and a main course when when it comes to it. So we have a fair idea beforehand, and then we just confirm obviously before we let the hosts know who's coming, we just let them know it's like are you still okay doing vegetarians? Yeah, so we just check that near the time as well.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, because I can imagine for some people going for out for a meal, because that's what it is, isn't it? Going out for a meal and not knowing what you're going to eat, because we don't know, do we? As a guest, we don't know, we only know which house we're going to, but we don't know what's on the menu. Um, and sometimes people give you a couple of choices um and sometimes they don't, it's just one thing. So I imagine for some people that would be quite daunting. But then I guess this is all about stepping out of your comfort zone a little bit, isn't it? Meeting new people, trying new things. Um, have you ever had any feedback at all over the years of somebody who like hasn't been able to eat what their host has provided? Have there been any difficult situations like that before?

I can't think of anyone being anywhere that hasn't been able to eat what they've been given because say someone doesn't like fish, that's normally recorded on the um preferences as well. So and you do find actually interestingly that people do say what they don't like. So we do get things like no curry, please, or don't like peppers.

Or don't like peppers, or you know, yeah. Yeah, so we we do get a vast amount of information sometimes to deal with. All the things they don't like and don't want, yeah.

So the hosts are usually well briefed. Okay. Yeah, yeah.

And uh in actual practice, most hosts do a uh selection of things for starters, and then there's usually two choices remained.

I did um I did mainsition, I think I did a beef burign on in a chicken dish, yeah, knowing that that would possibly cover 100% of people. Yeah, I didn't have any vegetarians, but okay, yeah.

Main coast is usually heavily casserole-based. Yes. I have to say it's easy to do. Just because you can leave it in the oven in the middle of it.

Exactly, yeah, yeah. No, I think there was one person who actually came to our house for a starter and she was cooking steak and chips, like a steak dinner.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Which I thought was which I thought was really brave because um that's cooking it right then and there with people in the house, isn't it? Rather than the casserole that you just sort of reheat and dish out. Yeah, I thought that was very brave.

I actually went to that house and it was lovely. Was it?

I think it was very successful, yeah. Yeah, no, that sounded really good. But yes, when we um so we did we've done the starters and we did a main course one year and and yeah, we picked for the main course something that we could prepare during the day and then just leave ready to get reheated with all the vegetables like reheated. And I think that is the easiest way of doing that, isn't it? And when we've done starters, we've done again something that you can prepare and during the day and kind of leave ready in the fridge or something. to just make it easier. And then and then as the host you can relax a bit more, can't you? And and join in the chat yeah.

Well that's right. And I mean the starter course I always think is is quite important because it's the beginning of the journey for everybody. You know, so we tend to sort of um give a glass of fizz if somebody would like one when they start and you know um just just get people in the mood really. Yeah. Yeah.

So shall we talk about the drinks? Because that's another side to it isn't it? So you provide all the hosts with um bottles of wine and fizz and soft drinks. Yeah. And you also um provide a price list, don't you? Because we have to as hosts we sell the drinks to the guests. So could you just tell us how that works please?

Yeah what we do is um dependent on how many people are coming on the Progressive Supper we buy wine to sell and um what we try and do is obviously buy the wine at the cheapest possible price. And we usually try and sell it at about £12. So if we buy wines between six and eight pounds per bottle we're making between six and eight pound uh six and four pounds profit. So we obviously try and um make as much profit as possible for the charity. We buy aim to buy enough bottles of wine that when people go to their starter course they have a choice of white or red per couple to give a bit of variety and obviously you don't know what wine people would like to drink. So you have to overbuy wine in a way.

Okay.

And then what you do is the wine that is at the starter house, people buy their bottles of wine or glasses of wine they then take whatever's left with them to their next house and we then logistically work out where the wine from the starter house will move to the next house for the main course and who will take it there. And then that wine eventually moves back whatever's left to the end point where desserts are and gets sold to everyone else that's there. So say you've got 80 people going on a progressive supper we aim for somewhere near 80 bottles of wine just to overbuy and allow a bottle per person to allow for choice.

