Barford St Martin Village Fete returns for 2024

The event, which celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, was so successful that it will take place again this year on Saturday, June 15th, 2024.

The fete will start at 1.00 p.m. at the recreation ground in Duck Lane, Barford St Martin SP3 4AN.

The Barford St Martin Fete is guaranteed to be a fantastic day out for all the family. 

Highlights will include an action-packed dog show organised by expert dog breeder and judge Vicky Wand. 

The dog show will have eight classes, ranging from cutest and best crossbreed to golden oldies and even ‘the dog the judge would like to take home’.  There will even be a best-in-show dog with a special prize for the overall winner. The dog show always receives fantastic support, and all the class winners will be awarded a special show rosette, kindly sponsored by Tedaisy Insurance Group.

A separate agility course for dogs who wish to show off their prowess on agility equipment will provide more fun for family pouches. Fieldtastic is kindly sponsoring the course.

The popular duck race along the River Nadder always attracts a huge crowd keen to bet on the likely winning duck. A cash prize will be up for grabs.  200 yellow ducks will be released in the river as part of this exciting competition. It will be quite a spectacle!

In addition, the Barford St Martin fete will have a cornucopia of fun events for the whole family, including a tombola, plants, tea and cake stall, Zorbs and lots of other exciting children’s entertainment.

The Barford Inn will provide beer and wine, a delicious BBQ, and freshly made pizza.

Cameron, Nicole, and Alex—the Park Island trio—will perform live music, and Wildcatz Warriors Cheerleading will provide an energetic display.

A new children’s painting competition this year hopes to discover the next Van Gough or Tracey Emin.

The challenge is to paint a ‘fete scene’ on A4 paper. There are three age groups: under 5, 6-10, and 11-15. Paintings should be submitted in advance by 8 June for judging, and the lucky winners will receive a super prize.

Morag Walker, Chair of the Barford St Martin Community Fund, explains the importance of this year’s fete.  “We currently have an extremely ambitious programme of projects that aim to make Barford a wonderful place to live. Funds raised at the fete are crucial to help make our projects a reality. For example, we are currently painting our old and tatty village road signs, we are installing attractive flower-filled troughs and we are setting up a Community Speed Watch project.

"We are also undertaking an important environmental project that will support our local wildlife. Our aspiration is to make Barford a beautiful and safe place to live for all our residents.”

For those interested in helping to run stalls at the fete, or to  sell raffle tickets, which offer some amazing prizes, or for further information about the children’s painting competition, please get in touch with Stephanie Wheatley on 07840  617512 or email:  stephanie.stephanian@hotmail.co.uk