Sunday 5 July 2009

Westbury Park Community Fair

There are summer fetes and fairs everywhere at the moment. I love things like that ( which I suppose is a good thing, being a candidate) - and I invariably leave with a bag of stuff I had told myself I wouldn't buy: odds and ends and usually crockery from bric-a-brac stalls and the inevitable home-made cake.

I particularly like the idea of a street-fair, like Westbury Park's fair which was held yesterday. It was absolutely packed, the entertainment -which included what my mum would call a 'good old-fashioned' punch and judy show- was superbly organised and by the looks of things, a healthy amount of money was raised. In fact, I wonder how much money has been raised in total fetes like this across Bristol this year?

I like fairs like this because they always show how much community spirit really is out there, beneath the headlines of recession, an atomised society and family breakdown. And there's something very sturdy about this tradition: I hope and suspect that for many a year to come, regardless of headlines, there will be events like this, with bric-a-brac and cake stalls we just can't resist.

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