the penultimate fete

While we're not going to win the prize for biggest fete, Tansy and I (Cass) both agree that this little gathering, round the corner from Fruit Towers, has all the heart.

Arlett & our Karen bonded over a smoothie (who needs a bottle of Bollinger to get the conversation flowing?) and we soon discovered that Arlett is one of the ladies that helped us keep our bottles warm in winter with the wooly hats she's knitted.  Thank you Arlett.

Karen & I played the 'name the rabbit game' (dlightfully as simple as it sounds) and Tansy tried her luck at the tombola, but sadly none of us walked away with a prize.  Instead we decided to treat ourselves to the £1 book stall and we're now all proud owners of some classics.

We set up outside to begin with, with our ball in the bucket game, but only managed to get one eager participant before it rained.  He insisted on playing by his own rules and got the balls everywhere but in the bucket - but with a face like this we couldn't resist his charms and he won a smoothie all the same.  Not before he'd sampled all our recipes though, to make sure he knew what his favourite was.  Quite an assertive young man I'd say.

He wasn't the only one who appeared to have a refined palette.  This little one was definately more of a berry girl and she took her time in sampling it.

Gernerally the conversation centred around the health benefits and tastiness of the drinks, but we had our share of hot topics to cover including the British Summer and the flood damage in Hammersmith.

And that's how our afternoon went.  In such a cosy environment we couldn't help but remember the early days of innocent - and here's a picture to prove it.  Our thanks to the lovely people of the Grove Neighbourhood Centre, for reminding us that small can have a big heart.

latitude festival

This weekend, we got our wellies out to go the Latitude festival in Suffolk. There was lots of great stuff happening. Highlights included:

Our village fete

Crooning by Damien Rice, the Magic Numbers, CSS and Arcade Fire

The hair of the dingo (?)

And some multi coloured sheep

 

Ainsdale Show

Legend has it that the Ainsdale Show is probably the oldest one-day show in the North West, and when Row, Karen, Amy, Helen and Matt (below) rocked up, things hadn't been plain sailing for the event organisers in the days prior to show day. As if gales blowing down the children's tent wasn't enough, vandals also wrecked the main tents 48 hours beforehand. But acts of nature and mindless vandalism wasn't going to deter anyone from enjoying themselves at the 87th year of this show. Oh no, especially since Matt was going to wear his now-famous trousers.

First off, it was time to crown the new Floral Queen, Lauren, aged 11. Clearly a sought-after position, Lauren wowed us all with her speech, and she told us, exclusively we might add, that she's a keen football player and scored a hat trick on her very first match for Birkdale United.

We then went and had a wander through the different tents, and Matt reminisced about the time he won best floral display.  Matt's Mum even won first prize for her jam, so clearly the Atkinson family are a hotbed of show-winning-talents.

 

 

By lunchtime, the gloomy skies had cleared and the sun was shining brightly. The show was packed and we were treated to the local cheerleaders strutting their stuff, the Rosebud competition, and displays by the YMCA Gymnastics Club to name but a few. Our ball in the bucket game proved to be quite a hit with several youngsters trying for up to an hour to get the ball in the err .. bucket.

The tempo started to pick up once Simon Jay, the "Dynamic Vocal Entertainer" took to the stage and we were all dazzled by his sparkly shirt, his ability to get everyone dancing, well, at least Helen and Row, and his extraordinary dance moves.

But it was the arrival of the H&M Dog Display team which really got our pulses racing, as admittedly, it was what we'd all been waiting for. The thought of dogs leaping through hoops of fire was too exciting to contemplate. 

One particular dog, Pep, a relative newcomer to the display scene was our particular favourite (he's seen here in a "Learner" dog-gro) but didn't let that stop him getting involved.

No dogs were harmed during the display, and remember kids, don't try this at home.

Of course, the day wasn't complete without having a traditional northern meal to help us keep going. Matt took us to the Busy Bee, the "best fish and chips in Ainsdale," (his and indeed their words), where we enjoyed a truly glorious portion of chips, mushy peas and gravy.

All in all, we had a great time, leaving to the strains of Chris de Burgh accompanying the Tai-Kwando team. A perfect ending, we're sure you'll all agree. Our thanks to the lovely people of Ainsdale, Oliver and Lindsay for their help, and for Oliver giving Row a lift home.

ball in the bucket

This weekend our mini fete made its way to the Cornbury music festival near Oxford, where among other highlights such as The Proclaimers, Echo and the Bunnymen and Blondie, our ball in the bucket game was clearly a big hit.

Beech Road fete

Vic and Fiona attended the Beech Road fete in Chorlton, Manchester last Sunday. It's an area that is well-populated with creative people such as artists, writers and actors, so they were hoping to meet a couple of celebs.

The Bee Gees spent nearly eight years of their childhood living in 51, Keppel Road, Chorlton. The street also lent its name to a Bee Gees documentary in 1997. Other local residents include musician Damon Gough, known as Badly Drawn Boy, who can regularly be seen around the Beech Road area. In an interview he was quoted as saying "Chorlton's where home is. It's the place I would want to be if the world ended".

Our fete game ball in the bucket drew in the crowds. It wasn't as easy as it looks. This young boy was a bit of a pro though, and even hung around afterwards to assist as our ball boy for a hour or so.

