NAILSEA
PEOPLE
Nailsea Community Christmas Fair
Backwell Camera Club NCCF 2016
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |
Backwell Camera Club is based in a North Somerset village near Bristol.
On Friday evening at Nailsea Community Christmas Fair its members were out in force on the cold December evening for an official photoshoot.
The results in this slideshow are spectatular.
The slideshow contains the images of Hilary Britland, Sue Boniface, Denzil Ellis, Daphne Smith and Mike West.
All work is the copyright of the photographer - for permission to reproduce click HERE.
BCC has a reputation for being a friendly club which welcomes all who hold an active interest in photography.
The club is affiliated to the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB) through the Western Counties Photographic Federation (WCPF).
It is committed to helping fellow members improve their photographic skills through the experience it provides.
Weekly meetings on a Thursday evening are at Backwell WI Hall and its programme includes guest speakers, competitions and presentations by individual members and groups.
For more information cick HERE.
On Thursday, January 5, is the Darwin Knockout Competition, a fun event where the members decide the winner.
For Thursday, January 12, Victoria Hillman BSc, MSc will present Creative Macro Photography.
This award winning photographer and National Geographic Explorer’s talk focuses on more creative macro photography in the field, covering both black and white and colour, close-up and in habitat shots.
Victoria covers what macro photography is, equipment needed, challenges and how to overcome them as well as the little extras that she recommends you carry in your bag at all times.
Gordon James FRPS on Thursday, January19, will present Travels With A Camera” and The Spike Island Project.
In the first he will talk about how to get the most out of travel photography without simply repeating the postcard shots and without alienating any travel companions that are not photographers.
In the project he will show the Spike Island prints, explain how and why the project came about and talk about working on a 'collaborative photographic project'. Finally on Thursday, January 26, there is a Girls Night In.
An eclectic selection of images accompanied by words of wisdom and frivolity from our in-house photographers Jo Shepherd, Corinne Vicarage, Anna Dagger, Debbie Boobier, Alison McKay, Eileen Bax and Sarah Robbins.
All are welcome to attend at 7.30pm.
Grete Howard NCCF 2016
 |  |
|---|---|
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |
-
TAKE TWO: Grete and her husband David Howard live at Scotch Horn Way. The couple are passionate about photography, obsessive about travel and like living life to the full especially in retirement. Grete who has taken photographers at home and away has captured on film everything from Easter Island to the Olympic torch parade at Nailsea
Phil Williams photos NCCF 2016
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |
At the skate rink NCCF 2016
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |
Our pop-up photoshop NCCF 2016
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
|  |  |
Photos from Nailsea people NCCF 2016
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
On site at 9am until 9pm NCCF 2016
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |
Nailsea Community Christmas Fair 2016
RAFFLE WINNERS – all prizes kindly donated
1) Huge TESCO food hamper – Carey Elswood, of Walnut Close
2) £50 grocery voucher from Waitrose - Lorena Fernandez, of Vowles Close
3) MPW three course Sunday lunch for four at Cadbury House, Congresbury – Debbie Fowler, of Tetbury Gardens
4) The Hippodrome, Bristol, two family Cinderella panto
tickets (four seats) for 6pm performance on Tuesday
evening, January 3
a) First ticket – Lianne Poole, of Birchdene
b) Second ticket – Anna Mead, of Helston Road
5) Queenies £50 holly wreath – Lucy Savory, Wareham Close
6) PS Travel £30 holiday voucher – Dereik Jacquest, Blakeney Grove *
7) Baker the Butchers £20 meat voucher – Elena Portero, of Harptree Close
8) Burchills the greengrocer £20 fruit and vegetable voucher – Sarah Jenkins, of Kingsmead
9) £20 voucher Cutting Edge hairdressing salon – Jill Reakes, of Vines Way
10) Food voucher £25 Wetherspoons – Lisa Hampstead, of Morgan’s Hill Close
11) Sunday lunch carvery for two at Ring O’Bells £20 - John Wilson, of Fouracres Close
12) Golden Leaf decorative glassware coasters and oval bowl from Orchards furniture store – Phillips Williams, Station Road *
LUCKY PROGRAMME WINNER (£50 donated by Publishing Today)
Mrs Griffin, of Ridgeway
NB: All winners have been notified and either collected or had their prize delivered except for those marked *
Capturing Christmas on camera
Fancy a professional photo shoot while strolling out at Nailsea Community Christmas Fair?
