Convention 2009 - November 7 and 8
at the Holiday Inn, London Shepperton
After two years in Gloucester we moved the convention location back within the M25, with the hope that American and European visitors could attend without too much extra travelling. Over 50 members attended for some or all of the weekend and that included a number of international members: ten Americans, a Canadian, two Swiss and two Germans. Three current IPBA Board members came - Marilyn Schnormeier, Deborah Washington and George Stam and we were also pleased to see Past President ElsaBeth Crohn. Photograph Album»
The convention started early for the trans-Atlantic visitors – we had a day trip to Windsor town and a guided tour of the Castle. Having met up with our guide Laura, for the next two hours we were shown the wonders of Windsor Castle. Unfortunately, the Queen wasn’t at home – she was expected to return later that day. The nearest we got was the arrival of her seven corgi dogs.
On Saturday, back at the hotel, a full house in the Old Windsor room listened to five excellent speakers through the day. After an opening welcome by Angie Holmes, Marilyn Schnormeier told members about various initiatives that the IPBA Board is promoting such as Specialty Collector groups and encouraging young collectors.
Our first guest speaker was Simon Brooke who, with the assistance of his wife Amanda told the fascinating story of the origins of the Grossmith brand and how he discovered that he was related to the Grossmith family. After more investigation he was very lucky to find the original formulae books for all of the famous perfumes that Grossmith produced. After buying back the company name he embarked on ambitious plans to re-launch the company with three of its perfumes. This had taken place just a few days before and the perfumes were available in Harrods, Fortnum and Mason and other selected retailers.
After lunch Sara Hughes gave a report on the Fragrance Foundation FiFi award judging and the presentation evening at The Dorchester. Karen Dalmeny, antiques expert and Sara’s friend, then entertained us by talking about behind
the scenes during the making of David “Dickinson’s Real Deal” TV program which she has
appeared in many times. Deborah Washington, IPBA Treasurer, then presented the talk that she and co-author Earline Kopriva gave at the IPBA convention in Albuquerque earlier this year: “De Vigny Golliwogg and Friends”. Deborah outlined the origins and many faces of Golliwogs, including the Robertsons jam jars.
Our final guest speaker was Will Andrews of Proctor and Gamble. Will described the work of the fragrance creation team and he impressed everybody with his deep knowledge and great enthusiasm for the fragrance world. Will illustrated his talk with lots of different smells, some good, some not so good....... but which everybody had a chance to try.
We were joined at the buffet dinner by the Llanelli Scarlets Rugby team which put a few people off their stride...Later Chris auctioned selected items that had been donated to the raffle and raised a considerable amount. The Americans made this a lively event with a more flamboyant approach to showing the items! John and Sheila Bailey put on a smelling/tasting quiz later and severely tested everyone's mental state at the end of a long day! Sale day on Sunday was the usual relaxed but interesting day with dealers doing steady business. The day ended with the drawing of a very large raffle.
Thank You Very Much!
We are once again very indebted to the
members, friends and visitors who generously donated valuable items for the raffle and auction: In particular: Phyllis Dohanian, Ann Fanning at Neiman Marcus (once again!) and Gary
Lucas at Saks Fifth Avenue, all from Boston MA. Will Green generously contributed several factices found during an office clear out and Alison Payne of Auction Atrium.
Also, the goody bags were especially good this year thanks to the efforts of many members who chipped in with interesting and collectable items. (Keep looking for things for next year!)