Yes yeah yeah and then is there because there's there was a bottle of proseco or some sort of fizzy wine wasn't there is that in addition to those 80 bottles so we tend to buy say if we've got 10 starter houses we'll buy 10 bottles of Fizz.

Right. Give one to every starter house and ask them if they'd like to try and sell that as well either per glass or you sometimes find the starter house hosts by the bottle in as Lynn was saying and then on a glass when they arrive just to break the ice.

Yeah which is really nice.

And then there's also a bottle of some sort of soft drink absolutely yes bottle green soft soft drinks don't we've had some pellegrino in the past you know just depends really what's what's around and we actually find we'd sell more than we did didn't we soft drinks.

We did yes yeah we did this year actually you do find more people are not drinking alcohol yeah yeah well at least there's not drinking as much alcohol yes yes but I guess there's more non-alcoholic options around now which is going to be helpful yes and so do you where do you go to buy your wine and anyway and we can get our hands on cheap alcohol I mean historically in the past we've we've had very good deals with Majestic and but they've changed their terms of engagement there.

They have we used to buy everything for Majestic because they had a sale and return policy. Oh I was going to ask you about that yeah so we could overbuy the wine and even if we only sold 40 bottles we could take the other 40 bottles from the 80 back.

Yeah.

Unfortunately Majestic have changed their policy and you can only take up to 25% of the amount purchased back.

Right.

Which meant that we felt we couldn't overbuy this year from Majestic. We actually started buying wine November time from supermarket Christmas deals. Oh so we did get hence why we got some bottles of wine for six pounds.

Yeah and they do all the deals with six bottles of 25% off that sort of thing.

So that was uh I did have a lot of wine in my garage for quite a few seasons.

And she managed she managed to keep it there as well.

It would have been a very useful place to burgle so did you end up with a lot left over this time? We didn't end up with too much actually we probably had about 10-15 bottles. Oh that's pretty good isn't it considering the the numbers you're ordering we were quite careful and we did sell off wine at the end as well for slightly more um than it was worth but just a tiny bit of profit we made from that.

Yeah.

But what we um did was because the charity that we're raising money for this year was the church they're having other events in the autumn so they were happy with the leftover wine to use for future fundraising events. So they bought they buy the wine from their funds because I guess then the money goes back into that account yeah yeah and do the hosts get any um financial contribution to actually making their meals they can do previously historically we used to um charge the ticket price they say this year the ticket price was £20 for a three course meal we would give um three pounds per course back to the hosts um and we would automatically previously years ago just give them if they had 10 people coming we give them £30 expenses right over the years we found that people hosts were very kindly saying oh no you know have that towards the charity so we don't actually give the money back automatically especially because people are buy buying things with cards and we don't have as much cash around to dish out. And we have the idea that if people want to claim expenses they just come and see us and we obviously give them money towards the cost because we understand that obviously cost of living is going up as well.

Yeah of course yeah and if you're doing a progressive supper meal sometimes you might want to do something a bit more fancy and because it's an evening event and also it can add up you know if you're buying a ticket and you're doing the food and you know it's um it's fair enough to have the expenses really absolutely I I would probably think uh starting out you would want to uh very obviously offer expenses really I think you would encourage people to join absolutely that would encourage people to join that there would be and you'd have to work out what that ratio would be.

I think we we gave back this year three pounds ahead for starters or mains. Previously I think I remember doing something like one pound fifty ahead for starters and two pound fifty ahead for mains so there was a price difference between the two. Yeah but because we know in the village that not many people do claim back expenses now we just stuck it yeah just made it easier.