Chorlton also is the location for the Cosgrove Hall animation studios where the children's series Chorlton and the Wheelies (named after the area) and Dangermouse were both created, amongst many other titles.

And this younger boy, Rory Patrick McCourt (pictured here with Vic) was, at 10 days old, we reckon the youngest person at the fete.

Chorlton Green is a beautiful conservation area with a cosmopolitan feel. Sadly we didn't see BDB but it was a great day despite the weather. Annie from Chorlton Wholefoods (pictured here with her family, and surprise surprise Victor from the Barbakan getting in on the act) helped organise the day, the proceeds of which are going towards painting the railings all around beech Road park.

The day drew to a wet and windy close at 5pm, when we al piled into the nearby pubs to have a well deserved pint of local bitter. We'd like to say a big thanks to all who turned up to support the day.

Chorlton Green is a beautiful conservation area with a cosmopolitan feel. Sadly we didn't see BDB but it was a great day despite the weather. Annie from Chorlton Wholefoods (pictured here with her family, and surprise surprise Victor from the Barbakan getting in on the act) helped organise the day, the proceeds of which are going towards painting the railings all around beech Road park.

by Vic and Fiona.

a Taste of Bath

We've just packed up the last of the bunting after another great few days of taking our village fete on the road, this time to Taste of Bath in a very floral Royal Victoria Park.

And once again the firm family favorites of splat the rat, pin the tail on the monkey and our coconut shy stole the show.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by for a smoothie and a chat. We hope you enjoyed the festival as much as we did.

Our next stop is the Cornbury Festival near Charlbury in Oxfordshire. Billed as being 'an eccentric, charming and irresistible musical carnival' we're very excited. Plus Blondie's playing on Sunday night, wonder if she'll play Sunday Girl?

We'll let you know..

down to fate...

Here's a quick run down of a few fetes happening this weekend from our very useful fete finder. Please drop by any of them if you're in the area and let us know how it went. If you get any good pictures don't forget to post them to our village fete flickr group, there's a £250 prize for the best 3 photos by the end of the summer.

And if you have your own fete planned why not add it to our fete finder aswell.

And so we predict the following fetes will happen over the next 2 days..

Saturday 30th June
Abbeville Fete
Abbeville Road, Clapham SW4 9ER
Brackenbury School Summer Fete
Dalling Road, Hammersmith
St Mary's Fairford Country Fair
Walnut Tree Field Fairford
thurmaston carnival
Leicester
Long Buckby Junior School Summer Fair
East Midlands
St.Johns primary school summer fayre
St John's primary school, RIPLEY,Derbyshire
Tiffield Thunderbolt
Tiffield, Northants
St Lawrence 150years celebration
Effingham, Surrey
St. John's Primary School Fete
Horsham, West Sussex
KEMSING VILLAGE FETE
KEMSING, South East England
Montbelle School Fair
New Eltham, London
Radley Summer fete
Radley, Abingdon
Sheet Primary School Summer Fete
Sheet, South East England
St Mary's & St Peter's Summer Fair
Somerset Road, Teddington

Sunday 1st July
Beech Road fete
Chorlton, Manchester
** Our Vic and Fiona from our Manchester office will be at the Beech Road fete if fancy saying hello, they'll be the ones with the smoothies in the corner**.
Bonnington Square Festival
Bonnington Square, Vauxhall, SW8
Safari Sunday
St Paul's School, The Avenue, Friern Barnet
Brown and Chilton Candover Fete
Brown Candover, Hampshire
Ursuline Primary Summer Fair
Blundellsands, Merseyside
Llanfach Summer Funday
Llanfach Park, Clytha Square, Llanfach, Abercarn
Bishampton Village Fete
Bishampton, Worcestershire
Ponsanooth Village Fair Day
Ponsanooth, Cornwall
Gumley Open Gardens
Gumley, Leicestershire
Little Eaton Carnival
Little Eaton, DERBYSHIRE

We'll also be doing something very similar to what we did at Taste of London last week at Taste of Bath up until Sunday if your popping by.

an innocent guide to village fetes

Kat has just designed a lovely little booklet that we're giving away on our village fete tour. I'm planning on adding it to the village fete website as a nice little slide show (like this one we did about how to have a slightly better 2007). But for now, and in the spirit of one of the best websites on the internet, here it is as photos...

Look out for them at a innocent village fete near you. They're collector items now, we only have 2 copies in the whole of fruit towers they're so rare.

a taste of London

We had a great time at Taste of London on the weekend, thanks to all of you who came over to say hello. Here are some of our 'favourite bits' as they say on the telly..

Pin the tail on the monkey (they're cheekier than donkeys).

Rat splatting.

Shy coconuts.

And the best of all, happy drinkers.

We'll be doing the same again at Taste of Bath from this Thursday (28th) to Sunday (1st) if you're visiting.

a taste of fete

Our touring village fete is currently setting up at Taste of London in Regent's Park, Erin's on her way over there at the minute to see how it's all going.

Look out for the big sign above if you're going along yourself and come and say hello, throw a coconut at a shy, or a ball in to a bucket. And sample a few of our smoothies of course.

For an update on our touring fete why not have a quick look at our village fete flickr group, it's starting to fill up nicely now.