On Tuesday 9 March the Fashion Show finally arrived. After months of preparation, nerves were running wild with last minute rehearsals. It had been a traumatic ride. With more than forty models, organisation had been difficult, rehearsal times were impossible to manage and on the night there were still some unrehearsed acts on show!

The amount of time we had put into this show was finally going to be put to the test. We had spent the months leading up to it frantically persuading shops to lend us some clothes. Thankfully the Sevenoaks shops were all on board, so we were soon sending models down for their Mousetrap, Gas Station, Blush, Viyella and Crew fittings. Thanks to Sophie Heilbron and her father Johnny, Thomas Pink was also happy to help. They gave numerous outfits adding to the length of the show as well as providing a smart suit dimension. We are also grateful to Angelica and her mother Allegra Hicks who lent us a gorgeous assortment from her designs, ranging from beach wear and maxi-dresses to evening gowns. The team also aimed to add some spice to the show with our vintage collection, gathered with much persuasion, from the stalls at Camden Market: Rokit, What Goes around Comes Around and Vintage Planet all lent us some funky outfits to add some more glitz and glamour to the show. Thanks to these shops we sent, amongst others, our retro tennis couple, the Motown pair, the 80s two, the rock/hippy duo down the catwalk.

For the evening's final preparations, Matthew Cross, owner of a Sevenoaks hair salon, had kindly invited the girls to get their hair curled and set in rollers. The Matthew Cross team were amazing throughout the night, standing backstage in mists of hair spray, boosting the confidence of every model while they adjusted our hairstyles in a matter of seconds before the time came to tackle the catwalk. Tineka Dillon was also incredible in giving us some professional tips on how to parade down the runway. All the models, enchanted by Tineka’s own strut, soaked up the advice ready to walk the night away.

In order to make the show a success we needed pumping music and some dazzling lights. This is where Laurence Gibbons came in. We are hugely grateful for his help, this tech-whizz managed the music and the lights brilliantly. Laurence added computering genius to the team, enabling us to design programmes and tickets as well as filming the event for posterity.

The fashion show had more to it than just walks. Thanks to Milly Wilson’s choreography, the models had specific dance routines to their catwalk struts; and thanks to Keji Belgore, Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie and Olivia Codd we had a full dance routine where Olivia performed the splits! The show was about more than fashion and this was enhanced by Mrs Ricks, Mr Kino, Miss Tebay and Mrs Lewis taking the floor. The teachers wearing Viyella and swaggering to ‘I’m too sexy for this catwalk', definitely topped off the first half of the show. The finale of the show was also a little different, showing off Fran Danzcak’s skill with needle and thread. Seven incredible dresses crafted by Fran were modelled and generated awe throughout the audience. Herdesigns ranged from funky and chic couture to elegant and Oscar-worthy gowns.