In South Warwickshire at the first weekend of December the Shipston Victorian Evening, the Quinton Craft Fair and the Chipping Campden Christmas Market all took place. The weather for all was extremely cold but it didn’t put off the visitors in attending.
The Shipston Victorian Evening (on Friday) is run by the Rotary club of Shipston-on-Stour and this year, for the first time they were joined by volunteers from the Stour Valley Lions Club.
The evening, which has lots of stalls selling Christmas merchandise and food, was started off by the children of Shipston Primary School singing carols (Conducted by Mr Roberts) accompanied by the Shipston Town Band.
Then the town crier Marion Lowe welcomed the crowds and introduced the town mayor Counsellor Gerry Kelly to open the proceeding, which included the lighting up of the tree of life, along with Faye Ivens.
Activities on offer included a stilt walker a human fruit machine and a visit from Father Christmas. The Cotswold Singers also performed.
On Saturday morning the Quinton Craft Fair took place with proceeds going to the repairs needs for St. Swithin’s Church. Both Tudor Grange Primary in Meon Vale and Quinton Primary School performed carols to large crowds. The church warden Jane Spooner introduced the schools.
There were raffles, Christmas items to purchase as well as refreshments including hot rolls for a cold day.
Starting at lunchtime of Saturday the Chipping Campden Christmas Market took place, fortunately avoiding the foggy conditions in some parts of the district.
There were a very wide range of stalls on offer as well as music on the stage from schools finishing off with the Wired Trio before at 4:30pm the Tree of Life and the town Christmas lights were lit, performed by local girl Evie.
