After a gap of two years wasn’t it fantastic to see the fete back on the village green - the buzz, the laughter, the music. There was a lot to do for the young, old and even the furry – so I hope you all enjoyed the day.
I’m pleased to be able to say that at the time of writing this (the day after) initial estimates show us having made a profit of between £3K - £3.5K. This is a great result! The fete is the largest fundraising event for the Village Hall each year - the money raised allows the trustees to maintain the hall which is a central part of village life.
I would be interested to hear your views on what you enjoyed about the fete and what you thought could have been done differently or better? In particular- this year we started early and had the food - did you enjoy it? We also had live music after the fete for a couple of hours - did you enjoy that? All suggestions would be gratefully received and considered for next year’s fete. My contact details are below,
While on the subject of next year‘s fete ……if anyone would be interested in joining the fete committee that would be fantastic - new people / new ideas are always welcome.
And now I turn to the most important part of this note:
A BIG thank you
Where do I start? There are so many people to thank ! I worry that I am going to forget someone if I write a list but I also think there are many people who I need to call out for the hours and the effort they put in.
To start at the beginning. The committee - a massive thank you for the hours that they have spent working on pulling together the fete. We start our meetings in October/ November and slowly but surely the fete comes together. In no particular order I give you the committee: Lyn, Sue, Tracy, Heather, Caty, Fran, Yvette, Anita. Each member of the committee took on a particular role and did it brilliantly.
Next, I must mention and thank the committee member’s families who have put up with the meetings / preparations and in recent weeks, their homes being taken over by various objects ! Many also helped on the day itself.
A big shout out to all those companies who sponsored the fete. All their details are in the fete brochure. If you didn’t manage to get your hands on a brochure on the day then the PDF of the brochure will be available on the Fairwarp Village Hall website. Please remember these local companies when looking to buy goods or services.
Next shout out goes to the silent helpers - though you may not have seen them actively working on the day - without them the fete would not have been a success: John who mows the green and put out the notices around the local area; Di who provides us with the floats and generally keeps us in check with money; Kathleen for the use of her kitchen and electricity; Heather & Rob for getting us the sponsors, designing and printing the brochure and the other posters and flyers that were produced; Dave and the pub for the use of their barbecue and their support generally.
Thanks also to Fr John for coming back and opening the Fete and to the judges of the arts and craft show and the dog show.
Next I come to our stallholders - while we have a number of stalls that are operated by third parties, many are run for the benefit of the village hall or other local communities. A number of these stall are manned by the fete committee and their families so they get a second thank you, but there are many other volunteers….. from the stalwarts to new volunteers: Jenny and Chris plus team (bric-a-brac); Anne and her family (strawberries and cream); the church teams (tea tent and the plant stall ); The WI for bra pong; FCS stall with the marble game; The QE2 field for their tractor and guess the weight game. A special mention must go to Sue and David who re-rebuilt the rat game (the rat having sustained fatal injuries in the two-year absence) allowing us all to have a bash at a splat!
New to the fete this year was the food corner and a big shout out goes to the two teams who operated the barbecue from the beginning of the fete and well beyond its closing time - while Keith played. Rob and family & friends and the Oldlands crew (Matthew Polly & Jason) and all the other people who were there slaving over a hot stove to keep us all fed.
I must of course mention and thank Paul and Peter who acted as our announcers for the day and who kept us to time (ish) and generally amused us with their witty repartee (or at least that’s what they say !!!)
A big thank you to all those who came and helped on Friday night, Saturday evening and Sunday morning to help us put up and then take down the fete tents etc. I must admit to having a moment of panic on Friday afternoon when there were only three of us at the hall at 5:25 but over the next 15 minutes so many of you came out to help - it was great - within a couple of hours we had the tents up and the arena built. In all honesty help on Saturday night was a little sparse leading to us having to delay some of the put down until Sunday morning but we got there in the end. A special thank you to Michelle who helped throughout and Chris for rounding up a team on Saturday evening.
I must also mention Andrew - the chair of the village hall committee - who ran the fete last time we had it in 2019. He was an absolute rockstar - with his guidance and help - both on the day and beforehand.
The penultimate thank you must go to everyone who came on the day, spent their money and created the great atmosphere.
I really hope I haven’t missed anyone out. If I have – a 1000 apologies and so I finish on a general shout out / thank you to every single person who contributed in any way to making fete day such a success
Jules
07970042968
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