It was another busy weekend at Rylands Farm near Sherborne as more people than ever flocked to the fourth annual Holnest Country Fayre.
Fun favours the bold it seems as those who were undeterred by some muddy parking conditions were rewarded by a huge amount to see and do including falconry, working vintage steam machinery, model helicopters, sheep shearing, competitive chainsaw wood carving, dog agility and working heavy horses.
Sherborne Vale Dog Training Club arranged amazing dog agility shows on both days displaying the skills of both dogs and owners in the club, and also led amazing public participation sessions – not least of who was Olympic Gold Medallist Peter Wilson.
For the first time the Fayre had a steam engine at the event and also a traditional fairground organ playing traditional tunes throughout the day. There were plenty of real local skills being demonstrated including a Thatcher, Blacksmith & Oxford Bakery with the traditional bread oven.
As always, the Fayre had loads for children, from the most enormous inflatable slide and a huge bouncy castle to face painting, donkey rides and of course the ice creams and hook-a-duck along with an extreme bungee trampoline which looked rather scary!!
Abbey Radio based themselves at the event over the weekend broadcasting live to the local community all the updates as the event progressed, they also broadcast live Holwell Choir, perhaps they will be on the next Britain’s Got Talent? so big thank you to Abbey FM for their support. The legendary Rick Willis with his Public Announcement system broadcast to everyone across the show, keeping everyone informed of what was going on.
Young people, staff and volunteers with Peter Wilson
James O’Brien, of Future Roots the not for profit organisation that will benefit from any money raised, said:
“We are fantastically lucky to have such a great team organising the Fayre and all of us at Future Roots are very grateful to the many people involved and the good will and generosity of our helpers and visitors who helped to make it such a fun weekend.
We would like to send out a massive thank you to Kate and Maurice Evans who are now standing back from the full-on organisation of the Fayre to enjoy some well-earned time travelling around the world. Kate and Maurice have been instrumental in making the event what it is today, and have promised to keep in touch and support us as mentors.”
Julie Plumley was also quick to thank Olympic Gold medallist Peter Wilson for making an appearance:
“It was fantastic of Peter to come along and meet so many of the visitors. It’s very kind of him to do so much for the local community and we’re naturally very grateful. His debut at the dog agility course with Rabbit was impressive and we’ll be watching out for them at Crufts!”
James added:
“We are still tallying final amount raised and final costs to be paid but we are confident this is a record amount raised which we will use to help yet more people access Future Roots’ services. Thank you everyone.”
Planning for next year’s Fayre begins almost straight away with the sound of the music from the beer tent still ringing in the organisers’ ears. If you’d be interested in getting involved in some capacity or would like to have a stand at the show then you can write to James O’Brien at: james@futureroots.net