But I think when you're starting out you would need to offer that you know and and then you get a a head of steam up if you like as the years go by and it becomes a kind of you know yeah yeah and then once people realise that obviously any money raised goes to the PTA or whichever charity it is then by not claiming the expenses more money goes into the park. Then you know hopefully people might reconsider or might be generous enough to to not claim their expenses. Yeah. Right so the ticket price is £20 per person that's what we've charged. It was this year and then the dessert only ticket is five pounds per person. And that includes a glass of wine did you say or it gives them the opportunity to buy wine. Right okay so all sorry all the wine ends up at the dessert area doesn't it and the soft drinks and the soft drinks and the soft drinks set up a bar.

A pop-up bar down there yeah because um if you're running this event in a village hall you'll need to consider buying a bar licence as well and applying to the council for that yeah so do you know do you know when whenabouts you do that or do you have one that runs every year?

No I think you do an individual one per eventual yes I was going to say individual one per eventually beforehand isn't it? Oh yeah no I usually do it about six six weeks beforehand oh okay just make six weeks per month yeah yeah yeah just to make sure it's all right and uh yes how slowly or quickly the council is moving in their paperwork. I think they usually cost about twenty five pounds yes about twenty five pounds yeah yeah um but because the last two years we've done it in a in the village club which already has a licence we've not had to do that so oh so that's saved a bit of money hasn't yet yeah and the village club is actually really well um sort of laid out for the progressive supper because there's it's got a back room where you put the desserts and then a front room where people get drinks and socialise.

So it does actually work the layout of that particular place works really well.

It also means that the club makes some money out of it as well because if people don't want to buy wine or soft drinks from us they can go and buy beer or gin or whatever they fancy behind the bar as well.

Yeah yeah perfect yeah and it's also kind of in the well not really in the middle of the village but it's not towards one end which the village hall is more towards the end isn't it which works really well.

So what about the timings on the night how how uh does it all work on the night we've all gone silent I think we start at seven I think we start at seven didn't we yes we start at seven seven for starters and then try and get everybody to their mains for eight okay or thereabouts and then uh eight o'clock to nine o'clock is mains and then aim to get people and I'm saying aim to get people back to the venue where we're all meeting up for nine o'clock. Yeah but um people struggle in somewhere between nine and nine thirty. And ten and ten during that so you know um yeah so I mean the starters really you try not to be too delayed because you you know you want to want to get there. So but um yeah so it's seven till eight for starters eight till nine for the mains and then back to the hall after that so yeah it seems to work okay it does work yeah it does work I think the timing's really good actually because that with the starter because the starter's not it doesn't take as long to eat obviously because it's a small amount of food there's more kind of chatting and arriving and then in fact when we when we hosted this year we had people arriving we were chatting and then we're thinking oh we're not quite sure what time we should sit down and eat the starter because we didn't want to then rush the starter um but also not have eaten and then there'd be loads of time left over you know before going to the main course.

Now what do we do? So um so it was interesting it wasn't stressful it was just interesting trying to think through you know when when exactly we should do that and then obviously people do start leaving their starters from sort of course to eight onwards don't they? Yeah yeah um especially those who've got to prepare their main and then everybody else who just has to get to the other place where they've got to go.

And our village isn't small is it's it's large if you it's quite a way to walk between one end to the other end especially because we have a few outlier houses at either end of the village which normally do starters as well.

Yeah we do try and help um the mains host by placing them for starter houses near to their house so they only have to run round the corner really yeah so yeah in fact one person could nip back that's right there it just about just to check that nothing was burning yes that's right if you end up leaving the husband behind behind drinking stuff with the starter course and then turning up with everyone else that's right but what is really nice about those timings because they're the same for everybody like you said before Susan you end up about 10 to 8 with everybody walking up and down the village who's just on their starters and it's really nice to see everyone even if you don't speak to them because you're trying to find the house you're going to next it's just nice to know that there's lots of people doing the same thing and it's a real community feel isn't it and then so with the drinks um one of the things which is also really good is that you can sell as a host you can sell the whole bottle of wine can't you to your um guests and then they can take that with them on the rest of the Progressive Supper so you're not pouring loads of glasses normally people do just tend to buy the whole bottle we encourage people to buy the bottle and it is easier. Yeah yeah and in fact I think Adrian and I bought one white and one red because I wanted to drink white and he wanted to drink red.