Well thanks to optometrists Lynne Fernandes who has loaned her old shop at Kings Court to Nailsea photographer Suzi Bird for the night you can pop-in to a pop-up photoshop and pose with some exciting and fun Christmas hat props.
Suzi runs Sunlight Photography but for one night only will be in action capturing happy memories of the people going to the festive event.
She will be charging just £1 to get an image emailed to you or £2.50 per mini Polaroid prints which customers will have to return an hour later to collect during this very special photoshoot evening.
Lynne moved to 124A High Street last year and when NCCF where searching for a property for its photoshop she was happy to help.
Suzi Bird is a North Somerset professional photographer whose granddad Brian Cave served on Nailsea Town Council and dad Mike is a current councillor.
She specialises in portraits, weddings and dance photography.
A former Nailsea School student Suzi, aged 22, set up her own photography business after graduating from the University of South Wales in photography for fashion and advertising.
Suzi is also a dancer who started baby classes aged three and now takes adult ballet classes with the Adele Stitch School of Dance at Nailsea.
But her day job is as a professional dance photographer.
Her work involves photo shoots for dancers and actors to use in their portfolios.
She also does portrait and wedding photography.
Pop up photoshop oepn 5.30-8.30pm.
To see more of Suzi’s work click HEREor look in Nailsea People gallery 2016.
Photographers from Backwell Camera Club will also be wandering around the town centre recording the proceedings for posterity.
Panto princess is starring at Nailsea Christmas fair
Panto princess Chloe Hawkins is the rising star who will sparkle at Nailsea Community Christmas Fair on Friday evening, December 2.
Chloe will light up Somerset Square when the Christmas tree decorations are switched on at dusk.
The traditional festive fun at Nailsea runs from 5.30-8.30pm and begins with a glow in the dark lantern parade.
This starts at Wetherspoon pub The Glass Maker and winds its way through Crown Glass Place with its skate rink and Santa’s Grotto, meandering past the food stalls at Colliers Walk, round by the help desk at the library to arrive at Somerset Square just in time for the entertainment to kick-off.
The entertainment includes a wandering jazz band, juggling illusionist and comedian Mr Crimbo, Mr Alexander’s Travelling Show with his two pet performing dogs Mimi and Blue, stilt walkers and shopping centre mascot Honeysuckle the Bee with also be buzzing around.
The reindeers will be at Clevedon Walk and a ‘taster’ foodie stall and Rotary choir is outside Waitrose.
Charity stalls will be parked all along High Street, new neighbourhood bar and café Coates House will be open and serving mulled wine from its front garden, professional photographer Suzi Bird will be setting up her photo booth at Kings Court in the shop vacated by Lynne Fernandes when she moved across the road, the new Montessori nursery Secret Garden is inviting people in for a peek and will have a stall outside, there will be a helter-skelter at Royal Oak garage, bands at Royal Oak pub and craft fair at Tesco.
Former Backwell School and Weston College student Chloe landed the coveted leading lady role in Beauty And The Beast alongside Fools And Horses secondhand car salesman John Challis at The Playhouse, Weston-super-Mare which opens on Saturday, December 10.
Princess
As a young girl growing up in Backwell Chloe dreamed of being a Disney-style princess and now her wish has come true.
Chloe said: “The part of Beauty has always been my favourite.”
Chloe didn’t tell the director she was local when she auditioned for Princess Beauty the beautiful heroine and was delighted to learned she was cast purely on merit.
