Village Fetes, Festivals and Fund Raising Events

Our longest running event has to be Stowupland Flower Show And Fete, but in  the 20th century many other events have been documented. Most were to raise funds for local organisations especially for the Congregational (URC) Chapel or Holy Trinity Church.

leaflet
May 1997 advertising of church Fund raising events

Unfortunately we don’t know the year that Mr & Mrs Nunn at Poplar Farm hosted this Summer Fayre for the church, it sounds as if it was a fun day. Maybe 1970s?

hand drawn program
Summer Fayre entance ticket

In the 1980s Mr Crease (High School Headmaster) was involved in organising a community event of Art and Music in collaboration with the Church Flower Festival. Read the Minutes of 1985 meeting which brought together ‘members from the parish church, Girls Brigade,The Over 60s, the village hall committee, the primary scholl PTA, the Bowls Club and the High School’.

It was hoped that village organisations would ‘mount displays on that day with the aim of bringing as many people as possible into the village’. A further meeting was arranged for Wednesday January 15th in the Headmaster’s Room. {See SLHG archives/SFSF folder}

The next we hear of the Annual Festival of Art, Music & Flowers is in a letter dated 1993. This relates to a service to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Holy Trinity Church. {See SLHG Archives/Beliefs&Habits/HT}