Poulshot Village Fete
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2010-06-27 06:21:01 - Graham EllisAfter attending the opening of Dauncey Gardens in Melksham yesterday (the whole world was invited ;-) ), I went on to the Poulshot Village Fete in the afternoon. I'll tell you why as you read on.
Poulshot is one of the smaller villages - nearer to Devizes than Melksham - with the largest village green for miles, and yesterday it was carefully cut (and going brown in the sun!) for the village fete.
There's so much tradition at village fetes - the White Elephant, the beer tent, the book stall, the tombola, the plant stall - and of course the stand selling home made cakes, manned by the friendly local ladies. The WI, perhaps?
There are miniature rides for miniature people - often very much the modern set amongst the ancient - note the lovely thatched cottage; Poulshot has some remarkable old building around the green.
St John's Ambulance, and the Community Support Officers from the local police were on hand - but very much in a community support role and for public relations, I suspect - I can't imagine that Poulshot Village Fete would be a hotbed of crime!
Races were arranged on the grass for local children, with mums and dads encouraging their offspring on - none of the political correctness of "it's more important to take place than to win" when it's your kid running!
Many of the stalls were outside - and the weather was as it should be for a village fete - so hot that protection was needed from the sun.
Poulshot is included withing the "Melksham Community Area" ([details]) and as a member of the steering group partnership, I popped along to the Fete to see Tim Jalland, who lives in Poulshot, running a display on behalf of the partnership.
This is the first summer that the MCAP has been in existance - it's related to unitary setup we have in Wiltshire, with an independent role to listen to the community and provide feedback to area boards and councillors. So one of the big reasons for being at this Fete - and other local events this summer too - is to let people know that MCAP is around, and that it can provide a route in to county. Here's Tim telling some of the Poulshot residents about the partnership.
With cream teas in the garden of the village hall ... what a very traditional village fete ...
... and all rounded off by pony rides on the green!A lovely couple of hours for Gypsy and me in Poulshot - and thank you, Tim, for manning the booth. MCAP is far from people's minds on a barmy summer Saturday, but these village fetes are very much the one time that the whole village comes out and an opportunity to do a little bit of marketing and listening - that listening being very much the role we are set up for.
See http://www.wellho.net/share/poulshot.html too.