I think that works perfectly so that's why you have to have a right that's right I know lots of wine available example so with the wine it sounds like you have one sort of um logistics plan for all the people and then you have a logistics plan for the wine yeah oh my gosh let me see that sheet again Susan we do have it we have a good we have a sheet which basically says that the wine from so and so's house is going to be taken by so and so guests to someone else's house. Wow but then you obviously all have to make sure that every house ends up with some wine from another house so that is as much a logistical nightmare as the arranging where everyone goes isn't it Lynn?

Yeah it is really just to make sure that it all ends up in the right place really it's also a little bit stressful when you send out 900 pounds worth of alcohol into the village and you have one bottle left again and just hope that it's all going to come back you know but somehow it always does doesn't it yeah it turns we might we might have the odd bottle of wine left in someone's fridge that eventually comes back a week later.

Yeah um but usually it all works out and as we were saying we sometimes sometimes people buy wine by the glass so you have a few half drunk bottles of wine ending up at the village hall and then we try and sell those for people just buying wine or we just sell them at the end for half price and things. So we try and make as much money as possible.

Yeah yeah so the hosts with the wine they have to have uh means of taking payment for drinks don't they?

They do we usually ask it to be cash only at houses um and what we tend to do is suggest that um say I was hosting and I would buy a bottle of white I would if we're charging £12 for bottle I would get £12 worth of one pound coins and that would be my float and I would buy the wine that way.

Yeah and then they bring the money the money kind of travels with the wine doesn't it and eventually gets back to the desserts yeah yeah so you're gathering all the money in on the night which which is really good because you've got you're gonna have it nice and safe.

Yes so we usually end up with a big bucket yeah and every host comes with whatever profit they've made from the wine whatever money they've made and dump in the bucket yeah and then lately because of most people being able to pay for things and wanting to pay things on their card we have managed to get a sum-up machine from various charities that we've been organising for.

So we've used that in the club right okay yeah so people can buy a lot more when they've run out of their cash at the uh at the other course and we we had to make a a real statement about bring cash yeah to the start house because so many people aren't don't have cash but that is the best way for us to do that.

Yeah it is the easiest way and we do remind everyone on that when we send out an email saying where they're going or a text message we sort of give a list of reminders yeah so we do remind them that they need cash.

Yeah no people do need reminding several times don't they? Yes you're absolutely right yeah so if you sign up to be a host you choose whether to do a starter or main course you say how many people you can accommodate then nearer the time um when when do you deliver the wine to the hosts when when does that I imagine in the last week we do we try and do it towards the beginning of the last week we also try and work out who's going where if possible sort of a week and a half two weeks beforehand so we can give the hosts as much information and as much time to sort of work out what they want to cook and who's coming beforehand.

But and we usually try and get the wine in the last week to give to them a few days beforehand. Yeah we also we've been using Majestic over the years because um when we go to the final venue for desserts we need to supply wine glasses. So we find that Majestic do free wine glass hire. Ah right whereas years ago major supermarkets used to do it but they they've all stopped it now.

Oh okay so that's where you get your wine glasses. That's right yeah so hence why we tend to use someone like Majestic yeah yeah so it sounds like as the organisers the the last week or the last week and a half is a really busy time for you guys.

It is yes yeah it is yeah yeah and the other thing that we do is is they have a list the starter house has a list of where everybody else is going next as well. Okay.

Yeah so we we let them know so if if someone um forgets where they're going next the start the starter house can let them know where they're onto next there for them. Yeah yeah so it's a lot of um logistics and also it's a lot of paperwork to produce really but it it works it flows and it works we've been doing it for so long that we've got it got it down to a T we have got it down to a T and I mean if you were starting out you wouldn't necessarily have to be thinking about a hundred people.

