St Paul’s Summer Fair, Compstall

Nothing scream quintessential Englishness than the local village summer fair.

One of the playgroups that we go to (and have been going to since before Daniel was one) hosted its Summer Fair yesterday. I love popping along to things like this for a few reasons. First off, you never know what bargains you might spot, and secondly churches and their halls often form central parts of communities, be it for weddings, christenings, meeting points, playgroups etc. Christmas and Summer fairs are often THE big fundraising events for the year and are key to helping the many community elements going. It only takes a little time to go along, but can make a big difference to the fundraising efforts.

We headed up there with my mum yesterday and once in the hall Daniel spotted one of the ladies from playgroup and headed straight to the toy stall she and her children were manning. Daniel is very plane obsessed at the moment and instantly spotted this amazing Fisher Price plane. It’s from 1974 and it is immaculate. It was priced at 60p which seemed a bit of a steal but at fairs like this the items are often priced low so that the church isn’t left at the end of the event with items they need to store or donate elsewhere. I am pleased we got there early as there were a few other parents looking at this as Daniel walked around with it.

We spotted another little plane that Daniel passed to Emma for her to have, and I spotted these wooden Brio style Thomas trains, well I spotted the Percy and Thomas one and my mum later spotted the Diesel one. These were priced at just 20p each (as was Emma’s plane) so for the grand total of £1.40 we came away with three Brio style Thomas trains and two aeroplane toys. A bargain in anyone’s book, I am sure.

My mum also picked up this lovely wooden toy. My parents have one like this at their house (featuring a bear) which used to be mine and my brothers and the children enjoy playing with it. Daniel has been playing with our new one already and it’s great to talk about how the girl is feeling, is she happy, sad etc. We also got the Kipper book in the picture too which I am sure will be read in the coming week.

We then had a go on things like the tombola (no wins) and the chocolate tombola (Daniel won a chocolate orange) before we were ushered outside for the well dressing ceremony.

I hadn’t realised this was taking place (nor in fact, that there was a well there!) but after a short hymn, prayer and service everyone went back into the hall. The dressing for the well was pretty impressive. It features a range of key sites from the small village of Compstall, including the weir that sits in Etherow Park.

The whole thing was pretty impressive and we learnt a little more about the area and its history. After we had had a good look at the well dressing we went back inside for a cake (which of course the children enjoyed) and whilst we were sat there I looked across and spotted an Orchard Toys game on the toy stall. I headed over and it was the Old MacDonald Lotto, so I snapped that up for £1 and it will be one of Emma’s Christmas gifts later this year.

I love things like this and I will definitely be going along again next year to the summer fair. We spent just over £10 between us on the various bits and pieces and came away with some real bargains, as well as, more importantly, contributing to a wonderful community building.