please say hello to the innocent band

Here's a very sneak preview of the innocent band who played for us here at Fruit Towers last Thursday lunch time. They'll be playing again at our village fete on both the Saturday and Sunday so keep your eye out for them on the programme.

Every single member works here Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm, so we're quite proud that they've managed to pull together a fully fledged 9 piece band in such a short space of time. In the blurry distance, you can probably just about make out Caroline, Cass, Ceri and Vic on vocals, Duncan on drums, Jamie M and Tim S on trombone and trumpet respectively, Ruvan on guitar, Malinna on bass and Ben T working his magic on the piano. Oh and there's a tambourine that gets passed around as well. We can't forget the tambourine.

And here's a chicken with his eye on some apples. Unfortunately, he's already been booked for another engagement this summer.

re-entrants ukulele duo do the ace of spades

We love a bit of the ukulele at innocent. That's why we've got the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain coming along to play at our fete on the Sunday.

If you also like a bit of the ukulele have a look at this rendition of Motorhead's The Ace of Spades by The Re-entrants. It's truly unique.

Just to be clear The Re-entrants won't be playing at the fete. But we will have cover versions done on ukulele's that's for sure.

flea for all

A fete wouldn’t be a fete without a circus of some kind and this year we have Professor Malcolm Jephcotts coming along with his very own flea circus. It’s a family heirloom, passed down from his grandfather to his dad, and consists of some extremely talented fleas.

There’s Bruno, who can lift a 2p coin, 70 times his own weight, Trixy who works her magic on the miniature trapeze and special guest star, Fleavel Knievel, who likes being fired out a cannon. We’re locating the dog agility arena in a different part of the park to avoid any walkabout fleas on the day, so make sure you pop along to see Bruno in action and don’t forget to bring your specs

local marketing, for local people

Ceri found a lovely example of some local marketing at our nearest pub the other day. Then on my lunchtime stroll today I came across this sign for our friends at Brackenbury Primary School's Summer Fair this Saturday (literally a stone, or stray tennis balls, throw away from Fruit Towers) .

Their Summer Fair is being supported by the local estate agent by the look of it so they've come up with the very nifty idea of sticking up estate agent signs with the children's own art work advertising the event.

If you'd like to advertise your own school/ WI/ cricket club or any other type of fete or fair, or to find the nearest ones to you this summer pop over to our fete finder.

fancy a ferret?

When it comes to ferrets, what Mal doesn't know about these furry chaps isn't worth knowing.

If you hadn't already guessed, Mal is a ferret handler by trade and before you start writing in to complain, that is his actual job title and not something we made up. He's been racing ferrets for the last seven years and is coming along to our fete again this year to race some more.

Here are his top tips for picking a winner:

Look for the pedigree

A twitchy tail, a well groomed coat and a mean look in the eye are all signs of a speedy racer. Ferret blinkers make no difference whatsoever.

Shout encouragement

Banging the boxes just confuses the ferrets. They know their names so call them and they'll come running. This year, I'll be bringing Crazy Jack, Eco Warrior, Bad Boy Bubba, The Silver Surfer and Kev the Ferret to name but a few.

Handler's decision is final

I am also the race adjudicator so if there's any bribery to be done, fizzy cola bottles in a brown paper bag won't go amiss.

Mal and his ferrets will be at our fete on both days so if you fancy a flutter on the ferrets, make sure you pop by and place a bet on your favourite furry racer.

meet the morris dancers

Please say hello to Nick and Maureen.

They're both active members of the Baldock Midnight Morris dancers who are going to be coming along to our fete this summer.

Maureen has been Morris dancing since 1996, which means she knows a thing or two about dancing a merry jig.

We had a chat with her to find out a bit more about stick bashing, black books and dancing in bells.

You're the foreman of the group, so what exactly does the foreman do?

A group of Morris dancers is known as a side. Each side has a Bagman (who looks after the admin, finance and organising side of things), a Foreman (who teaches the dancing) and a Squire who draws up the dances and decides who dances what when we go to events. I've been teaching the dances for our side for the last 18 months.

How many dances are there?

Hundreds. We dance mainly Cotswolds dances, which means the dances come from little villages across the Cotswold region. All traditional Morris dances are listed in The Handbook of Morris Dancing, commonly known as 'The Black Book'. Some sides will only dance traditional dances but we like to think of Morris dancing as an evolving tradition. It's great fun to do new stuff and tweak dances to make them your own.

What's your favourite dance?

A Ragland dance called Blue Eyed Stranger.

What are all your badges for?

They represent all the different sides you've danced with. Each side has their own badge and when you dance with each other, you swap or sell each other badges. We went along to an event in Rochester at the start of May where there were 67 different sides. That's a lot of badges.

Do you have your own band?

We've a chap who plays the melodeon. It's sort of like an accordian but smaller and with buttons instead of piano keys. We sometimes have a drummer and fiddle player and then everyone who isn't dancing usually has a jangle on the tambourine.

Can anyone Morris dance?

Definitely. Anyone over 14 can get involved with our group.  It's brilliant exercise, a lovely way to meet people and lots of the perfomances take place outside pubs, which is always a bonus after lots of thirsty dancing.

The Baldock Midnight Morris dancers will be dancing their hankies off at our fete on Saturday 2nd August. If you fancy finding having a go yourself, why not have a look at the excellent links section on their website to find out where your local group is.