No you could have a little group of forty or something and just try it out and see how it went yeah that's a great idea or even just get a group of friends together and do a little trial run.

Between four houses um yeah that's a really good idea to to then get the feel of what it's like absolutely yeah yeah so in terms of the paperwork um I've got on the table next to me the information the price list um that we were sent because we were hosts so could you just tell us what you actually provide as information to the people taking part?

We um provide hosts with a letter saying who's coming to them and also the timings of the event so they know what's going on. Also a price list and asking them to sell the wine and provide a float. Yeah. I think that's probably it is a chance that's probably it yeah yeah and obviously any dietary requirements to only if they're guests yeah just as a reminder.

Yeah and that'll that'll be paperwork that'll be held in the shop so there's a a form there so when you buy your ticket it's all cross related you know the tickets are numbered and they're so we know who's what and where and then on that form they they give us some form that we can communicate with them either by phone or by email is easiest for us. Yeah.

And then any dietary requirements that they have or special requirements double check like house it is and obviously the things they don't like. Yes I think we've been quite lucky because the people that have come to ours over the years I don't think have had any things they don't like or dietary requirements so that's been helpful that we can just you know go for whatever we we want to give them anyway. Absolutely I have to say the quality of the food that people are cooking is so high. That's what we find. Yeah really we've had such good meals and great company and never had bad experience you do find that everyone enjoys it so much they go to such an effort don't they really which is lovely.

It's really really nice.

Yeah it is really nice and and it's so there's something so I don't know heartwarming about it because you're inviting people into your home in the village and I know quite a lot of people also like to take part so they can see in other people's homes with a scrape family nose around yeah so if you have people that might like that experience then yeah they will love it yeah but it is it is nice um because we have a our village is quite old and and one half so just to see inside the lovely old quaint cottages is really lovely isn't it and being all cozy inside on a winter's on a winter's evening and and it's normally on a Saturday isn't it?

Yes we try and do it on a Saturday because I think it's always been on Saturday it gives people the time in the day to the host time to prepare things and also it means that it's a Saturday so it gives Sunday for people to recover as well.

Yes yes yes and the tidying up as well and the tidy up exactly yes so what is the tidying up at the end or after or the day after but it varies really I mean we often people will do all hands to the pump on Saturday night and get a large majority. Triumph the desserts we're on Saturday night and tight. Since we've been in the club they have a dishwashing machine so we've done quite a lot for the colour they have they very kindly wash the glasses for us.

Yeah um and then normally it's just taking down any decorations you know bunting and such like and just picking up the leftover wine and things really and just cleaning the tables and and making sure you return the dishes you know dessert dishes back to people.

But often people will take their dishes with them that night anyway. Yeah so I mean it's about an hour on Sunday. Yeah it's not too bad.

Because I suppose actually you're only tidying up one space aren't you? That's right. Yeah so it's quite straightforward. So what do you do with desserts that haven't been finished? Well they might make their way back to animal house yes to Sunday lunch.

So that's an incentive for people to help on Sunday isn't it an incentive for people to take them home but yes we often find that if people are um there late on Saturday night they might take a few bits home they fancy yeah um or like you said if someone's donated dessert and there's some of it left over they often take it home which is understandable. Yeah perfect yeah and then we I have to say it's not really a problem we have really is it oh is it the dessert tomorrow he's gone or it actually we found last time in the club which was lovely that there were some people in the bar and they came and helped themselves as well and helped meat it up as well. So it was nice and because it's a community event for the community it's nice everyone feels they can join in the city.

Yeah absolutely yeah yeah and the other thing you did as well was a silent auction wasn't it?

We did, yes

Um it wasn't silent.

It wasn't silent. Oh no, sorry, it wasn't silent, just an auction. Just an auction. Yeah. But we we do sort of um whoever comes and asks to raise money and if they want us to help organise the Progressive Supper, we do say that's absolutely fine. And would you like to do an auction as well? Yeah. So we try and encourage someone to run that from um the charity that we're raising money for. Yeah. And ask if they can help try and find some auction prizes. Yeah. Because as you know, these days it's slightly harder to get them than it used to be. It is, yeah.

