Well! with your help, if you did, and without it, if you didn’t, we had a couple of very successful and enjoyable events with the Call my Bluff on Friday 28th July and the Fair on Sunday 30th July. Fortunately, the weather was kind. Financially both events resulted in a good surplus (details will follow). Regarding the Fair, it is interesting that ‘the best laid plans ..’ inasmuch as the scheduled Punjabi Street Food was nominated for the final of the British street food completion on the same day as the fair, the pony lady decided that the available space was not for her, the music guys had a wobble over insurance, Bubble Pop was booked elsewhere and Sussex Wildlife were understaffed and could not come.
It is a great learning curve that something as simple as a village fair requires so much input by quite a few dedicated people to make it successful. Heaven knows what it must be like organising the Chelsea Flower Show. I take my hat off to them! Having said all that, the team put together what was possibly the best Fair we have ever had.
Many thanks to all involved, you were terrific! Great Teas (and cake donations — over £500 raised!), BBQ, Bar, Food, Music, Stalls, Tombola, Parking, Tug-of-War, Kids Games, Puppets, Steam engine and anything I have left out.
As for the Call my Bluff, the Shepherd & Dog changed their wine supplier a couple of weeks before the event which meant a last minute scramble to get wines for the quiz sorted and it turned out they were very good indeed. Dave and Emily, as usual, proved to be the backbone of the evening. Tania was a brilliant first timer on the top table and I enjoyed myself. Louise managed to get £300+ from raffle tickets and Pam washed up all the glasses afterwards. Thanks to everyone who came and proved that this can be a really successful evening without becoming the drunken mess that has sometimes happened in the past. It was one of the best we have had. Long may it continue!