Sidbury Fair
CHAIRMAN: SIR JOHN CAVE Bt
SECRETARY: MRS. SUSAN GOODING (Tel: 01404 812845)
TREASURER: MIKE COLES
HISTORY OF SIDBURY FAIR
Sidbury was granted a charter for a Fair in 1291 by Edward I when he was up in Berwick upon Tweed. The Fair was to be held for three days to cover the Feast of the Virgin Mary in September.
The charter was probably granted because Sidbury was already a place of pilgrimage when people came to the church to give alms at the Shrine of Our Lady of Pity. It would, no doubt, have boosted the lives of the villagers where they could sell cattle, etc and garden produce.
The commencement of the Fair was noted by the appearance of gloved hand out of a window in the main street. Although the Charter said there could be merrymaking, no one was to be a nuisance to anyone else.
This gloved hand is also to be seen in the roof of the North transept in the church where there is also a carving of a King’s head.
The Fair was discontinued after the Reformation when the Shrine was destroyed. A fair was reinstated in 1820 for the farmers due to their impoverished state when free trade was introduced after the Napoleonic War.
Hot pennies were thrown into the street for the children to collect – a boon for the equally impoverished villagers of the time.
Hot pennies are still thrown today from The Red Lion Inn and the former Royal Oak Inn but now to the children of Sidbury School who look forward to the event every year. Sidbury Fair has grown over the years with local produce and craft stalls, competitions etc and a livestock auction still takes place. Over the years the fair has extended to a whole week of events and gives local clubs and organisations an opportunity to raise funds. The Fair Committee is made up of local residents and is chaired by Sir John Cave of Sidbury Manor.
TRANSLATION OF THE SIDBURY FAIR CHARTER GRANTED BY KING EDWARD I in 1291
To the Archbishop etc greetings know that we have conceded and by this our charter confirmed to our chosen in Christ, the Dean and Chapter of St. Peter, Exeter, that to them and their successors for ever (is granted) one market in each week on Tuesday at their manor of Sidbury in the country of Devon and one fair each year there lasting for three days, namely, on the eve, on the day and on the morrow of the nativity of the blessed Mary and that market and that fair to be without annoyance to the neighbourhood of the market and neighbourhood of the fair. Wherefore it is our will etc With these witnesses, the venerable father (“in Christ” probably missing at end of line), the Bishop of Bath and Wells and ? Durham with the oaths of our brother Edmund, Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, John de St. John, Walter de Bulcamp, Gilbert de Wrideshale, Elias de Hannilt (“and” probably missing from end of line).
Others Given through the hands of those sworn at Berwick on Tweed 28th day of June.
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2011 FAIR WEEK REPORT
I think everyone will agree that we can chalk up another very successful week and given the stormy weather of late we were extremely fortunate to have fine weather for all the outside events. The scarecrow competition gives a fun start to the week. All the entries were brilliant and our thanks to everyone who took the time to make these. They are much enjoyed by all and many people mention that they drive to Sidbury especially to see them which is great advertising feature so….. please start thinking of your scarecrow for next year! The Horticultural Show culinary art entries were up this year and it was great to see more entries in the under sixteen classes. The auction of goods after the show raised £700 and since the show commenced some fifteen years ago in excess of £10,000 has been raised for charity, mainly the Devon Air Ambulance, to whom the proceeds were donated this year. The was followed by the informal outdoor church service organised by the Tingle Team and then we had the 13th Fun Run and Walk which, again, was a huge success. The glove erected at the former Royal Oak Inn heralding fair week was carried by Mr. Rob Hattrill prior to the throwing of the hot pennies from the Red Lion by Neil and Belinda Anthony and from ‘The Royal Oak’ by Sam and Lucy Ingram which were enthusiastically received by the children! The painting and photograph entries were on display in the village hall and St. Giles. This year the theme was ‘Seasons of Sidbury’ and there were a record number of lovely entries this year. Alan Softly produced a very interesting exhibition showing various aspects of life in Sidbury and he spent all of fair day stewarding at St. Giles which was decorated beautifully for the harvest. The fair day had a real buzz about it from start to finish (buzz being the operative word for the poor stallholder selling bread who was inundated by wasps this year!). The livestock entries were up, particularly the poultry section and there was a large crowd in attendance throughout the day. There were lots of local stalls together with the craft fair and the village hall committee were rushed off their feet providing refreshments. The Duck Race is a firmly established part of the day now and was well supported and enjoyed and a new event, the Country Clay Pigeon shoot, was introduced this year which was very well received. Several people went along and ‘had a go’ and we look forward to more of the same next year. The Rogers Cup awarded to a person for outstanding contribution to village life in Sidbury was presented to Roger Davey who works very hard for the village in a whole host of ways. Well done Roger and thank you. It was good to see a full church at the Harvest Thanksgiving Service where we welcomed the speaker, Canon Ian Morter, Canon Treasurer/Pastor at Exeter Cathedral and some will remember him as former Vicar at St. Francis’ Woolbrook some years ago. Refreshments afterwards kindly provided by The Friends of St. Giles. Besides all this we had the Quiz, Darts, Skittles and Crib competitions run by Neil Anthony at the Red Lion and we still have the Equestrian Pleasure Ride to go which was a great fundraiser last year.