Yeah. But but we we also sort of augment it with sort of promises from people in the village, you know. So it may be a nice babysitting, it may be a giant pavlova, you know, uh it may be a tap ass meal, you know, those those sort of things, you know. So it doesn't necessarily have to be a a new vacuum cleaner or something like that, you know. Yeah, it's nice to do varieties and it's a few. It's nice to do a variety of things, but it's and it's one that we started fairly recently, wasn't it?

I think we started it when we were doing it for the choir.

When we did it for the choir, yeah. Yeah, and then we raised quite a lot of additional money. We did. Um because the choir were going to sing in New York, so we were having some fun, isn't it? We did. Um yes, but it is it's good, and again it's a sort of event that everybody likes to get involved in. Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, and it's um it's quite good fun, really.

I think we raised over a thousand pounds.

An additional thousand pounds.

Amazing, yeah, which is great. And it is quite nice because obviously that auction happens when everyone's got to the club and everyone's had a few drinks and it's a great. Yeah, it makes what people pay for a hamper from the farm shop.

Yeah.

But it is quite nice because it offers a little focus for that part of the evening as well, doesn't it?

And it gets everyone involved and people like to outbid naturally, so um, it's usually a very good fundraiser.

Yeah, yeah. And that's the charity that organises that, so you guys don't really get involved in that part. We end up getting involved if you can't escape it.

But but over the years, yes, the the model is a lot better if you have somebody from the organization you're raising funds for to sort of head that up, basically, isn't it? Oh, but we do still get involved. We do, yes, yeah. Um, and the same thing as you know, having a coordinator for the desserts as well. So yeah. So But yes, we get involved in that as well. Yes.

We're quite good at knocking out desserts the last minute if necessary, if we need a few more.

So is it just the two of you that organises it? Or are there more?

We've got a couple of other people involved here and there. So Sarah from the village is brilliant at doing social media and advertising. This year we've got Jessica from the church involved as well. Um, but we try and limit it to a degree because it's easier um having fewer people sometimes organising it and then bringing more people in towards the end when we need more help.

Yeah, and then you can give them a sp specific job to do. Yeah, like delivering wine or something that's very can't go wrong, hopefully.

Organising the auction and things like that. That sort of works. So do you I know you've been doing it a really long time, but have you now sort of got specific jobs that that you each know each other's doing, or do you all have to do it? I tend to really, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, Lynn sort of is very good at doing I tend to do everything on the computer and send it to Lynn and she produces all the paperwork at home and you're in charge of sort of the shop selling tickets, really, aren't you? Because you volunteer in the shop. Yeah, okay. I tend to usually contact most of the hosts and you contact a few that you know better than me. Um so between us, I think we've we've worked, we sort of rub along each side and we've got a great teamwork, haven't we? Really? Yeah, that's it.

Yeah, brilliant. So, what do you think are the hardest parts of it to organise? Like for somebody doing it for the first time, what what could they look out for maybe?

I think getting the hosts involved is the hardest thing. Um because you have to convince, especially if it's setting up from scratch, you have to convince someone um how much fun it'll be. Yeah. So how easy it is really to cook for eight people. Yeah. Um but that's quite daunting for some people, understandably. Yeah. So I think that's the hardest bit. Um, and also trying to coordinate um sort of who goes where, really, because you want everyone that's paying money to come along to an event to have a really nice time. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. I mean, with with with something like the PTA, you would you would just have to do it according to the names on the page, really. I mean, we we're in a slightly different position that we know 90% of the people. Yeah, you know, we don't know them all, but we know most of them and who they are and where they live in the village. Whereas in the with the PTA that wouldn't necessarily be the case, you know. So um and that was what I was saying earlier, it might benefit you to start off doing a mini one, a little one, just to see how it worked, really. And uh you know, um and then people could be cooking for four or six or you know, not large, large numbers of people really. So um but it is it's getting the host, isn't it?

