Some days you just know you will remember for ever, and the day of our Spring Fair was most defiantly one of them!
Together with Great Harwood Rovers FC we have been planning this event for around 8 months and we had high hopes of putting on a fantastic day for the lovely people of Great Harwood and beyond, whilst also raising some money for Milly’s Smiles.
We enlisted support from volunteers who all very quickly came on board with very little persuasion, all of them happy to work alongside us to do as much as they could to help.
As the day drew closer the weather became one of our biggest worries – there was so much rain every single day and there didn’t seem to be any respite in sight!
Our second biggest worry that if the rain didn’t stop would anyone actually come on the day!
However, our worries were instantly quashed on the morning of the fair, when we woke up and saw the sun was beaming down on us, this went on to last throughout the entire day too.
The Fair was spectacularly opened by the Town Cryer, Rawden Kerr who did a fantastic cry encouraging people to spend their money! He told me later that he realised a huge ambition that day, when he got to have a parrot on his shoulders! Apparently children regularly ask him if he is a pirate, so he very much felt in character having a parrot sat on his shoulder!
We had the Mayor and his lovely Mayoress present, Councillor Terry Hurn and his wife Jean, who are always such a joy to have around, and who have been an amazing support to Milly’s Smiles during their year of office. We were also joined by our MP Sara Britcliffe as well as our local councillors for the borough.
The crowds certainly came too, we had over 2000 visitors which was way beyond our expectations, and it was wonderful to see every one enjoying the stalls, food, football and attractions.
We have to thank every single one of our amazing volunteers and helpers they all went well and truly above and beyond in their support yesterday, no job was too small or too large for them, and we really could not have managed without them.
Massive thank you also goes to the awesome team at Imperial Alliance, their Stormtroopers were just incredible and coped with the heat so well. Everyone loved them!
We are always so well supported by the local fire brigade and police for which we will always be so grateful. The did a fabulous job engaging with all the visitors on the day, and the children were thrilled to be able to sit in the fire engine and police car.
Also joining us were a team from Avidly UK (we are their charity for the year) they too were unwavering with their support and worked so hard through out the day for us.
It was so fabulous to see all the stall holders and food vendors too, I was blown away with the quality of products and how lovely everyone was. There was certainly so many fantastic bargains and unique gifts to be had.
Helen at Lancashire Dog Company, worked extremely hard on our dog show, which was truly a credit to her. The show ran so smoothly and it was wonderful to see all the dogs with their owners – the fancy dress was a massive hit, huge congratulations to Crueall DeVille on winning first prize!
We were very fortunate to have ex Blackburn Rovers player Tommy Spur kindly come and play football for GHRFC, he did a sterling job but unfortunately the team did not win and were pipped at the post by Clitheroe U23’s.
The day was a massive success and worth all the painstaking hours spent planning and organising. Together with Great Harwood Rovers FC we made a fantastic team, and judging from the feedback we received from visitors, stall holders etc the day was amazing and please could we do it again next year!
I have to mention my Milly, the day in its entirety was for her, to continue to keep her beautiful memory alive and to raise money to support children and families who are unknowingly going to embark on a similar journey to the one Milly and I experienced.
Milly is missed beyond any words that I can articulate but she is kept in everyone’s hearts because of all the work we do and the phenomenal support we receive from you all.
We are still waiting for some monies to come in but we are looking to have raised just under £4,000 which is way beyond our expectations. Thank you to every single person involved, we feel very lucky and blessed with all the support.
