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The Village Fete - A Brief History

  • Irene Smith In October 1994 the Horticultural Society, which until then had always organised the fete, invited the Rural Society to take over running it as they were finding it increasingly difficult to carry on due to lack of resources and manpower.
  • The Rural Society decided they could not organise a fete for 1995 but agreed that 1996 would be their first one . Ann Raynor volunteered to head a sub-committee initially consisting of herself, Trevor Parker and Angela Moss and their first act was to change the date from September to July. This was a very hands-on event with the hired tents and the fencing put up by the committee themselves. Many lessons were learned - enough to decide to do it again.
  • In October 1996 Trevor Parker took over as Chairman of the sub-committee from Ann and remained such until July 1999. That year Francesca Campion and Roger Mallett joined the sub-committee and it was decided that entry would be by a self-financing programme. In the same year the band and ring activities were introduced.
  • Another important person to join the team was Peter Pearson who became an invaluable member (he still helps out now) and by 1998 the Fete was bringing a good financial return which made the effort of nine months of planning worthwhile.
  • In 1999 Roger Mallett took over as Chairman of the Fete committee until after the 2002 Fete. In the Jubilee year of 2002, thanks to a grant from the Parish Council, we offered free tea and cakes to all as well as ice creams for the children.
  • In 2004 and 2005 Francesca became Fete committee chairman. However, Francesca together with other sub-committee members who had been running the show for such a long time gave notice that they felt ‘enough was enough’. In 2004 an appeal went out to the village for more volunteers and the village responded.
  • The Fete for 2006 is headed by Irene Smith (pictured) and her team comprising Anita Bryant, Tina Thrower, Dorothy Selvey, Julie Sarchett, Jeanette Roberts and John Higgs, none of whom are members of the main committee of the Rural Society.