Reach Fair 2001

Many of us will remember how difficult it was, or is, to write thank you letters. So I hope you will have some sympathy for me in this case. Normally you know to whom you are writing and the reason for the thank you. This year at the Fair there were so many people helping and I would love to thank you all personally here by name but as it is not practical please accept this big thank you.

If you helped at Reach Fair – thank you. Without your help the Fair could not have been the success that it was.

Several people who visited the Fair from outside the village thought the Park and Ride scheme from Swaffham Prior was a great idea and enjoyed being able to stroll or walk from there to Reach without the worry of traffic along that usually busy road. The police were amongst our strongest supporters of the scheme as it made their job much easier, especially along the Burwell Road. Is this something we should consider for next year?, when the Foot and Mouth crisis will hopefully be behind us. If anyone has any useful suggestions we would be pleased to hear from you.

With only a few weeks to go our previous helpers on the village barbeque found they were unable to come and this allowed a new team to take over. I hope they found that it an enjoyable afternoon despite the shock of finding that 500 sausages and 500 beef-burgers is more than just a large family barbeque. They have already begun to plan for next year and have been bitten by the Reach Fair bug. Once bitten the only cure is to leave the village, but even then the lure is so strong that some people still come back to help!

There have been mixed reactions to the more modern entertainments alongside the more traditional fairground attractions. How do you feel about them?

The playing field was again filled with stalls and included an exciting display by the Knights of Chivalry. Phil is thinking of providing a small beer-tent there as well and we may have to consider providing some more food there too. Do you have any views on this? An ice-cream van would have done a roaring trade in the car park or near the bus stop for the Park and Ride. Another possibility for next year ? If you have any suggestions for additional food stalls please tell us as these appear to be our best money spinners and judge things just right by selling out just before the Fair closes.

This year we held an informal gathering for the helpers on Wednesday 9^th in the village Hall to thank them for their help and to hear their comments about the Fair. I hope they felt it was worthwhile and we hope to repeat the event next year.

I know many people like to know ‘how well my stall did’ so I hope you found Andrew’s summary of interest. We spent approximately £3500 in setting up the Fair and although the profit looks large we have to refurbish the Village Hall and most of this money has already been allocated. The Fair has become larger and more expensive over the years and one of our important decisions to be made in the next 3 months will be how much larger (if at all) do we wish to let it become.

We have been informed that we have to improve our disabled toilet facilities if we wish to be granted an entertainment’s licence. Our existing facilities were described as ‘ a good attempt’, but as the regulations have changed they need to be improved. The windows at the front also need replacing, as do the barge-boards and soffits. We would like to provide a community room to increase the availability of the Hall. All this means we must build an extension and many of you will have seen the planning permission notices already. To build the double fronted extension we have designed will cost in excess of £20,000 and although we can apply for a grant from the ECDC and / or the lottery commission we shall still have to find a large amount of money ourselves.

Finally, a plea for help. If you would like to help us organise the Fair or be involved in the running of the Village Hall then please come to one of our regular meetings which are held on the 3^rd Wednesday of every month (except August) at 8 pm in the Village Hall.

Once again, many thanks to everyone who helped to make Reach Fair as enjoyable and popular as ever.

Tony Jordan

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