Sunday June 24th and the day of the much advertised, much looked forward to, Avington Fete arrived …..and it wasn’t raining !

In the beautiful setting of Avington Park , so generously provided by Sara and Charlie Bullen ,with a dry day and a host of activities such as Football 5 a sides, fly fishing casting, golf, sports events and of course the Dog show, who could fail to enjoy themselves ?

A live band played throughout, stall holders wore colourful costumes, decorated hats abounded and the large variety of stalls, cakes ( always popular! ), plants with expert advice on hand, an auction of promises, tombola, Pimms, strawberries and cream, hot dogs and beef burgers to consume and many other attractions.

The small organising team was ably led by Judy Thomas, and the sight of over one thousand people enjoying themselves must have been a great reward for all their time and hard work.

An excess of £9 ,000 was raised for the four valley churches.

Liz Platt

with thanks to Tony Gaster for the photographs.

[We would like to say and enormous thank you to all who worked so hard to make the fete such an amazing event. Not only did it raise an extraordinary sum for the Itchen Valley Parish but it was a splendid opportunity to come together as a community both for the planning and on the day itself. Thank you. Revd Rebecca Fardell]