The trouble with taking over ever larger spaces is that it takes ever so slightly longer for you to feel confident that you’ll fill them.

As I rattled around The Alliance with a few early arrivals and a couple of helpful stalwarts I began to get that nagging feeling that maybe this was too ambitious. This was a large pub after all. Could we really fill it?

Such concerns evaporated all too quickly as locals started to trickle, then pour in. There was even a queue at one point. A couple of people got lucky as others dropped out at the last minute, and managed to squeeze in to the buzzing room. Mike, landlord at The Alliance, had ensured there were enough staff on hand and his manager Russell did a great job of making sure everything ran smoothly.

Bar staff were kept busy Photo courtesy of Brad

DJ Stoney was plugged into the speakers while Nicky and Brad started working the room selling raffle tickets. Chris and Katie took over for the final push and after the money was all counted up we’d raised £600 for The Winch. That’s a new #whampgather record. Thank you to everyone who bought as many as they could afford and a massive thank you of course to all the businesses that contributed prizes (there’s a full list below). In total, 160 people came along – also a record – many for the first time. I hope we’ll see you all at another whampevent in the not too distant future.

£600 for The Winch Photo courtesy of @Snowyt79

DJ Stoney Photo courtesy of @Snowyt79

Raffle anticipation builds Photo courtesy of @Snowyt79

Louise wins the star prize Photo courtesy of @Snowyt79

For more photos, check out Mark’s complete set on Flickr.

Prize givers
If you ever think that West Hampstead is becoming too full of chains then bear in mind that every business that donated a prize is independent. Here’s the full list of contributors:

Forming the Mill Lane Pamper Hamper (our star prize) we had:
The Kitchen Table
Achillea Flowers
Mill Lane Barbers
Natasha’s Sports Massage
The Private Space
Vini Vivi
Prestige Dry Cleaning
Bake-a-boo
Beauty Blossom

Restaurants and bars that contributed vouchers and meals:
Spiga
The Wet Fish Café
Mill Lane Bistro
Guglee
The Elgin
The Gallery

And other local businesses:
West End Lane Books
Rock Men’s Salon
Gloves Boxing Club
Monsters of Art
Dass Stores
Mistah
Natural Shades