Event Background
This was the Sixteenth year of the Country Fayre Farm Fun Day on August Bank Holiday Monday, which has grown somewhat from when it was first conceived. We now have several thousand attendees in about 20 acres of event space and we probably use about 10 acres of parking space. It has also grown to a weekend of events including “Folk In The Field” on the Saturday and a Beer Fest with music and an “It’s a Knockout” competition on the Sunday.
The committee has been formed purely for this purpose and its objectives are twofold. Firstly to raise money for local and National charities and secondly to provide a local community event for all the family.
This year we raised £15,000 for local helper charities and for our main charities.
The following received cheques during the presentation:
Midlands Air Ambulance
£1,200 cheque accepted by John Cookson.
The Midlands Air Ambulance volunteers manned the eye-catching Air Ambulance stand which had pride of place on the entrance to the Fayre and they also helped with some stewarding.
Cancer Research UK
£1,625 cheque accepted by Paula Ellison.
The sum we presented also reflects the effort that Janet Pickford and helpers have contributed over the planning year, the provision of our info tent and also the contribution during the weekend.

Donna Louise Trust
£1,900 cheque accepted by Sue Bedborough.
Not only is this a worthy cause to help children in our area but the Donna Louise Trust provided a small army of helpers throughout the weekend.
Rushton Home School Association (RHSA)
£2,585 cheque accepted by Marie Carr and Jane Grindey.
The RHSA provided a retainer which helped to fund the startup of the Country Fayre and although the school is very small there seemed to be a disproportionate amount of help from the families and friends of the school.
Organising Committee
Thanks were also made to 18 strong volunteer committee. The event is a lot of hard work for a few people across the year and then quite a few more helpers on the weekend. The event on Sunday 14th February was not only to make the cheque presentations but also to thank everyone who helped.
Special presentations of flowers were made to Liz Bannister (Secretary of the Organising Committee) who was thanked for her tireless work throughout the year and also to Margaret Heath who along with her husband Mick Heath hosted the Country Fayre. The Heath’s and their staff put a lot of time, money and effort in to the event for which they will only accept a modest site rent which doesn’t come anywhere near the investment of time, services or money that they put in.
The local helper organisations who received smaller levels of funding included:
• The Scouts and Explorer Scouts,
• Community First Responders,
• The local church and chapel,
• Biddulph Moor Village Hall,
• Macmillan Cancer Care,
• Biddulph High School Teams and Dreams (for an aid trip to Africa),
• Leek and Macclesfield Young Farmers,
• The Rossendale Trust,
• The Rotary Club,
• Moorlands Radio and
• A local community fund to kick start a small project during the year.
Special mentions were made to Stu and the Scouts and Adventure Scouts, Moorlands Radio, Mike Sykes and Stan Lee (Organisers of “Folk In The Field”), Wincle Brewery and Winston Heath for their help over the weekend.
Here’s a reminder of some of the Activities
We started the weekend with a Folk night “Folk In The Field” on the Saturday, then on Sunday with a Beer Fest, It’s a knockout and Music Evening. On the Bank Holiday Monday we had our Country Fayre Farm Fun Day which included:
• Large craft and refreshment Marquees,
• Main Arena Events,
• lots of animals,
• fair ground,
• side shows,
• roving clowns and a poet,
• classic and Vintage vehicles,
• Country Crafts,
• Country Pursuits
• 4×4 experiences,
• Sphereing,
• Climbing Wall,
• Clay Pigeon Shooting,
• Archery
• Fly Fishing.
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The Main Arena Events included:
• UK FMX motor bike aerial display team,
• The M.A.D. mountain bike display team,
• Jarovian Dog Display,
• Falconry Life Falconry display,
• vintage vehicle parade
• Shire Horses & Shetland Ponies Parade.
• Circus Skill workshop
• Drag Hunt Display
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As you can see it was an action packed weekend and really brought the local community together. We also had people attend from across the country.
Many local businesses supported us with the loan of equipment, reduced rate hire, donations of materials, prizes, services or refreshments and donations of money.