She said: “I really did not think it was going to happen – that I would get to perform in this theatre again.
“My only other appearances at The Playhouse were when I was studying at Weston College and we did our end of year shows here.
“So the last time I performed there would have been 2010.”
The panto has all the right ingredients including a wicked witch, handsome prince who is turned into a horrid beast, a madcap inventor and oddball characters like Muscles from Brussels and Djon M’tard plus the utterly bonkers dame.
Chloe’s mum and step dad Alison and Mark Hieron and older sister Lucy Hawkins still live in the village and hope to pop along to the fair.
Chloe won’t be the only panto person at the Nailsea fair as Bristol Hippodrome people will be promoting their seasonal show Cinderella with Torvill & Dean ice-skating stars by giving away glow-bands and other freebies.
Among the prizes for the grand draw are family panto tickets, supermarket food hampers, Marco Pierre White dining out treat at Cadbury and lots of vouchers donated by local traders.
Hundreds of online tickets for the skate rink have already been sold and at the Saturday market, November 19, NCCF is running a lantern making workshop 10am-noon in the former Young Possums shop as well as manning a stall selling raffle tickets and programmes.
The High Street will be closed to traffic from mid-afternoon and to meet legal and licensing rules a 20p admission fee is being charged although a family goes free with a £1 programme.
Programmes and raffle tickets can be bought in advance from The Blue Room and Hunter Leahy estate agents who sponsored the first hour skating session for children from Ravenswood School.
More than 40 food, craft and charity stalls are booked already with more signing up by the minute and many of the shops are staying open late.
Santa’s Grotto will be open slightly earlier from 4.30pm and the skate rink, both at Crown Glass Place, will be open 2-9pm and again 10am-5pm on Saturday, December 3.
Children from Kingshill Church School choir, Grove Pre-School, 1st Nailsea Scout Beavers and a couple of dance troupes will be making lanterns to join in the parade.
To pre-register for the lantern workshops, book a stall and/or take part in the entertainment email nailseacommunitychristmasfair@gmail.com.
Market day lantern workshop for all
Learn how to make a lantern at our workshop on market day at Nailsea.
Clevedon artist Stephie Fitch will be at the farmers' market on Saturday, November 19, armed with some completed lanterns to inspire, ready- prepared coloured tissue, pva glue, spreaders and paper ribbons to decorate but could probably use extra recycled plastic bottles.
Stephie will be showing people of all ages how to make lantern which will be lit with LED T-lights supplied free on the evening of the parade.
You can pre-book by emailing nailseacommunitychristmasfair@gmail.com or register as soon as you get to market .
The workshop will be in the empty retail unit formerly home to Young Possums.
Christmas tree lights switch-on, Santa’s Grotto, reindeers, clowns and walk-about entertainers, grand raffle with lots of prizes, skate rink, lantern parade, carol singers and dancers, pop-up photo-shop and camera club exhibition, hoopla, swing-boats, inflatable helter-skelter, arts and craft stalls, street food, fire engine, singers, dancers and musicians and much more with many shops staying open late
Lastest news on Nailsea Christmas fair 2016
Nailsea Community Christmas Fair is back for December 2016 – big time and we are telling everyone!
And that big time includes recycling lots and lots of plastic bottles for its lantern parade.
Put together by a valiant group of volunteers supported by Nailsea businesses, churches, organisations and schools, the fair on Friday, December 2, promises to be a fabulous family treat.
The last street fair was dubbed its biggest and best but by 2011 like Glastonbury it needed a break and was struggling to find a new merry band of helpers.
Crown Glass shopping centre gallantly carried on the tradition of carol singing and putting a Christmas tree up in Somerset Square but people missed all the festive stalls and fun.
See photos of Christmas past below.
Committee member Lynda Dicks said: “Everyone has been so positive and supportive – we have been going around checking which shops will be staying open late and collecting prizes for our grand raffle and the response is fantastic with lots saying ‘thank goodness you are back’.”