Yeah.

Um which would be in setting up that would be the most difficult thing. I mean it's um obviously people have done it that often in the village now they're not they're not too bothered by it, are they?

Judging the um amount of wine you need as well, it's I would say is getting harder actually, because of the fact that we can't do as much sell and return as we used to do.

And people's drinking habits are changing quite significantly as well.

So that's quite hard. We don't want to waste money by over buying wine and having lots left over, yeah, and then finding that the cause that we're raising money for can't use that alcohol. Um so I'd say that was the tricky part.

Yeah I don't think there's any way around that really.

No.

Now I suppose the only the only saving grace on that could be if you're a PTA and you have leftover wine, you could always use it in a raffle or anything else at then or for a fate. Yeah, something left over the settlement bar. So that'll feel hopefully good because it obviously does keep a while, doesn't it? Yeah. And what do you think are the key things to make it su a successful evening?

I think um the fact that everyone that tends to come along is quite relaxed about it and has fun. I think that really helps.

Clear clear communication that people know what they're doing, where they're going and when. Yeah, yeah. People like to be organised if they're not. They like to be organised, they like to know. Yeah, and you need to be accessible as well. So Susan and my numbers are on everything. So that we can be contacted if there are any queries about things.

We also walk around with a master plan of where everyone's meant to be in case anyone phones us to say that they're not where they're meant to be, or a host phones and says they've got something they're not meant to have. Doesn't have to happen. Yeah, and you do find that you were asking us earlier what's what happened in the final week. You do find in the final week that something happens that you might even have an additional host, or you might um even have someone drop out, um, or some so you usually find something happens, yes, but you have to always do.

Or somebody's not well, or somebody's had a long last relative visiting from America and need to join. Yeah, yeah.

So um we have to be fairly flexible. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

So what what do you think are some of the hardest things that you've had to encounter, like as a last-minute problem?

I d I think um I don't think it's been anything too bad. I think we we often get an additional person, don't we? Um which Lynn and I somehow managed to accommodate. Okay, okay. Um I think I went from eleven to nine to ten this year, or within two days. Um which is fine.

Yes.

But we wouldn't put that on any other host. But between us, okay, we usually tend to accommodate um extra.

And and occasionally people have had accidents. Yes. So we've had to change venues for people so that they can get into houses easily or get somewhere that's close to them so they don't have to walk by those sort of things, you know, which you can't can't plan for. No, yeah, that's true. Yeah. Um so you you might have to change who somebody's having at the last minute. So if their house isn't very accessible, yeah, that sort of thing.

And I guess that's where gathering everybody's contact details and providing your contact details is really important, isn't it? So that's right. So that can get sorted out like that.

I think communication is key, really, isn't it?

Absolutely, that is that it's clear, you know. Yeah. And that's true between Susan and myself and anybody else that's volunteering as much as it is for the the hosts that you're communicating with.

Yeah, we tend to have a few meetings that we throughout the six months when we're organising this just to keep things going and always run things by each other in terms of.

Make sure we're clear about what the others have done and what they've not done, and usually what I've not done. Susan can point out what I need to be doing. Well done, Caesar. We have a bad list. Yeah, Susan loves her list and I lose them, obviously, as you find out as well.

I imagine you have a lot of spreadsheets with it.

There are a lot of spreadsheets, yes, yeah, yeah. But but but again, sort of once it's done, it's there. You know, it just copy and paste it. Copy and paste every year, you know. It's um yeah. So it's it's that initial setup is the is the thing to get the paperwork done with it. So maybe we could produce a pack of paperwork. We should do we can sell it, shouldn't we? We could, yeah. Starter paperwork for starters. People recommend wines, can't we really?

There you go.

Yeah, yeah. Well, we're happy to do the quality control then.

