Ashtead Village Day 2009

The 26th Annual Village Day, organised by Rotary Club of Ashtead, proved to be every bit as successful as the record-breaking event last year. We were blessed with great weather and only the occasional black cloud came over to scare us but nary a drop of rain fell all day.

Put it in your diary now: Ashtead Village Day 2010 - 12th June

Undoubtedly the motorcycle stunt riders were the centre of attention this year with their nerve-jangling displays over 3 sessions during the afternoon. There was something for all age groups with the children loving the animal petting farm, the chairoplanes , the cup & saucer ride, the mini bunjee jumping and the giant slide. Other youngsters took full advantage of the Ferris wheel, the Harrier jet simulator, the football challenge and the Surrey Police speed gun trials (how fast can you sprint?).

Everyone enjoyed the many other attractions including the classic cars, Caterham Sevens, the 1930s London bus, the ever popular Dog Show and the many arena shows including the Poptastic dancers, Downsend Lodge football display and Maypole dancing by pupils from Barnett Wood Lane Infant School.

The heart of a village day is of course the huge number of individual stalls, many of them fundraising while offering some fun - be that a tombola or a game like ‘name the camel’ - others providing a community service like Zen George’s launch of the Ashtead shops loyalty card, the combined churches tea tent which was very well patronised or the presence of dozens of local charities.

 Live music is another vital element and three bands were on good form – the pop band Atlantis, The Bluebell Railway Silver band and the Pilgrim steel band. This really lifted the atmosphere. A great day for our community!

Ashtead Rotary Club President, Tim Ashton, commented:

“I can report that we had a tremendous turnout from the village and surrounding areas – somewhere between 7000 to 8000 people in total - and while the accounts have not yet been finalised it looks like we will just match our last year’s fundraising total of £20,000 which is very pleasing in these recessionary times. It is anticipated that the charity stalls which took part will have raised approximately £30,000 for their causes in addition. Our thanks to Andrea McLean who opened the event, to ExxonMobil who funded the Programme printing, all the businesses who advertised in our Programme and those who sold them in their shops, all the participating stallholders and finally all the hard working Rotarians, Friends of Rotary and Inner Wheel helpers who made the day possible.

 

One name cannot be missed – David Mitchell-Baker who has announced that this will be his final year as operations manager for the event, has been the key player in my team for many years and those who will follow him will have a hard act to follow. A sincere thank you David."

So that they can make Village Day even better next year, the organisers would like feedback from those who attended and a website has been set up for this purpose: AVDfeedback09@ntlworld.com

Photographs of village Day will be published on the website of Rotary Club of Ashtead in due course as well as on those of St Giles & St Georges and the Ashtead Residents Association.