Summer Fair 2013

Summer Fair, July 13th 2013 – by Trudi Kearsley

After weeks of planning and collecting for the event, the day of the Fair finally arrived – and what a day we were blessed with  – hot, sunny and windless.

8.30 in the morning saw a small army of willing volunteers in the Village Hall Car Park scurrying about, and working very much as a team, moving furniture, erecting stalls, unloading cars and setting up the much needed colourful gazebos so as to be ready to open the Fair at noon.

Our vicar, Reverend Mark Eminson, opened the Fair with a prayer, before going round all the stalls to bless them with liberal amounts of Holy Water.  The Barbecue was soon up and running and serving some delicious food, while trade at the Ice Cream Stall was, given how hot it was, unsurprisingly brisk as well.  All the stalls were trading well, with some stalls being busier than others  –  Tombola, Books and Second Hand Goods being very popular, and with the Cake and Plant Stall almost selling out.

During the afternoon we were entertained by the music from a Dutch Organ, and then with the singing of Arun Voices.

At 3 o’clock the Lucky Programme draw was made, which was won by Wendy Ursell.  Other competition results were announced and then the Top Twenty Raffle was drawn.

The Fair was over for another year.  Gazebos and stalls were dismantled in very quick time, by our team of helpers.  Tables were returned, and the remaining contents from the stalls were loaded into cars or on to the lorry to be removed from the site.  It was gratifying to see how quickly this was achieved by people working together.

Saturday was very hot, and we did have to contend with this and with people choosing to go to the beach rather than come to the Fair, which meant that we certainly had fewer people visiting the Fair than in previous years.  However the result was still a good one.  We managed to make a profit in excess of £3000  –  money which is very much needed to keep our church running.

Events such as this are hard work, and this one took a lot of planning by a small group of people to get it running smoothly.  However the real success of this event is in getting so many to work together on the day as a real team, and to have done it with such enjoyment.