The committee is hoping that ‘rehearsals permitting’ the panto princess from The Playhouse, Weston-super-Mare can come along to turn-on our Christmas tree lights.
The former Backwell school girl Chloe Hawkins will be on stage this December with Only Fools And Horses star John Challis as Beauty in Beauty And The Beast at the North Somerset seaside theatre.
But Bristol Hippodrome staff will be at Nailsea giving out free balloons and glow sticks to advertise their Christmas production of Cinderella starring world famous skaters Torvill & Dean.
And the grand raffle has panto tickets to win as well as a huge Tesco Christmas hamper, meat and holiday vouchers and more.
The plan is to start with a lantern parade at The Glass Maker at Crown Glass Place with the main entertainment at Somerset Square, stalls all along the High Street ending at a craft fair at Tesco supermarket.
At Crown Glass Place is the skate rink with its snow machine and Christmas music which will be open from 2pm on the Friday and most of Saturday too.
Estate agents Hunter Leahy has kindly sponsored the first hour of skating for the young people from Ravenswood School on Friday afternoon.
The High Street will be closed to traffic from late afternoon.
Lynda added: “We are running various workshops for people of all ages to learn how to make lanterns out of recycled plastic bottles including at the November farmers’ market and on the night we will be giving out free LED lights for the lanterns.”
To find out more about the lantern workshops, book a stall, take part in the entertainment email nailseacommunitychristmasfair@gmail.com.
The NCCF will be selling its 2016 programmes, raffle and skate rink tickets at the two farmers’ markets on Saturdays, October 15 and November 19 - if they are back from the printers but please bring along any plastic bottles we can recycle for our lantern parade.
And any willing hands are welcome at the next NCCF planning meeting on Monday, October 17 at the Trinity Centre.
Next meeting date
Exciting festive happenings for Nailsea Community Christmas Fair - come along to the next planning meeting on Wednesday, October 5, at 7.30pm but this meeting is in the garden room and not in our usual room at Trinity Centre next to Holy Trinity church.
Links to all the forms you need to be part of the entertainment or a stallholder are in text below.
To book a slot at the skate rink click HERE.
In the pipeline plans to book and lantern workshop and panto people to the town centre event.
Festive forms and fings for Christmas
Christmas is nearly wrapped up in festive paper(work) as Nailsea Community Christmas Fair has forms for everything all to be completed long before the street fun begins on Friday, December 2, from 5.30-8.30pm.
So if you have been involved in any way in the planning stage you need to complete a contact form which you can download HERE.
To book a stall all the information is HERE.
To come along and sing, dance or play a musical instrument or be part of the wonderful lantern parade the form you need is HERE.
And finally if you are a shop which is staying open late, want details of our sponsorship deals or can donate a prize for our grand raffle the form for you is HERE.
Gosh – was that too much information?
Well not completely finished yet – the skate rink - it’s nice but not ice – has extended opening hours from Friday last afternoon and evening, December 2 to all day on Saturday, December 3.
Tickets should be pre-booked in half-hour slots at £4 plus booking fee online - and a link will be posted here at the end of this week.
Small skaters who need a penguin to push around (three per session) or for those who need to sit and glide in a skate chair these can also be reserved at no extra cost.
Attractions so far include Christmas lights switch-on, Santa’s Grotto, clowns and walk-about entertainers, grand raffle with lots of prizes, skate rink, lantern parade, carol singers and dancers, pop-up photoshop, hoopla, swing-boats, inflatable helter-skelter, arts and craft stalls, street food, singers, dancers and musicians and much more.
Posters advertising NCCF will be going up soon and flyers will be handed out for THE event which will stretch from The Glass Maker at Crown Glass shopping centre up through Colliers Walk, Somerset Square, Clevedon Walk, High Street all the way to Tesco supermarket.
We are also putting together a map and programme to let people know what is going where but because of 'regulations' a small 20p entrance charge will have to be made so stallholders don’t have to pay an exorbitant street trading fee.
