Following our campaign in 2022 to attract energetic new members to the Melbourn Fete Committee, we are now in the happy position to plan our own event – the Melbourn Family Fun Day – in addition to supporting other village events through the loan of equipment and human resources including: Melbourn Open Gardens; The Hub’s Coronation celebrations; Melbourn Primary School’s Summer Fayre and Firework Display; and Turn on to Christmas in partnership with the Hub.

MELBOURN FAMILY FUN DAY 24 JUNE 2023

 After a 5 year break we are planning a summer event this June. It will be reduced in size compared to previous fetes, in fact this year we are calling it a Family Fun Day. We have just had our first meeting so details are still to be confirmed but the plan is to run the event on the playing fields near the village pavilion from 1 to 5pm on Saturday 24 June. There will be bouncy castles, soft play areas and other children’s activities. We hope to have stalls from local groups and commercial vendors. We are also planning on running some creative competitions such as baking. There will be classic and vintage vehicles and motorbikes on display. If you have a vehicle or motorbike you would like to show please contact us. We will have an arena for entertainment and of course this is where the popular egg throwing competition will take place. There will also be a tug of war contest. The pavilion will have tea, coffee and cakes for sale. There will be a bar and other food available elsewhere. We hope we will be able to put on a modest but fun event for the village so please put the day in your calendar. As always, we are happy to hear from volunteers who can help us on the day. More details will be posted on our website and Facebook page. You can contact us through our website or through e mail:  secretary.melbournfete@gmail.com  or on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MelbournFete

Dear Friends of Melbourn Fete Committee, could this be the end of the road for Melbourn Fete?

The Melbourn Fete Committee have essentially remained the same group of friends who have been organising the event for 20 years. We have often asked for volunteers to join us and indeed we have a very enthusiastic group of people who offer their help for the event weekend itself. However, with the odd exception we have had no new joiners to the organising committee itself. The last couple of years have seen the event cancelled and that has given the committee members a chance to assess what they want to do about future commitments to the fete. Whilst some are happy to continue there were several resignations that mean the Fete committee is not viable.

We have the following choices:

a. the summer fete ending

b. a significant number of volunteers joining the organising committee

c. a fresh start with an entirely new group of volunteers taking over the

entire operation.

If you would like to be involved in saving our village fete I ask that you contact the fete committee through secretary.melbournfete@gmail.com by the end of May.

It is important to note that the two fete offshoots, Melbourn Open Gardens and Turn on to Christmas are much smaller and simpler events and the present volunteers involved in these allow for their continuation. However, as always if you wish to be involved in these events your support would always be welcome.

Melbourn Family Fun Day Saturday 26 June 2021

Join us to celebrate the end of lockdown at Melbourn Family Fun Day on Saturday 26th June. Sadly we’ve had to postpone the Fete again because of financial uncertainties caused by the pandemic. However, we are organising a Family Fun Day taking some of the favourite elements of the fete and incorporating them into a scaled down event. Please make a note in your diary that our Fun Day will be on Saturday 26 June at the village playing fields near Melbourn Sports Pavilion starting at 12 and running for the afternoon. Obviously this all depends on the continued relaxation of the remaining Covid restrictions, but there are hopeful signs that this may happen. The final decision to hold the Fun Day will be made during the week leading up to the Fun Day and will be confirmed through social media and on our website http://www.melbournfete.com.

It will be a free event with some free fairground rides for younger children. In addition, there will be some favourites like egg throwing, tug of war, “beat the goalie” organised by our friends at Melbourn Dynamos FC and a brilliant local singer, Tom Froggatt, will be entertaining us. There will also be an ice cream van and lovely refreshments for sale from Homestart in the Pavilion Tea Room.

This will be a chance for us all to share and enjoy an afternoon with some free entertainment and mark the start of what we hope will be a life beyond this pandemic and a return to a more normal way of life. We are grateful to our sponsors and Melbourn Parish Council for their support.

Following the recent government announcement about the road map out of the pandemic lockdown, Melbourn Fete Committee met via Zoom to discuss holding a 2021 Fete.  After much discussion of the uncertainties around the earliest possible date for a resumption of large-scale events after June 21^st, the financial risks of late cancellation and fewer volunteers to put on a full-scale event, we have decided to delay the Melbourn Village Fete until June 2022. Nonetheless, the Committee is determined to put on some smaller scale events during 2021 to help celebrate the end of lockdown and a return to village social interactions that we have all been missing during the last 12 months.  Obviously, all plans at this time are dependent on the success of the journey out of lockdown.  We are proposing to hold the following 3 village events once the lockdown restrictions are finished:

1. Melbourn Fun Day: A free event primarily for young children and families that will include free games, competitions, rides and a bouncy castle. With thanks to Melbourn Parish Council, this will be held in the afternoon of Saturday 26^th June on the New Recreation Ground at the Moor next to Melbourn Sports Pavilion.  Our good friends have agreed to help us as follows:

Melbourn Walking Market will organise a market on the same day; and

Home Start www.hsrsc.org.uk will provide a tea and cake shop at Melbourn Sports Pavilion at the heart of these free attractions.

