Country Fair 2009

 

The weather helped to make this a wonderful year. The Companion Dog Show saw many beautiful entrants and the Corn dolly Challenge and Fun Run as usual got the whole Fair off to an early start – Well Done Chera – great first year. There was some surprise local talent with Chris Cartmell now being officially the fastest person in Hickling. Two disappointments: the Marching Band and the Fly Past were both cancelled fairly late on, though these were replaced by some home-grown initiatives. Bale Rolling turned out to be the surprise star-turn with a closely run, though not entirely above board, final between two Hickling teams. Jay, with his wonderful Birds of Prey display, and the Flying Angels Gymnastics Team were both, as ever, breathtaking crowd-pleasers.

 

As always the event is funded entirely by the generosity of the many sponsors and volunteers. On behalf of everyone the Country Fair Committee would like to thank all the people who gave up their time to man the car park and gate, run the stalls and provide refreshments (both cooking and serving), organise the event and of course participate in them, people who donated prizes, local radio and magazines for advertising, also the many generous sponsors who fund everything from toilets to rosettes. A list of sponsors is included below. Also thanks to John Walker and Sherwood Farms for the use of the field and John Herrick for the electrics.

 

Samworth Bros

Masterfoods

Cedric Ford OBE

Sherwood Farms

Robinson Bros

Anonymous x 3

Garry Watts

K. Wadkin & Son

Ladybay Dental Practice

Hughie Grayson

Tim Thomas

Paul Benson

A Bailey & Son

Newton Greenwood Architects

A R Signs

A & N Robinson

Eric & Bev Parkes

Tracey Petfoods

This year, though the recession did seem to have an effect on spending habits the Fair raised around £6000 (actual total to follow), which is on a par with previous years so hopefully this shows what good value for money the Fair is.

 

For the future…..

This year was the first year, the first event EVER where we have not had enough prizes to run a Tombola. We weren’t warned about this in any of the Treasury analyses. Please everyone, the Tombola is a big earner, often generating in excess of £500, please pass on your unwanted pressies and bottles of wine you wouldn’t normally drink. We would like to run both a Bottle Stall and a Tombola for Scarecrows.

 

And finally, thanks to Mrs Falkes for organising the Open Gardens this year and donating the proceeds to the Country Fair pot. This adds over £1000 to the total this year which will go to the Meningitis Trust, Air Ambulance and our village charities.