The next NCCF planning meeting is on Monday, September 19 at 7pm at the Trinity Centre next to Holy Trinity church - new faces very welcome.
NAILSEA COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS FAIR
NEXT MEETING DATE...
All coming along beautifully...next meeting on Monday, August 1, at 7pm at the Trinity Centre.
Everyone welcome especially street walkers - the sort that use stilts, magicians and entertainers.
We are busy mapping out what is going where and after the school summer holidays we will be inviting choirs, bands, dance groups to join us but please express an interest now and we will add you to the list.
If you would like a stall £10 charities £20 commercial (canopies extra) email nailseacommunitychristmasfair@gmail.com for booking form
Look who ended up on back of a Tesco lorry!
After basking in the glory of our wonderful Nailsea carnival float it is back to the matter in hand...Nailsea Community Christmas Fair.
Our next planning meeting is on Monday, July 11, upstairs at Tesco. We have moved on to the health & safety agenda with road closures and risk assessments but not everything in life can be exciting.
Our festive fair looks like being the best ever - for anyone with a spare moment you are very welcome to come along on Monday...sign-in at the customer services desk.
Lots more photos in the gallery by clicking HERE.
We are all going on a piano hunt
Would you like to sing, dance or perform at Nailsea Community Christmas Fair on Friday, December 2?
Perhaps you would like a stall – charity or commercial?
All you have to do is email nailseapeople@gmail.com and we will send you a booking form.
NCCF next meeting starts with a search for a piano followed by a pub crawl.
It isn't as flippant as it sounds as a 'honky tonk' session is one of the features of the fair.
While we don’t need a classical grand we do need some sort of musical instrument that our pianist can play.
Planning for the festive fair is coming along nicely and so far the skating rink at Crown Glass Place and the craft fair at Tesco supermarket are firm fixtures.
Lantern workshops, travelling theatre groups, marching bands, festive keep-fit classes, first aid post, choirs and street entertainers are all being sourced with seasonal goodwill and a limited budget.
The December event will coincide with the switching on of the Christmas tree lights at Somerset Square, hopefully a colouring competition at the library and there will also be a Santa's Grotto in the shopping precinct.
And if anyone knows anyone with a fairground carousal…okay this maybe just a Christmas wish too far.
Another Christmas pie in the sky wish is that skating legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean who are starring in the Bristol Hippodrome pantomime will come along and open the fair...
In the High Street are plans for a Pop-up Photoshop, outdoor open mic at the Royal Oak pub, pool competition for young people wearing Santa hats, magic show under The Arcade and something magical at Clevedon Walk outside School Togs and Nailsea Cycle Shop.
The purpose of the aforementioned pub crawl is to book fundraising evenings at our locals to ensure NCCF really does have a community feel with all involved and to collect promises of raffle prize.
Anyone interest is invited to meet at the Ring O'Bells on Monday, May 23, at 6pm.
If you can't make this the next meeting will hopefully be on Monday, June 6, with North Somerset Council licensing official George Rowe coming along to discuss road closures on the afternoon and night of the fair.
The second date is still TBC.
Our Nailsea festive tick list
It is beginning to feel a bit like Christmas at Nailsea TICK.
Skating rink TICK, lantern workshops TICK, co-ordinate with Christmas tree lights switch-on TICK, collecting prizes for Christmas draw TICK, pub crawl to recruit fundraisers TICK, pop-up Photo Shop TICK, High Street pub outdoor open mic singsong TICK, shopping precinct Santa Grotto TICK, Nailsea Community Christmas Fair new branding TICK, NCCF new branding colouring competition TICK, sort new bank account for NCCF TICK and next time talk about recruiting stallholders, dancers and singers for town centre performances and putting together a map of events TICK.
Finally next planning meeting on Monday, May 9, at Tesco TICK.
For more information email nailseacommunitychristmasfair@gmail.com.
