Forty years ago John Burrows
Looking back over the years I suppose I could write a book on what we did at the Church Fete on August Monday, but I will only go back to over forty years ago and tell you about a typical Fete weekend.
It would start some weeks earlier, as we were involved in various activities connected with the Fete such as bread, meat, salads etc. for the Tea Tent, crisps, pop, sweets and ice cream for the stalls we ran and meat had to be prepared before the weekend.
On the Saturday we could not go to the castle to help prepare the stalls etc., but we know they were safe in the capable hands of Mr. Bulger and helpers. This was due to having to slice the bread on the Bacon Slicer (there wasn't any sliced bread in those days), meat had to be sliced and refrigerated and sweets and chocolate had to be boxed ready for transportation. This took most of Sunday.
On the Fete day we would get up at 5:30am to finish various jobs and load up the items for the Tea Tent. On arrival at the Castle we would be greeted by the lovely smile of Mr. Bulger always willing to give you a hand (what a wonderful man he was). He would guide me slowly through the gates (watching that the exhaust was clear of the ground) to drive around and unload at the Tea Tent.
At 8 o'clock Jones Bros. would arrive to unload the crisps and small bottles of pop. I cannot remember how many cases there were but there was always a willing helper to fetch and carry.
At 8:30am we were back at our shop loading the van up with sweets, plastic sheeting etc. in case of rain and to pick up Eva, Lesley and my sister Freda who would set out our stall while I went to Chester to pick up the ice cream from Walls.
When I arrived at the Castle, the stall would be laid out, customers attended to and the crates of crisps and pop at the rear of the stall. In those days we had relations and friends willing to give us an hour or two of their time.
Midday would arrive when most of the people started to come through the gates. Hundreds of cars would be going into the car parks having been in queues trying to get to the Castle. A bus service was organised to transport the people from the station who had arrived from as far away as Liverpool. We would see people arrive and greet old friends who had been at the Fete the year before. These would often ask if they could leave their belongings with us while they walked up the Castle.
At 4 o'clock motorbikes would arrive for the famous Hill Climb organised by Nantwich Motor Club. This used to attract thousands of extra people to the Fete from Oulton Park races which were held on the same day. If I remember correctly there would be over 8 000 in attendance.
7 o'clock meant another busy period on the stall as the people came back from the Hill Climb.
At 8 o'clock Jones Bros. would arrive to pick up all the empties. I would then fetch the van to load up the things to go back to the shop, empty freezer etc.
Sitting in the chair at 9:30pm counting our blessings that the day had finished without any of the major mishaps that often happened (rain some part of the day), nursing tired legs and sore fingers from taking hundreds of metal tops off the pop bottles; thankful that another successful day was had by all.