| ©2018 St. Blasius Old Parish Church, Shanklin

| ©2018 St. Blasius Old Parish Church, Shanklin

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St Blasius Summer Fair

July 2018

As Pat Dean wrote in last month's church magazine "this year for the first time we are hosting the Fete in our churchyard. There has been an ongoing discussion for a number of years that it would be desirable to re-align our Fete closer to the church. As well as visitors enjoying the many attractions of our Summer Fete we would like them to also have the opportunity of visiting our church". There were misgivings about hosting the Fete in our churchyard from safety concerns to the possible negative impact it may have on the amount of money raised but Pat's faith in proposing the move was fully vindicated on Thursday July 26th.
The Fete was a success in many ways. For the last two months we have had a team working tirelessly in the churchyard to ensure it was looking its best for the big day. The detailed planning of the Fete over the last three months ensured that everything went smoothly on the day. From 8.30am on the morning of the Fete we had an energetic and enthusiastic group of volunteers working to set everything up and, later in the day, to pack everything away. One of the main reasons for having the Fete in our churchyard was to make it more Mission-based and to get more of our local community to visit our church. It was uplifting to see so many visitors inside our church on the day.
But, I hear you ask, how successful was the day from a fund-raising perspective? The receipts for this year’s fete generated a similar amount as to the last eight years, so considering this was our first attempt at hosting the Fete in our churchyard, even from a monetary point of view it was a success.
There are areas where we can improve arrangements for next year, but even the disappointingly low participation in our children's fancy dress competition ended up in involving some of our lovely guests from the Cheshire Home in a "best summer hat" competition. I think most people were relieved that my idea of having a "knobbly knees" competition did not occur to me until after the event!
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Shanklin Isle of Wight St. Blasius Old Parish Church

St Blasius Summer Fair

July 2018

SERVICES

As Pat Dean wrote in last month's church magazine "this year for the first time we are hosting the Fete in our churchyard. There has been an ongoing discussion for a number of years that it would be desirable to re-align our Fete closer to the church. As well as visitors enjoying the many attractions of our Summer Fete we would like them to also have the opportunity of visiting our church". There were misgivings about hosting the Fete in our churchyard from safety concerns to the possible negative impact it may have on the amount of money raised but Pat's faith in proposing the move was fully vindicated on Thursday July 26th.
The Fete was a success in many ways. For the last two months we have had a team working tirelessly in the churchyard to ensure it was looking its best for the big day. The detailed planning of the Fete over the last three months ensured that everything went smoothly on the day. From 8.30am on the morning of the Fete we had an energetic and enthusiastic group of volunteers working to set everything up and, later in the day, to pack everything away. One of the main reasons for having the Fete in our churchyard was to make it more Mission-based and to get more of our local community to visit our church. It was uplifting to see so many visitors inside our church on the day.
But, I hear you ask, how successful was the day from a fund-raising perspective? The receipts for this year’s fete generated a similar amount as to the last eight years, so considering this was our first attempt at hosting the Fete in our churchyard, even from a monetary point of view it was a success.
There are areas where we can improve arrangements for next year, but even the disappointingly low participation in our children's fancy dress competition ended up in involving some of our lovely guests from the Cheshire Home in a "best summer hat" competition. I think most people were relieved that my idea of having a "knobbly knees" competition did not occur to me until after the event!
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Shanklin Isle of Wight St. Blasius Old Parish Church