12th July. I was invited in my official capacity to this year’s Black Cherry Fair, which is organised by Chertsey Rotary Club, and is a very large
event, with a parade through the town before the fair gets under way at Abbey
Fields in Chertsey. It is a historic
Fair, which began nearly 600 years ago, and remains very popular today. I am always impressed that some Rotary Clubs are able to put on enormous events, much bigger than our club have attempted to date.
The warm weather brings out the crowds
The DG accompanied me, and we were blessed with very fine
weather. The last time we visited the fair a couple of years ago, the weather
was cloudy and wet, which put a bit of a damper on the proceedings (literally)
which is disappointing, when you consider how much work people put into making
it a success. We managed to park reasonably close, and went for a wander around
the stalls before presenting ourselves at the Rotary tent.
The Rotary tent, with a man wearing an impressive array of campaign medals sitting outside
The place was packed, with stalls selling things and
offering games to play all doing a roaring trade, most of it for charity. The theme
of the Fair was World War 1, this year being the 100th anniversary
of the outbreak of war in 1914, and everywhere there were people dressed in
period costume, including army uniforms. I was even accosted by Emily Pankhurstdemanding votes for women. I told her I
would consider it but couldn’t promise anything.
We had been invited to lunch in the Rotary tent, and we were
very well looked after in there by Gary Weber, president of Chertsey Rotary
Club, and his colleagues, particularly Chris and Cathie Ball and (major) Rob
Marshall, who was resplendent in his period army uniform. I noticed that Paul
Turrell, the Runnymede Council leader (and my boss) was present, local MP Philip Hammond had been
in earlier, and the local constabulary were also enjoying the hospitality. In fact the great and the good of Chertsey
were in the tent, and I felt I was taking my rightful place amongst them. Pauline
Hedges, President of Shepperton Aurora Rotary, also attended and the two
powerful ladies looked resplendent in their regalia.
Girl Power!
The lunch was excellent. Someone had organised a lot of
Subway sandwiches (which I absolutely love) and with other bits and pieces,
there was a very generous buffet on offer. I remember the first time I ever
encountered Subway sandwiches, it was at an apprenticeship fair in Chertsey,
organised by the local Job Centre. The idea was for employers who offered
apprenticeships to attend, and invite jobless young people and school leavers
to come along to see what was on offer. I was there in my capacity of Business
Development Manager at Brooklands College, as we did apprenticeships in a
number of different fields. At lunch time platefuls of Subway sandwiches were
uncovered, and I was in raptures. I probably had one or two (sandwiches) more
than I should have and was a bit sleepy for the rest of the afternoon, but I
think I got away with it.
After lunch we went on an official (i.e. with chain of
office) tour of the site. In truth, it was a relief to get out of the tent, which was sweltering. At least outside there was a slight breeze. During our tour the DG was delighted to meet some dogs which are trained to help disabled people, whilst I had a long discussion with a chap from the Chertsey Society about last winters flooding and proposals for a flood alleviation scheme in the town. We watched some energetic exercises being undertaken in
the Arena (I think it might have been Zumba, which is a current craze locally), before heading home, satisfied that we had enriched the event for a
while with our presence.
Dancing for unco-ordinated people, or Zumba
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