SUNDAY 3rd JUNE 2012 – THE JUBILEE CHURCH FETE
Put the date in your diaries now! The 2012 fete is the first major event over the Diamond Jubilee .weekend and we hope to make it one for you to remember This year Lingfield is celebrating .the.Queen’s Diamond Jubilee . At the heart of the celebrations, is our traditional village Church Fete, .which will be held on Sunday 3rd June 2012 from 11.am – 3 pm.
Celebrating the Diamond Jubilee
This is the first of many exciting and fun events taking place in Lingfield over this extended Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend. To make it even more special, the Church will hold a Family Service at 10.00 am on Sunday 
3rd, before the fete starts, to celebrate and give thanks for Her Majesty the Queen, on her Diamond Jubilee. Everyone is welcome to attend this service, particularly people who would not normally come into the Church; this is truly a celebration for everyone.
From mid-April onwards it’s the time when the residents and visitors to Lingfield can start collecting together their bric-a-brac, jam jars and maybe some nice bits and pieces to donate for the tombola. We can all help pull together, as we always have done, and once again enjoy the fun of a traditional village fete, right in the heart of Lingfield.
One of the reasons why the Lingfield Church fete remains so popular is because it is run entirely by volunteers from the village. All proceeds of the fete go towards supporting local projects, in and around the Church, most recently to help to preserve the wonderful and historic Church and to repair its roof. The last three fetes contributed over £20,000 to the whopping £300,000 repair cost needed to repair the roof of this Grade 1 listed building. However, this has helped preserve this historic church for many years to come, and so we can now raise funds for other much needed projects. What a great tribute to the generosity of all who have worked so hard to raise money, or made donations to help preserve this wonderful building in our midst
The scaffolding should all be down by the time of this year’s fete, and the bells will be rung on the day of the fete in celebration and gratitude.
Where is it taking place?
As usual, all the stalls, games and refreshments will be centered in the mediaeval heart of Lingfield’s Old Town and within the church grounds, with easy parking close by, just a 2 minute walk from the centre of Lingfield. Once again the fete is reliant on the goodwill of the Old Town Residents, who always support this event by letting us set up, right outside their front doors. In two cases, they even allow us the use of their gardens, which makes such a difference to everyone. What a perfect setting in the heart of this historic village.
The theme for this year’s fete is “Queens of England” and visitors are encouraged to enter into the spirit of the occasion, and dress up, “…but not necessarily as “Queens”! Anything suitably “Royal” will do”, says Kay Savvides, who is chairing the committee for the fourth year running and whose team is already busy organising the event.” It all adds to the fun and I am sure we will all remember this year’s celebrations for many years to come”,
What’s On?
As usual, there’s lots to do for all ages, at this traditional community event, from BBQ, Bar and Bouncy Castle, (but hopefully not in that particular order!) Tombola to Wood-Turning, Silent Auction to Splat-a-Rat,
not forgetting the cake competition, book stalls, plants, raffle’s cometitions and games; the list just goes on.
The generosity of local businesses is always overwhelming and helps to make this event such a success, particularly the Grand Prize Draw. “We are so grateful for all the support we receive from local people and businesses, but we are still hoping that new sponsors will come forward to assist us in any way that they can” says Kay Savvides.
The weather has been fantastic for the last two fetes, but for those who need to rest their feet and just enjoy a cup of tea and a sandwich, refreshments will be served inside the church. “There’s lots of seating inside as well as a great welcome, so it doesn’t matter if the weather is scorching hot or raining”, says Mary Pyner, our new churchwarden.
Would you like to be involved?
Kay and her Fete Committee are always open to new ideas, so if you think that it can be improved in any way, then they want to hear from you.
The best way to do this is to contact our web 
site editor, Johnny, (preferably by email), at pkandvdm@yahoo.co.uk , or call him on 01342-833416 He will be happy to pass on your views.
Kay also says that volunteers are always very welcome. Anyone can get involved. If you can only spare a couple of hours, or would like to run a stall, that’s fantastic. Even if you can help setting up, or helping tidy up after 3 p.m. for an hour or so, you will be extremely welcome. Just email our web site editor Johnny (see above paragraph) and he will be happy to take your details..
The vicar of St Peter and St Paul, the Rev’d Stephen Gendall will of course be in attendance, but as usual, he 
never lets on what he will be wearing on the day. As his previous incarnations have been anything from Buzz Lightyear to Robin Hood, it’s anybody’s guess, but you can be sure he will be enjoying the fete and helping along with the rest of us..
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Every-one is welcome, so please come along and join in the fun and help us celebrate this special Diamond Jubilee Church Fete.
We look forward to seeing you there.
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From Last Year’s 2011 Fete – From Chair of the Fete Committee, Kay Savvides - “ THANK YOU ALL. Despite a mixed weather forecast, it stayed dry and mainly sunny and the Fete Committee would like to thank everyone who donated prizes or helped, as well as all of you who came along and so generously supported us. We raised just over £6,000, which once again was a great result. Equally important was to see so many people enjoying themselves in a traditional village environment. It really made it worth it for the committee to receive so many requests for another fete next year and the planning for this will start in January 2012. The date has been agreed with the vicar and it will be held over the Diamond Jubilee weekend on Sunday 3rd June 2012″
Please send us any good photos that you might have to pkandvdm@yahoo.co.uk and we will try and publish them here.
GREAT NEWS £6,002 was raised after expenses and this will go towards to ongoing costs of the church roof repairs What was just important to us as the fundraising, was that everyone seemed to be joining into the spirit of the occasion. What a great community effort and we welcome any comments that you have about the fete, what you liked (or didn’t) and/or how you think it may be improved.
Please email the editor at pkandvdm@yahoo.co.uk as we value your views and will try to use them to make it even better for next year. Thank you all once again.
