Spoiled for choice
Sometimes you just can’t fit everything in especially in a summer weekend. Today was the second day of the Frome Arts Festival and art trail and there were about 20 events going on at lunchtime, in the afternoon, and in the evening.
There comes a point where you say ‘I just can’t do it, it’s all too much’. The Frome events goes on for another week so I don’t think we will be missing out.
This morning we attended the ChilCompton art show, work by local artists at very reasonable prices from 5 pounds up. The event was sparsely attended and we turned up at the sports centre, maybe about 10 guests but who knows what may have happened during the afternoon. The quality of work was good. Home to lunch.
Off to the Fete
To the Chewton Mendip Fete which is held in the local school playing fields adjacent to the church. We had great difficulty in finding the place because we had not been for a couple of years. We drove up and down an eventually asked at the Mendip Pantry about the location and we saw why we could not see it.
There was no sign for the Fete itself, just a small notice saying Park Free or some such. It did not stick out from the other parking notices on residences so after about half an hour’s delay we found and entered Church Lane and parked with all the other cars.
A good natured complaint
That was the worst part of the day really. When making a complaint I try not to sound miserable or angry and just make my point. I find it does not get you far anyway. They said that due to wind they had not put up the normal banners. I wasn’t buying that one but did not argue.
We had met an old woman with a stick who was completely lost and actually walking away from the event and funnily enough she was the one we are asked so we were both like lost sheep.
Entry was by program costing a pound or two pounds on the door so fair enough. It had been raining intermittently during the day but by the time we arrived the skies have cleared and we had no further rain.
Welcomed by a Brass Band
We were welcomed to the sound of the Salvation Army Band playing their hearts out. To me this is part of an authentic event and I felt welcomed by the music, by the immaculately turned out band. There is something traditional about a brass band which reminds me when I was a child and such occasions were very special.
Where are the cakes?
No way would my day be complete without a coffee and cake. So a beeline to the Women’s Institute tent which, due to the heavy canvas from which it was made, was quite dark inside but nothing disguised the wonderful array of cakes, all home made, to which I treated myself to a couple of samples.
I had a chocolate cake and a sticky toffee cake. The cost was two pounds per quite generous slice and 1 pound 50 for a coffee. The tent enjoyed a stream of enthusiastic clientelle throughout the day
So how was the Oasis concert last night
I noticed a lady was wearing a T-shirt with the famous brothers images on it so I guessed she had been to Cardiff last night where they opened their 40 night tour. I wonder if they will last the full stint because they are not famous for getting on with each other. Anyway she said it was absolutely wonderful and they performed all their famous hits back to back and the mood of the audience was tremendous
Various Torture Machines
This was one of the more original fundraisers for the church and the local school. People had to stand on a chair and hold a bar and then the chair was taken away and the time that they could hang on was recorded. I noticed people could manage only two or three minutes. I didn’t dare to have a go for fear of making a fool of myself but then hey it wouldn’t have mattered that much
Tractors Old and new
There were also tractors on show going back to the 1930s up to a contemporary one. I got into conversation with two owners and we discussed how it was only a matter of time before tractors would routinely drive themselves. We were aware that they can be linked up via GPS and used not only to plow but too so seed and put down fertilizer selectively depending on the needs for that particular area.
So all you do is to introduce the particular field by actually driving the tractor around, the software is then aware of what it has to do and the next time you just leave it to get on with it and as one of the farmers said ‘get the Mrs to do the driving’. The tyres shown here are by no means the largest but they probably cost a couple of thousand pounds each and to show how big they are here is Francoise in comparison.
Enjoyment for the kids
This feature gave very considerable pleasure to the numerous and it must be said well behaved children who could go up and down to their hearts content and they did. Mums could chat to each other while their children screamed and whooped up and down.
Childrens County Dancing
We were then treated to a demonstration of country dancing or was it line dancing. To some very lively musical accompaniment they Dance back and forth with varying degrees of enthusiasm and competence but no one cared because they stepped up to the plate and had a go watched by their proud parents.
The art of selling without selling
From the good lady who was selling tomatoes and other plants there were a number of lessons to be learned about selling. The loudspeaker announcement had said that there were plenty of tomatoes for sale and that we should make the seller an offer.I turned up to encourage her as I normally do.
I said that I thought the problem was that people did not want to get them immediately because they would have to carry them around with them and that the sales would probably pick up as the afternoon progressed. She thanked me for my optimistic stance.
A few minutes later she went to the announcer and said that whoever could identify a certain plant could have a free tomato. This was a very good way of getting people involved and laterally I saw one chap with six tomatoes carrying them away triumphantly.
This simple yet if effective publicity exercise cost absolutely nothing and because it was suitable for the mood of the day, it worked
you cant see the actual tomatoes but they were on the floor on the right of the tent.
General comment on a demographics
When professional people move to Somerset they choose an area carefully and Chewton Mendip is one of those niche areas which are not in your face like Wells and Frome but if they are accessible to Bath and Bristol and have a good primary and secondary school.
That constitutes a magnet for such couples with young children. There were definitely some locals there but also a very good sprinkling of these professional people with their well-behaved if boisterous children.
There were a few farmers there. You can tell farmers because they are tall and well strapped as indeed they have to be to cope with their daily load. A farmer described himself as a ‘glass half full’ farmer.
Chewton Mendip vs The Bath and West
Bath & West is a giant show with many features, many competitions, and over 200 stands selling this that all the other. They also have community stands to be fair and there is something for everybody. We have been to the Bath and West maybe five times and my problem is that in addition to the increasing entrance charges, I think it was 30 pounds a head if you turned up at the door, you spend a lot of money and physically it is quite draining.
Also in the restaurants the staff are temporary so you don’t necessarily get the quality of food that you would expect. I remember when I went last year people were returning the fish as in fish and chips because it simply was not cooked enough and was semi raw.
This show however was absolutely ideal for children because it took place in a small field and it would be very difficult to lose your child. All the essentials were there, music, dancing, a beer tent, a food tent thank you Womens Institute, some novelty money raising events, brica brac, second hand book sale, exhibition of tractors, and if you add to the mix a very friendly atmosphere when you can talk to most people I reckon that that’s more than enough of the average human being.
I think you need a real adventuring mind set to go to the Bath and West. If you spend five hours there you are not doing the place justice. I have met a lot of people who say, oh I’ve been to the Bath and West but it must be 20 years ago. Anyway, everyone to his taste.
From the Fete: Yes, it’s really useful to take on board your comments.
The weather was so foul in the morning we definitely weren’t as set up with signage as usual (and didn’t get ice cream because we thought it would be terrible all day).
Just goes to show, never trust the forecast!