The Halloween Monster Mashup came together better than we would have dared hope.
Lovely, amazing party!
Craig (CPR) recorded his set, so we should have that available for download soon!
In case anyone missed it in the forum, there are some people we'd like to thank for their help in making this happen:
We just wanted to say a really big 'Thank you!' to everyone that helped to make Saturday such an amazing night. If I forget anyone, please don't take offence - Everyone's help was really appreciated and we couldn't have done it without you all!
In no particular order:
Lunar - For DJing, providing backdrops, help setting up/spraying and generally being lovely.
Rude Mamma - For DJing (with a broken arm!), loan of backdrops, sound system for afterparty, help setting up and general taxi driving.
Fritzfactor - For DJing, lots of general help and driving.
Sillyfellow - for help setting up and lending us your wife.
Pesh - For your lighting, projection and technical wizardry and help setting up - You're an absolute star mate!
Cindy - For putting up with Pesh and the rest of us weirdos!
Sy - For driving and helping set up.. And putting up with my terrible balloon ettiquete (sorry mate - everytime you gave me one I forgot to wait for everyone else )
Gh0sty - For spending his birthday with us, DJing and generally being a great help.
The Sick Lil Munkeez, Dark Angel, DJ Pod, Mr So Much, Smack Boys (Craig) and Dr. Don for your DJing expertise. The DJs all played GREAT sets. Absolutely brilliant music all night. Big thanks for you all.
John (HK Visuals) - For his video projection and general technical help and advice.
Massage Chris - For ironing out the kinks and spending his birthday with us.
NeedmyIdentity - For loan of decor and help on the door.
Layla, Crazy Diamond(Sammie) & Shimmylicious for help on the door and elsewhere.
Senile Muppet - For Wasp Removal, Wood chopping, general set-up help and assistance.
Honest John - For being honest
PsyKarma - For help setting up and the use of your amazing tent - It really made the afterparty.
Also a big thanks to everyone that turned out - Particularly those that travelled great distances to party with us. You're all amazing, lovely people and you're the ones that made this party so special. We love you all!
[Mood: Happy ] Been stung by your bank? Get ALL your money back - I just did!
Here's what happened:
I was somewhat dismayed to find that my bank (the allegedly 'ethical' smile.co.uk) had stung me with stonking great charges for going over my overdraft limits on my accounts by a minimal amount last month.
I went outside my limit by 95p for 3 days on one account and £4.19 for 4 days on the other. For this they charged me >£70 in punitive and service charges (not counting interest).
I was pretty annoyed to say the least.
I did some research this morning and discovered that punitive bank charges and excessive service charges are actually unlawful. Basically your bank is not allowed to make money from such charges - They are only allowed to cover their costs.
I had a long chat this morning with 'Consumer Direct' an advisory service attached to the office of fair trading:
http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/
and also checked out some relevant sites. This one was particularly good:
http://www.govanlc.com/bankcharges.html
(they are based in Scotland, but also cover English law)
Basically as I say above - the law states that banks are not allowed to make profit from charges. Their profits can only come from the interest they charge you. Service charges can only cover the actual cost that the bank incurs from sending you a letter or whatever and cannot be any higher than that. Punitive charges are totally unlawful and not permitted at all.
Consumer direct advised me that I had the legal right to take my bank to court over these charges, but that it would never get this far as the bank knows they would lose and would incur costs (and possibly even lose their license with the FSA).
There are draft letters available on the govanlc site that you basically just have to fill in the blanks on and send off, but I never even had to get this far.
I called my bank this morning and explained that I had checked my rights and that they had no legal right to take that money. They said that as I had signed a contract stating that I accepted these charges, they could. THIS IS NOT TRUE. Under common law the court will ignore any clauses in a contract that it deems to be 'unreasonable' and I told her so.
The customer services woman offered to knock off 25% of the charges 'as a goodwill gesture'. I told her to stick it (politely) and demanded to speak to her manager.
He eventually called me back and offered me a discount of 50% off my charges (again as 'goodwill'). I again told him 'no dice' and said that I had been advised that if they did not refund the charges in fullI should report them to the OFT and start proceeding in the small claims court to recover my money.
At this point he folded faster than superman on laundry day. They have refunded ALL charges IN FULL (with the exception of the interest, which totalled a few pence).
This law applies to ALL unreasonable bank and credit card charges, regardless of what your contract with them says. If your bank has charged you a service charge for sending you letters or punitive charges for going overdrawn, I strongly advise you check out the govanlc site and speak to consumer direct - You can get the money back!
Obviously the banks will do whatever they can to keep this quiet, so don't let them - Tell your friends. Check your bank statements. Don't let them steal your money!
[Mood: Happy ] Originally spotted by Kittyfly, we're very happy that 'Auction Man' (Martyn/'yournamehere')has started a blog on Festival Weather to keep us updated on how his quest for sponsorship unfolds.
)
Mood: Happy ] 
