Summer Fair and 5th Birthday Party!

The Summer Fair held at Fordhall Farm on 26th June was a brilliant celebration of 5 years in community ownership! Over 600 people came out to join in the fun and spend the day at Fordhall.

The day started with a slow, but steady trickle of people, 10am on a Sunday morning must have been a bit early! However by the time Sharon Males arrived in her RAF Squirrel Helicopter the crowds had arrived too.

Meanwhile, the Farmers’ Market was bustling and the queues had begun to form in front of Ben’s hog roast.
Whilst parents were munching on good local food and some supping on good local ale, the kids were having a fantastic time.

If they weren’t riding donkeys up and down the field, Jonno from The Good Tree Company was showing them how to climb up the big oak tree behind the picnic area.

Sharon Jones was giving them an opportunity to delve into a Giant Dressing Up Box and revamp some recycled clothes, ready for their afternoon fashion parade.

Inside the Giant Pig Arc, you could paint a bird box, make a clay animal, identify some wildlife and pet some caid (orphan) lambs, all under the watchful eye of Beth Kennet, our Wildlife Officer. Also in the Pig-nic area was Bex Syrett, slaving over a hot Pizza Oven – you could make your own pizza and have it cooked for you in minutes in our beautifully crafted clay oven.

Of course, the renowned Welly Wanging competition was in full flow, well done to winners, Jamie Russell and Tom Lowry who wanged their wellies 13 metres and 26.1 metres respectively! Littlies could collect an array of stickers from five activities around the fair, including finding Scarecrow Ben in the centre of the post maze and taking part in egg and spoon, and sack races!

A.R Richards brought their tractor and were trundling people around the farm, with Denise onboard pointing out Fordhall’s main assets and Edwin Jones had brought his lovely vintage tractor too for people to admire.
The Emergency Services all turned up to join in the fun and kids had a chance to nose around the vehicles and the police even put their sirens on!

If that all got too much, Geoff Turner and co. were entertaining the crowds with folk tunes, so you could settle down in the sun and have a doze whilst others were enjoying a wide selection of ice creams to keep themselves cool in the summer sun.

The fashion parade paraded around the fair at 2.30pm, followed by the raffle, and then by the departure of the helicopter. Sharon Males took off with our camera and snapped some aerial shots of the farm (Everyone Wave!).

Before the end of the day, Chris Eldon Lee, who had been our MC for the fair started up a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ and Charlotte and Ben cut the fantastic birthday cake.

It had been a very long and hot, but fun and successful day.... everyone trailed off just after 4 in search of some shade, with smiles on their faces.
Once again, none of this would have worked with out the generous time and effort given by our fantastic team of volunteers. They carried, set up and ran stalls and activities all day, and were still there at the end to help us to pack up. A very big thank you from all of us!