Hundreds attend village fete which raises £1,000 for charities

HUNDREDS of people attended this year’s Charvil village fete at East Park Farm on Sunday.

The event raised more than £1,000 for My Cancer My Choices in Old Bath Road, Camp Mohawk in Highfield Lane, the Wildlife Trust and Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice in Maidenhead.

Attractions included a classic and sports car display, a reptile encounter experience from Berkshire Reptile Encounters, a bouncy castle, face-painting, a game of splat-the-rat and a small animal petting experience from Basil and Crew Petting Farm.

A selection of cocktails was also available to visitors which included martinis, negronis and piña coladas.

Popular music covers were performed by the Side Project which included Let Me Entertain You by Robbie Williams. A raffle included prizes to Ascot Racecourse, a vineyard and tasting tour at Stanlake Park Wines Estate and a trip to the Cotswolds Wildlife Park. Stallholders from the area included GRK Karate, which run clubs at the Margaret Gimblett Pavilion and councillors Lee Cripps, Matt Walker, Jayne Hartley and Katrin Harding manned a community engagement stall requesting visitor’s views on plans for the upgrade of the village playground. George Morrison, 54, a marine engineer from The Hawthorns, said: “I had a lovely time. It’s really nice to bring the community together and for everybody to come together. The band was fantastic.” Organiser Emma Kennett, 43, said she was impressed with the number of people who attended this year.

She said: “We had a huge turnout this afternoon when it started and there were lots of raffle tickets sold, lots of people went on the bouncy castle and there were lots of wristbands sold.

“The stalls have all done well. Hopefully we’ve raised lots of money for the charities that we’re supporting this year.

“The reptile man has come again this year, which is really lovely.

“What has been different this year is that the Heron on the Ford in Charvil has done the catering this year with burgers and hot dogs and pulled pork in a bun.”

She added: “It has been a real community event.”