2. Melbourn Open Gardens:  This ever-popular event will be returning on 4th July with the opportunity to see some lovely Melbourn gardens at their summer best. There will also be an opportunity to buy plants and recuperate in the barn at Millside Cottage with tea and cake. Entrance to the open gardens will be through a passport system available from Millside Cottage in the centre of the village.  All profits from this event will go to a local charity or good cause.

3. Turn on to Christmas:  We hope to hold this popular free event in early December in partnership with our friends at the Hub.

Please hold these dates in your diaries and watch this space for more information about these events as planning progresses.

Melbourn Fete Committee

Dear Fete Supporters, please see the latest news about our plans for next year’s Fete that will be published in the Winter Edition of Melbourn Magazine. Please note that because of the pandemic we have had to cancel this December’s Turn On To Christmas.

Melbourn Fete Committee

Melbourn Fete 2021 : In these uncertain times we could all do with something to remind us of how life was before Covid and even more importantly something positive to look forward to.We at the Fete committee are desperate to put something together for next year. This is particularly true after cancelling the fete, open gardens and turn on to Christmas this year, which are essentially organised by the same team.Clearly we cannot predict what the situation will be early next summer and what we are able to safely organise. This poses some problems. Normally by now we would have booked some of the attractions; this we cannot do without risking losing a deposit. In addition once we get closer to the event and public health restrictions are clearer there will be an understandable surge by organisers of similar events locally to book the same attractions over a limited number of weekends.Our intention is to delay committing to any expense until we are more confident about public health restrictions. This will mean that the date of the event, normally the third weekend in June may have to be brought forward or delayed a few weeks to best cope with the situation. It also means that the content of the fete may be different to previous years.We will endeavour to try to do something. The best place to monitor our plans is through our facebook page. This will become more active from Spring 2021 as uncertainties start to reduce.We are looking forward to seeing you at an event soon.

MELBOURN FETE 2020

It is with great regret that this year’s fete has been postponed. The committee had to make a decision at the early stage of the lockdown to minimise the financial impact of cancellation as we were becoming liable to increasing upfront costs. We have been very fortunate that many of our sponsors have generously not asked for a refund, this means that all of our committed expenses are covered with some funds left to help with possible events later on in the year.
The provisional plan is to delay the fete until June 2021 the date has yet to be confirmed. It was a very sad decision to take and we look forward to a very special fete next year.
On alternative years with the fete, Open Gardens is organised by the fete committee. The event is held in September, if circumstances allow and restrictions are lifted we might be holding Open Gardens this year. It is likely the event will be organised at short notice as restrictions are amended so please keep an eye out on social media for details. In addition we also organise Turn on to Christmas in conjunction with the hub in early December when we switch on the festive lights. Again this event could still be affected by the continuing Covid 19 restrictions so we will keep you updated.
To the volunteers, sponsors and participants of the fete we thank you for your continued support. If you would like to help us with any of our events then please contact us through facebook or our recently changed website http://www.melbournfete.com.
The dinosaur suits in the photo were going to be a key part in a new and fun arena activity this year, they will return in 2021, in the meantime we wish you all a continued safe and healthy 2020.
Finally, the stunning artwork on the cover is from Kay Morland who is one of the Fete committee members.

The Fete Committee

Even though the Fete has had to be cancelled, Cheap Storage Ltd http://cheapstorageltd.co.uk and Cherry Park Industrial Estate, both local Melbourn businesses, have generously maintained their sponsorship of the Fete. This will be of great help to the committee in being able to stage related community events later in the year should circumstances allow.
We are truly grateful for their long standing and continuing support.

Dear Friends & Supporters of Melbourn Village Fete, it is with a heavy heart that we have to make this announcement. Melbourn Village Fete will be postponed until June 2021 because of the corona virus crisis. We will announce a date nearer to the time. We will be in touch with stallholders to arrange repayments for their pitches.
We hope to announce other Melbourn Fete events later this year including Turn on to Christmas and we may be able to organise an additional Melbourn Open Gardens in September if circumstances allow. In the meantime we wish you, your friends and families good health and wellbeing during this difficult time.

Melbourn Fete Committee

Members of Melbourn Fete Committee hard at work in the Dolphin planning another great  village Fete on 20th June 2020