Saturday evening was another wonderful display of village togetherness seen at the excellent Victorian Street Party held along Village Road. It continued the whole feel of celebration in this” Jubilee Year”. We have to thank Phil & Sue from Village Stores for all their efforts and hard work in putting this very special event together, with the active support of so many others, particularly members of the Institute. They enthusiastically took up the challenge of this major event by decorating the street lamp posts with garlands, erecting both the huge star on the church tower and the beautiful Christmas Tree on the Village Green. They were also responsible for putting up the gazeboes and stalls. Members also manned many stalls and led many of the activities themselves, all dressed up enthusiastically for the occasion. They made a superb effort on our behalf and created the background for the Street Party to take place. They also had the task of taking down everything at the end of the evening and by 11.00pm you would not have known the event had taken place, as Village Road was cleared and back to normality.
All the plans Phil & Sue had in their minds for the event came to fruition, when an estimated 2000 people of all ages came to support the event. The atmosphere was superb and the street was full of stalls of all descriptions, with old fashioned sweets, soups, produce and cakes, gifts, toys and so much more. The Parish Hall was also open for attractions with entertainment & displays, and even more stalls of food. The Street entertainment held everyone’s attention, especially the juggler who finished his act outside the packed Ring O Bells with 23 fire eating. Choirs from the Primary and High School entertained visitors, and hot soup, mulled wine and chestnuts cooked over an open fire kept everyone warm. A highlight of the evening was the fact that so many people made the effort to dress up in Victorian costume, led by Fagin Phil himself. I think even the Chester Town Crier David Mitchell was upstaged by Phil when they led Father Christmas through the Village to his grotto at Village Stores.
I think everyone who attended agreed that it was a very worthwhile event, and certainly worthy of repeating. Congratulations to everyone who came to support the event and raise the magnificent total of over £2,250* for the Hospice of the Good Shepherd, but particularly to Phil & Sue and all their friends at the Institute for their fantastic contribution.
David Cummings
This is an initial figure just after the event.
