About the GABIT staff

The G4 were finding it virtually impossible to be in three places at one time (we did try honest!) and although cloning seemed a good idea (or maybe not depending on your point of view!) a more sensible idea was to get on board a dedicated team of Gabit Staff to take on certain roles.

We needed people who we knew could just get on with the task at hand, were experienced in the areas we needed them to be experienced in and were people who we knew we could depend on. A huge, massive and zany sense of humour is also mandatory (as attendees will attest to when seeing some of the antics the staff get up to) and an ability to come up with fun ideas and put them into practice! This team, or Gabit family as we like to call them, is essential to the planning and execution of our Events.
It's impossible to emphasise enough how fantastic these people are. They're pure gems, our fabulous friends and we couldn't run our Events without them.
We thought it might be nice to introduce them, give a little bit of their background and what makes them tick - especially since the team has grown even since AT4.

Here in alphabetical order are the GABIT staff!

Adele Beverley Peterborough, UK Adele is a part of the GABIT Charity team, and provides support to the many deaf dog handlers who attend our AT events on behalf of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. She can also sometimes be seen on Julia’s Guest Services Team when an extra hand is needed! A huge animal lover, Adele is a fabulous portrait artist well known in the fandom for her fantastic paintings of both animals and celebrities.
Liesl Bland Alaska, USA Liesl is the GABIT Attendee Liaison and shows great dedication by flying to the UK for our Staff meetings twice a year all the way from Alaska! She is also responsible for the fantastic table centres at the Cocktail Party along with Jennifer Scheffler, and has made some beautiful quilts for the Charity auctions. Always coming up with ideas and being able to make them a reality, with a love of all things craft wise, Liesl is invaluable in the Event planning process!
Kathryn Elliott California, USA Kathryn has been a faithful and much loved steward since GABIT’s inception. As soon as we had finished AT4 we invited her to come on board as a member of our Staff. Kathryn is the GABIT Staff Liaison. She makes sure that all the staff and G4 are watered, fed and rested during the entire weekend. After all, if we’re not standing and fully functioning, the Event wouldn’t go ahead. So she is invaluable!
Carl Ford London, UK Carl is not only a member of the GABIT family but also soon to be a member of the Hague family as he is marrying Rebecca in 2011. Embracing a new family is one thing but when you come into the Hague family you can’t help but be intrigued by their other family – GABIT! Carl was an instant hit with the rest of the staff and it didn’t take long for him to be invited in to help on the security team at AT4. He proved himself to be such a perfect match for GABIT that he is now an official member of Staff on Julia’s security team.
Sue George Somerset, UK Sue is a major part of the planning process for the Charity coordination in the lead up to each AT Event and she enjoys the fund raising immensely, having developed a good relationship with the Hearing Dog team. Her auctioneering skills are without match and her humour and dry wit during the AT auctions means that everyone actually enjoys parting with their money!
Peter Hague London, UK Peter is Julia's husband and is the GABIT webmaster responsible for the design and maintenance of the website. With a deep interest and love of photography and videography, he is an essential member of the Technical Team. Peter provides a very calming influence when things get hairy and puts up with complete domestic chaos when the entire GABIT staff descend on the Hague household (fondly nicknamed the Gabitry) for meetings which usually last for entire weekends – fondly known as Mini-cons!
Becka Hague London, UK Rebecca is Julia and Peter's daughter (and Carl’s fiancée) and looks after Thomasina Gibson at the AT Events on the Guest Services Team.. She is also the person at the Photograph sessions who decides whether a photograph is the best it can possibly be, before the attendee leaves Amanda's side. An integral part of the Guest Services Team, Becka pairs up with Jenn Scheffler, and with their boundless energy, they make a uniquely fantastic partnership in making sure that everything that needs to happen Guest Service wise actually does! A keen horse owner, Becka is also a very talented singer!
Terri Harkin Scotland, UK Terri is the GABIT medical expert for our AT events. Apart from taking a very active part in the planning process for all the Events, she is a fully qualified paramedic and is on hand during the UK Events should there be any medical emergency, and at our Canadian Events this summer she will turn her hand to joining the Technical Team – can’t say our staff aren’t multitalented and Terri certainly is! Also a keen horsewoman, Terri spends a lot of her spare time enthusiastically engaged in Airsoft battles!
Tim Jacobs Essex, UK Tim provides year round technical support for his mother, Kay, during the entire registration process. He is also responsible for setting up and running the GABIT forum. At the Events, you will see Tim heading up that section of the Technical Team which is responsible for the printing of the photographs. He also works in the main hall on the Tech desk during the Hall based activities at AT Events Recently Tim has shown himself to be a dab hand at making remote controlled devices to aid with our “get offs” at the AT events. GABIT Replicator anyone? We’ve commissioned him to do another remote controlled device for AT5 but we’re not telling what….
Nick Luff London, UK Nick is in charge of the Technical desk in the main hall and is our all round technical wizard both in the lead up to, and at the actual event. Nick is also responsible for producing many of the DVDs which are screened during the Event and runs the discos. You may often see him with a furry stuffed ferret but that’s another story…. Nicknamed “Technick”, we couldn’t do without him!
Tracy North Surrey, UK In the run up to an Event Tracy is heavily involved in the design and production of the Event programme and banners and is a whizz kid in Paintshop. Tracy has an enormous sense of humour and loves people. With her boundless energy (she is, after all, fondly known as the GABIT energiser bunny), who better to look after the day-to-day co-ordination of our fantastic stewarding team at our Events A mother of three grown up children and a grandmother to boot, Tracy spends her working time teaching spin classes at the local gym and her leisure time having fun and seemingly forever plotting the next “get Julia” for the AT Events with her co-conspirators!
Lesley Mitchell Manchester, UK Lesley is the technical expert who provides the computer code which enables our on line registration system to function, and supports Kay and Tim during the registration process. She is an essential part of the main hall Technical Team and runs the Stage area at the AT events. Lesley is enthusiastic and successful at Fencing as her downtime passion!
Jennifer Scheffler Scotland, UK Jenn is Julia's Assistant on Guest Services, and pairs up with Becka to complete the team. She is usually seen as a red blur rushing around during the weekend. She is also responsible for most of the music videos at the Event and for helping Julia craft the charity DVDs just before the Charity auction. Jenn is also a lover of all things “crafty”and gets together with Liesl to produce some fantastic table centres for the cocktail parties!
Kamil Trzebiatowski Buckinghamshire, UK Kamil is, of course, better known as Amanda's webmaster. He has been a great friend of GABIT from the very beginning and is an essential part of the GABIT Charity Team. He will be heading it up in Vancouver. An English teacher with a love (unsurprisingly) of literature and film, Kamil has known and been good friends with Julia since 1998.

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