A traditional village feté - I have been going to this for several years and the sun always shines on this day! This sort of event is how the English village people like to spent a day to celebrate summer (or something). It seems to be an event that has it's roots in Victorian times. They are usually held on the communal village green area or farmers field and often have associations with the church. This one at Sandhurst is typical with pony rides for the children, clay pigeon shooting in the back field, children's activities - races and so on, a tombola, lucky dip, treasure trove and much more. The money raised goes to some good cause.
A number of stalls are set up with items for sale: plants and produce, books and toys, white elephant (useless items) and light refreshments (tea and cakes in the Community Centre hut).
A Cricket match was arranged for the evening and a pig roast starting at 7pm.
I took along my very small digital camera to record this un-momentus event - just a piece of very English life.
UPDATE
Sadly this fete may now be a thing of the past as since this page was written the village has suffered like no other in England, fire - floods and pestilence! A Waste chemical storage works caught fire and caused huge erruptions of fire distributing chemicals, followed by the animal diseases and terrible floods from the River Severn. Hopefully now (2002) things are getting back to normal - let me know if you are one of the fete organisers and it is on again!
For an update go to the Local Paper and click the search box tab and enter in the bank box Sandhurst