To download a booking form for charity and commercial stalls click HERE.
Everyone is welcome at planning meetings.
Figuring out festive finances
Nailsea Community Christmas Fair has donated £300 to Nailsea Skate Park Project.
The new planning team found it inherited a small windfall thanks to the prudent accounting of the previous street fair committee and were happy to honour a ‘promise’ to help the youth initiative.
However with limited funds and big ideas for this December it decided not to make any more grant commitments to worthy community causes until its checks its bank balance nearer the 2016 event.
Meanwhile Heritage the High Street estate agent is helping to size up Crown Glass Place to ensure an ice-skating rink will fit the dimensions.
With doubts that a laser measuring tool will work outside metres of bright yellow masking tape will also be employed and some Nailsea School maths students will be coming along for support.
Watch this space and when we have figured out if it will fit we’ll let you know...
Meanwhile NCCF is looking for prizes for its grand raffle and one of the first offers of help has come from Nailsea resident and Cadbury House hotel manager Colin Badcock of dinner for four at the Marco Pierre White restaurant at Congresbury.
Thank you Colin.
Christmas before Easter!
It is time to start number crunching to figure out if an ice-skating rink for the Nailsea Community Christmas Fair will fit into Crown Glass Place while Nailsea School media students get to work on the branding with a new logo.
If anyone has any recommendations about where to hire traditional fairground rides or street entertainers please share your expertise.
We heard of a lantern making workshop at the Tobacco Factory - anyone know who organised it?
We have a form for would-be stallholders, entertainers and people willing to help to fill in, please download from this page.
What was really spooky this week was while we were at the lovely Trinity Centre coffee lounge skatepark guru Phil Williams took this photo for Twitter using a mirror on the ceiling!
The next planning committee meeting at is 7pm on Monday, March 14, at Tesco. Meet at the customer service desk.
If you would like to come along email nailseacommunitychristmasfair@gmail.com and we will send you details.
NCCF peeps are also thinking about joining Nailsea Carnival procession on Saturday, July 2, and this is top secret but the theme could be...wait for it...Christmas.
Please save your old tinsel and baubles because they will need lots of festive decorations.
-
I know the shops are selling Easter eggs so it looks as if we are getting ahead of ourselves but DoubleTree by Hilton, Cadbury House, hotel at Congresbury is already booking Christmas parties so perhaps not! Here is the NCCF form (double click) for those expressing an interest in being part of our festive street fair in Nailsea - merry Christmas, xx
CONTACT DETAILS
Facebook: Nailsea Community Christmas Fair - click to take you to page
Email: nailseacommunitychristmasfair@gmail.com
Twitter: @ChrimboN
Website page: https://www.nailseapeople.com/nailsea-community-christmas-fair
-
The next meeting of the NCCF is on Monday, March 14, 7pm at Tesco
-
Nailsea Community Christmas Fair is on Friday, December 2 from 5pm onwards
Christmas is coming...
It is with a 'leap' of faith we have set the next planning meeting as Monday, February 29, at Holy Trinity church coffee lounge at 7pm.
The good news is lots of people are showing interest the bad news is it you wear an adult shoe size bigger than 13 or child shoe size small than 8 then sorry ice-skating will be a none starter for you!
Then there is a plan to build a Santa's Grotto in one of the empty units at Crown Glass shopping centre and an entry for Nailsea Carnival.
From a parade of lanterns to live reindeer lots of suggestions still being tossed around and decisions will be made soon...watch this space, go on our Facebook page or email questions to nailseacommunitychristmasfair@gmail.com.
Busy festive street scene
Hundreds of people have ‘liked’ the idea of a Nailsea street fair for 2016 on social media.
And at a planning meeting at Tesco supermarket on Monday, January 25, the idea was kicked into play by an enthusiastic team of Nailsea people.
But the emphasis was on involving everyone from schools, youth groups including Scouts and Guides, businesses, churches and charities so the name Nailsea Community Christmas Fair was borne.
