An Old Venture Made New

It was a huge gamble. For forty years the Swanvale Halt Church Spring Fair has occupied a field outside Hornington town, an increasing effort over the decades and one which, during the re-assessment of everything that took place during the pandemic restrictions, the planning group decided was beyond them to repeat. The suggestion was made to relocate the whole event to the church and churchyard, and scale it down while keeping most of its elements. Would this work? Would we recoup anything worthwhile without the footfall from Hornington High Street just a few yards away, the draw of the bouncy castle and the great ring of tents and stalls? Would it even be possible to do it cramming everything into the immediate curtilage of the church, including finding enough space for the children of the infants school to dance? It did, and it was.

Stalls, children’s activities, visiting choirs and bands, and the aforementioned dancing children, all duly appeared and did their stuff. The rain threatened, and occasionally splashed down the upturned instruments of the Hornington Brass Band, but generally stayed away. And we made a kind of profit on the event that we would have been pleased to make in its old format. ‘Great to have something right here in the centre of the community’, was the consensus. What a relief!