And then when we a few days um after the Progressive Supper, we got a lovely um thank you card through the door written from the charity. Because the charity this year was the church, wasn't it? Because they need a new roof. Yes, so as a village, we came together to try and uh raise money for that. And so the members of the church all wrote thank you cards, didn't they? That's really nice.

It was lovely, and that's another thing we do try and um give back to whoever we're raising funds for. We say we're very happy to help organise this, but could they just say thank you to everyone at the end and all the hosts and anyone else involved? Because then, as we think that just means that people would like to get involved again in the future. Absolutely, yeah. And that tends to be a lot of people. And they felt appreciated. Yes, they did. And it's nice to let everyone know a few days later how much money was raised in total, which is great.

While it's fresh in everyone's mind, everybody's always keen to know that. They are yeah, yeah.

So, how much money do you raise from this event?

This year we raised 2,991, I think. Wow, just short of three thousand.

So just short of three, yeah. So I mean we have raised three and a half thousand before now. Yeah.

Wow, wow, really. Yeah. A lot of it depends on the auction. Yeah. Okay. And obviously the wine sales. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's the extra sort of bonus money there, isn't it? Yeah. So we raised about um 1,500 from the ticket sales, didn't we? Okay.

Which was great.

Yeah.

So how so the ticket sale the ticket price uh is £20. How long has it been £20?

We put it up this year. We put it up, oh, I think it was £18.

And then it's been £15. So yes, I still think £20 is very reasonable for three course.

Yeah, well three course home cooked experience. It's an experience, isn't it? Yeah.

But then again, you don't want to charge much more because you want people to feel that they can buy wine and um sort of join in with the auction as well. Yes, absolutely, yeah. To want to make it quite accessible, really, for everyone. Yeah.

Well, I think £20 for an person is good price. Yeah, it's very good, yeah. Yeah, I think a hard push to get one main course now in a restaurant. Yeah. Oh Lynn and Susan, thank you so much for taking the time to talk through how you organise the Progressive Supper. It's a big event to run, but everyone enjoys it so much, and it has I think the bonus of being a great fundraiser as well as a fantastic way to bring a community together. So thank you for sharing all your tips with my listeners. Thank you, pleasure. Wow, I think you could hear from Lynn and Susan that there are quite a few different elements to organise. And I feel like they were so kind to share so much of those details with us because they've been organising it for a few years now. It's invaluable information. It is an event that can give you high returns though, both in terms of fundraising income and in terms of strengthening your parent community. So I feel it's a win-win all round, really. And I really loved Lynn's idea of trialing it first for the small group of people so that you can really get an idea of what it's all about. So if you haven't tried it before, I would really encourage you to get your perhaps your PTA team together plus some extra volunteers and just trial run uh a mini one just so you can see how it would work and how it might particularly work for your school community. I think obviously in my village it's run in the village, so my village is quite small, you can walk from one end of the village to the other in about 15 minutes, 20 minutes. So my village environment lends itself perfectly to a progressive supper like this, but I think there must be some school catchment areas that would also um lend themselves well. So I think if you have an area where people can walk to the different locations or even a very short drive, I know some people, some more elderly people in our village do drive between the houses, um, and that works really well for them. I just feel it's something different to try and it's really fun and a perfect event perhaps for a winter or a spring evening when you don't have to worry about the weather and the whole thing is inside anyway. So uh yeah, do let me know if you have had to go. Drop me an email on hello at ptapodcast.com. I'm going to try and put some photos that my friend took about the of the um desserts table at the Progressive Sub Foundry and try and put those on my website. So if you want to have a look at the vast array of desserts and how beautifully they are laid out on the table, then do go to my website, it's PTApodcast.com. And that's it for this episode. I hope that your PTA plans are running smoothly at the moment. Don't forget to send me any song suggestions for the PTA Podcast Spotify playlist and visit my website where you can sign up to my mailing list to get notified when I release a new episode. That's all for now, so I will speak to you next time. Bye.