Arnesby Jubilee Fayre 3 June 2002
Village Web Home | May Fayre Index
The Fayre was held
on the same day as the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations, 3 June
and so was renamed the Arnesby Jubilee Fayre.
There were many other Jubilee events in the area and
there was some concern that attendance at our Fayre would be badly
affected. The weather also didn't help - the day started perfectly,
sunny and windless but by the 11:00 opening time, the longest 'shower'
for some time started and continued for two hours.
In spite of all this however, cash received on the day was only about
15% down on the last Fayre (in 2000). Almost everybody in the village
took part in some way and the result is a tremendous achievement.
Following the opening of the Fayre with a peel of the St. Peter's
Church bells, a fancy dress parade with a theme of Kings and Queens
of England went through the village.
Music was provided during the day by a jazz/blues band on the top
green, a string quartet giving concerts in the Church and the Wigston
Brass band who also played in the Church because of the rain.
The second running of the Arnesby 5 mile cross country run between
Arnesby, Shearsby and Bruntingthorpe took place. 29 runners including
some club runners and 8 villagers completed the course. Derek Guess
of Charnwood AC was the winner in a time of 29 min. 30 sec. Mick Strange
(Tipton Harriers) was second, also in less than 30 minutes, at 29:43.
Dave Hogg was the first villager home in 8th place, 36:26. Click here for the full results.
Punch and Judy appeared on Sunnydene lawn and a stilt walking juggler
roamed the village. A small but fascinating group of classic cars
was on display on the top green and an Arnesby memorabilia exhibition
was in the Church. In Hobby corner at The Firs, snakes, reptiles and
spiders were on show on the lawn together with orchids and a beekeeping
demonstration.
As well as village stalls selling plants, bric a brac, cakes and other
produce over 30 other stall holders and charity representatives lined
the streets selling a wide range of goods including books, crafts
and plants. A balloon race attracted over 300 entries for a £50
prize.
This year's event was lead by Jacquie Shorrocks with assistance from
the committee - Lisa Welton, Stuart Randall and Terry Emmony. Profits
will be distributed to a variety of village organisations but mainly
to the Church, Chapel and Village Hall.
On the following day, a successful Scrapheap Challenge was held for
village children of all ages.
After
the cleaning up operation was (almost) over and because Tuesday 4th
was also a Bank Holiday, Villagers held a contribution lunch and barbecue
near the village hall.
After lunch four teams competed in a Scrapheap Challenge using basically
what was left from the Bric a Brac stall from the Fayre. The challenge
was to make a machine to accurately propel an egg as far as possible.
Points were awarded for distance, accuracy, style and decoration.
Bonus points were given if the egg was successfully caught by a team
member.
Four very different machines were built and there were varying degrees
of success. The winners were the Top Road team who built a catapult
that scored very well on distance and accuracy.
A notable achievement was by the team lead by Johnny Hutton and Bob
Allen who built a seige catapult. This machine operated with deadly
accuracy and was capable of sending the egg unexpectedly large distances.
Unfortunately,
Bob, their catcher, underestimated the distance the egg would travel
and stood too close to the launcher. He also failed to catch the
egg which hit him below the belt and smashed, to the great amusement
of all of the spectators.