Please visit our Sidbury Website: www.sidbury.org.uk which will be updated shortly with all the competition winners. Incidentally we are looking for someone to keep the website updated and if you are able to help please contact Roger Davey on 01395 597751.
Our grateful thanks to everyone for your fantastic support of the fair events in a huge number of ways showing real ‘Sidbury’ spirit.
Sue Gooding
On behalf of the Fair Committee
SIDBURY FAIR WEEK 2010 competition results
| 2010 Fun Run Results | |||
| Award | |||
| Adult Open | Lady | Man | Plate |
| 1 | Jane Beech | Guy Bennett | |
| 2 | Lucy Miller | Tim Mitchell | |
| 3 | Carolyn Selley | Joe Twomey | |
| Adult Local | Lady | Man | Shield |
| 1 | Jane Beech | James Hindle | |
| 2 | Lucy Miller | Mark Keast | |
| 3 | Helen Preston | Steve Crick | |
| 13-17 Open | Girl | Boy | Plate |
| 1 | Imogen Dinham Price | Tom Norris | |
| 2 | Emily Woodruff | Zak Francis | |
| 3 | Vicky Gay | Jackson Chinery | |
| 13-17 Local | Girl | Boy | Cup |
| 1 | Imogen Dinham Price | Jackson Chinery | |
| 2 | Emily Woodruff | Lewis Chinery | |
| 3 | Vicky Gay | Joe Gosse tie | |
| Barney Stone tie | |||
| 7-12 Open | Girl | Boy | Plate |
| 1 | Frankie King Keast | George Norris | |
| 2 | Georgie Selley | Mark Pearse | |
| 3 | Flora Willis Fleming | Aaron Warner | |
| 7-12 Local | Girl | Boy | Cup |
| 1 | Flora Willis Fleming | Mark Pearse | |
| 2 | Emily Craven | Glyn Paewai | |
| 3 | Abi Pearse | Eliot Perez | |
| 4 | |||
Total Number of walkers 247
Total number of adult runners 46
Total number of 13-17 19
Total number of 7-12 60
Total overall 372
SIDBURY FAIR COMPETITION RESULTS
| SCARECROW COMPETITION | ||||||||||
| Adults Cotford Close Residents won first, second and third prizes | The Lion, The Tin Man and Dorothy | |||||||||
| Children The Dinham-Price Family – first prize | Victor the Viking | |||||||||
| RED LION COMPETITIONS 2011 | Winners | |||||||||
| Quiz winners | Norfolk ‘n Good team. | |||||||||
| Darts challenge | Graham Shepherd | |||||||||
| Skittles challenge | Alan Derryman overall winner | Annette Pearce – winning lady | ||||||||
| PHOTOGRAPH COMPETITION Theme: Seasons in Sidbury - 86 photographs submitted | ||||||||||
| Seniors First | Second | Third | Commended | |||||||
| Anne Jones | Penny Lamb | Rita Hull | Sue Gooding, Sheila Guest | |||||||
| Juniors First | Second | Third | Commended | |||||||
| Sam Putman | Luke Wheeler | Sam Woodruff | Corey Roden, Chris Woodruff, Jessy Wheeler | |||||||
| CHILDREN’S PAINTING COMPETITION Theme: Seasons in Sidbury | ||||||||||
| FIRST | SECOND | THIRD | HIGHLY COMMENDED | |||||||
| Class One | ||||||||||
| Jessy Wheeler | Maddy Searle | Lawrence Coles |
Marla Roper-Kum
|
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| Class Two | ||||||||||
| Will Bolton | George Chapman | Evie Rowe | Lucy Spiller | |||||||
| Class Three | ||||||||||
| Sky Rowbotham | Josh Miller | Zoe Mould | Maisie Lyon | |||||||
| Class Four | ||||||||||
| Abi Pearse | Nathan White | Codie Preece | Alfie Crick | |||||||
| CUPS PRESENTED ON FAIR DAY | ||||||||||
| Rogers Cup | Roger Davey | |||||||||
| Hamlin Poultry Cup | Mrs. S. Owen | |||||||||
| Davey Cup for Best Pen of Lambs | L & M Coles of Harcombe | |||||||||
| DUCK RACE RESULTS | ||||||||||
| WINNER | RUNNERS UP | |||||||||
| Katie Gilbert | Gavin Cook, Derek Marchant | |||||||||