The chosen date is Friday, December 2, from 5-8.30pm.
It was hoped stalls and entertainment could run from The Glassmaker public house at Crown Glass shopping centre up Colliers Walk, through Somerset Square and all along the High Street ending at Tesco supermarket which planned to host its own three day craft fair to coincide with the festive Friday evening event.
And suggestions from a town centre ice-skating rink to a parade of lanterns were discussed with people tasked with putting on their thinking caps and going away to investigate all the possibilities.
From arts & crafts to fairground stalls, it was muted the charge would be £10 for a community space and £20 for a commercial stand.
And there would be a need for entertainers, dancers and people to make music.
The last street fair in Nailsea was in 2011 but folded after fewer and fewer people got involved.
If people in Clevedon have successfully resurrected their annual St Nicholas Fair at Hill Road which magically reappeared last year and for on the 2016 calendar for Thursday, December 1, it was agreed Nailsea could also host its own seasonal street celebration.
Tesco Nailsea community champion Debs Bear was chosen as chairman, Golden Valley Primary School deputy head teacher Jo Hopkinson as secretary and Aegon UK manager Clare Elswood as treasurer.
Others so far joining at the planning stage are Gilly Chu, of Gilly’s cafe; Phil Williams, of Nailsea Skatepark Project , Nailsea Town Council vice chairman Clare Hunt , Nailsea People editor Carol Deacon, Blue Room owner Sharon Brown, Publishing Today owner and town councillor Julie Petford, supported by Geof Delmege, Jane Falkinder and Jacqui Nelson.
People were tasked with getting costs and information about insurance, first aiders, risk assessments and road closures, publicity from designing posters to joining social media, canopies for the stalls and recruiting schoolchildren singing carols in the square.
The next planning meeting is on Monday, February 8, 7pm at The Blue Room.
Nailsea Community Christmas Fair 2016
Christmas past could become Christmas present thanks an initiative by Tesco supermarket to host a Nailsea Community Christmas Fair.
An open air street fair ran in Nailsea for more than a decade but it was dodged by bad weather and spiralling costs and the last one was held back in 2011.
Before that was a Victorian fair but this failed as people found it difficult to get the authentic costumes which when it rained became very wet and heavy.
And the final straw came when James Rogers & Sons who ran the fairground at Clevedon Road car park pulled out saying they hadn’t made a profit for two years.
This led to people from Nailsea & District Chamber of Trade and Commerce, church and youth groups throwing in the towel.
But since its demise people have missed the family orientated event with many asking ‘when is it coming back?’.
People in Clevedon have successfully resurrected their annual St Nicholas Fair at Hill Road which magically reappeared last year and is on the 2016 calendar for Thursday, December 1.
Now Tesco community champion Debs Bear wants to do the same in Nailsea and is putting out feelers to see if anyone is interested in a 2016 festive fair.
Already people who care like Gilly Chu, of Gilly’s cafe; Phil Williams, of Nailsea Skate Park Project; Golden Valley Primary School deputy head teacher Joanne Hopkinson, Lynda Dicks, of Holy Trinity church and many of the staff working at the High Street supermarket have all shown interest.
Debs said: “This will be an event involving the whole community and while I have several volunteers already, we would really like to ensure that as many individuals, organisations, businesses and charity groups are involved as possible.
“The date chosen is Friday evening, December 2, and we are looking for any organisations or individuals who would like to get involved.
“Anyone interested in helping with the planning and organisation is invited to a meeting on Monday, January 25, at 7pm.
“Just come along to the Customer Service Desk and we will direct you.”
Any questions contact Debs at Tesco or email nailsea@communityattesco.co.uk.
Crown Glass Shopping Centre has been organising some Christmas cheer with a Christmas lights switching-on ceremony at the end of November and a series of carol concerts at Somerset Square.
And Tesco Nailsea has organised mini-Christmas fairs on its covered frontage for the past two years but the idea now it to involve the community.
