We played host to a Christmas Craft Fayre, as well as providing our annual Santa's Grotto and taking orders for Christmas trees which we sell as part of the Museum's Social Enterprise. From 12pm-7pm we saw fantastic numbers of people take a look at what Craft stallholders had to offer, as well as be treated to a rousing performance of carols from our next door neighbours, Abbot's Hall Primary School.
Located in the barn itself, our trusty volunteers had helped us create a beautifully decorated area that had a real traditional Christmas feel. An atmosphere needed to help people get into the Christmas spirit a full month before the day itself! We had a fantastic selection of stalls, despite us not having the space to accommodate large numbers of people selling, we instead made sure we chose a diverse range of crafts that more than made up for it. With art and prints, Christmas cards and paper, jewellery, cakes (and what fabulous cakes they were!), handcrafted wooden decorations, all sorts of fabulous fabric fancies and some really superb handmade crayons that made very special childrens gifts, there really was so much to choose from.
As anyone that's familiar with the Museum knows, we're passionate about sustainability and supporting local economy. That's why we love events like this, that show off brilliant handmade items, but that also draw people into the Museum that may not be familiar with what we have, and what we do. We also really love to involve ourselves with the community, the town council did a really great job providing entertainment that kept people in the town, supporting local business.
So it's a massive thank you to all those that attended, another big thank you to the stallholders who braved the cold of the barn for over 7 hours! And an extra special thank you to Santa Claus himself, who listened to many, many childrens Christmas wish lists.
