Knutsford & District Lions Club

KNUTSFORD LIONS COMMUNITY FAIR

The Fair is designed to be a ‘true’ community event with a rare opportunity for many local charities and organisations to show locals what they do for our area. There is no charge for ‘pitches’ and charity stallholders retain any donations they receive on the day. Commercial and food and drink providers are asked to make a donation to the Lions Charity fund.

OUR 2024 COMMUNITY FAIR WAS HELD ON 27TH MAY - A LOVELY LOCAL EVENT..DESPITE A POOR WEATHER FORCAST AND DELUGE AT PEAK TIME!

LIONS COMMUNITY FAIR ON THE HEATH HELD ON BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY 29TH MAY 2023

This year’s Fair returned to Knutsford Large Heath on a gloriously sunny Late May bank holiday Monday after a special event for the late Queen’s Jubilee last year. For well over thirty years, interrupted only once by covid, Knutsford and District Lions Club has been staging an annual Fair for the benefit of many local charities, trades people, and the local community.

Musical entertainment was provided by Enoch’s Hammer Country Dance Band and Birchwood Brass Band

Knutsford Fire Station, who are recruiting on-call firefighters in the local area, brought along their large fire engine – they later attended a fire in Mobberley!

There was face painting, donkey rides, trampolines, a bouncy castle, fairground rides and a play area for the children, and crowds lined up to see the splendid owls from Lower Moss Wood.

Frisbee golf from Hope Central and ‘welly wanging’ from the Scouts raising funds for the World Scout Jamberee, provided competitive fun, and ‘It’s A Dog-Knockout’, allowed canine friends to race around an agility course, provided by the Well Healed Dog Club.

About forty owners entered their dogs in competitions to find ‘The Prettiest Pooch’ ‘The Waggiest Tail’ and ‘The Pouch Most Like Its Owner’, judged by Amelie our Knutsford May Queen, Town Mayor Peter Coan and UNE’s Paul Langley.

There was delicious food and drink including pizza, crepes, Greek street food, churros, and beer from Tatton Brewery, coffee, wine and fizz from Tatton Perk. Ice cream was very popular on the warmest day of the year so far.

Lions President Paul Buttrick said ‘It was a truly fabulous day and everybody seemed to have a great time. We are grateful to Tatton Estate for granting us use of the Heath and Knutsford Town Council for their support.

We would not be able to run this event without the wonderful support from Knutsford Hosts and volunteers.

We are so grateful to everyone who was involved, and of course the people of Knutsford who came to enjoy themselves.’

LIONS JUBILEE COMMUNITY FAIR - Bank Holiday Friday, June 2022

In 2022 our Community Fair on the large Heath formed part of the Knutsford Jubilee celebrations. Special features this year were dog demonstrations by Cheshire K9 Training and music by the Birchwood Brass Band. Many local charities, organisations and traders are continuing to face financial challenges due to a range of problems, so we did NOT ask for any payment from general stallholders. Large crowds attended the event and with fine sunny weather it proved to be a very successful day for all those involved, and we have had a lot of positive feedback from people who attended.

LIONS COMMUNITY FAIR - Saturday 7 August 2021

Originally planned for Bank Holiday Monday 31 May 2021, it was eventually successfully held on Saturday 7 August 2021 after most government Covid restrictions had been lifted.

There was a special new feature - Frisbee Golf with demonstrations by Mike Kaylor and we were joined by the Barnton Silver Band in the afternoon - in addition to our usual activities.

We had some rain which caused a few problems but despite this we had a very good attendance and we have had many appreciative comments from those who attended.

LIONS FAIR ON THE HEATH 27 May 2019

We held our annual Fair on Bank Holiday Monday 27 May - main attractions similar to our popular community Fairs held in the last two years on Knutsford large Heath - local organisation and charity stalls, music, refreshments, childrens activities, dog competitions, welly wanging and donkey rides etc.

In 2019 a special feature was Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service who brought along their recruitment pod with opportunties for the public to try out their firefighter tests, a kitchen safety unit and stall + childrens activities and a colourful special event fire engine available for inspection.

The Club recently had a talk by representatives of the charity Embassy and they brought along the Embassy bus, which has been impressively converted to accommodate 14 homeless people in the Manchester area - and there was an opportunity for people to look around the inside.

LIONS FAIR ON THE HEATH - 28 May 2018

We were kindly granted permission by Tatton Estates Management to hold our annual Fair on Knutsford Large Heath again - on Bank Holiday Monday 28 May. It was a lovely sunny day although too hot for Lions in costume this year which was a pity!

Attractions included a mixture of food and drink stalls, music, fairground rides, welly wanging, childrens games, dog competitions, donkey rides and face painting in addition to a wide range of trade and charity stalls (including a number of stalls by other Lions Clubs in our District). See flyer for the event. Below are a few pictures from the day.

LIONS CENTENARY FAIR - Bank Holiday Monday 2017

In 2017 Lions Clubs around the world celebrated 100 years since the formation of the first Lions Club. We are very grateful to Tatton Estate Management who kindly allowed us to set up a special Centenary Fair on the Heath in the centre of Knutsford.

What a great day of celebration of the Lions Centenary - many Lions in costume added to the sense of occasion, particularly with the "Big Friendly Lion" Competition - won by Neil from Urmston Lions, and their participation in the Tug of War! (see videos on our Facebook page).

Activities at the LIONS CENTENARY FAIR were summarised in our 'Centenary Fair Information Flyer'

CHARITY & TRADE STALLS - included crafts and plants stalls, Owls from Lower Moss Wood, Hearing Dogs for the Deaf + many local charities and organisations raising funds for their causes.

MANY OTHER LIONS CLUBS ATTENDED, mostly with their own stalls - Beaumaris, Buckley and Mold, Bangor, Congleton, Ellesmere Port, Hednesford, Leek (with a smart organ), Macclesfield, Sale, Stockton Heath, Stockport, Stoke on Trent, Stretford, Telford, Urmston, Uttoxeter, Vale Royal and Wilmslow. It was great to have so many Lions from different Clubs at our event.

CHILDRENS ACTIVITY AREA - fairground including bouncy castle, trampoline trailer etc., donkey rides, face painting, games provided by Friends of the Moor, ice cream and Mr. Simms sweet stall. Ian Young's family helped with the childrens' activities - in particular with a "Design a Welly Painting" Competition (see picture).

REFRESHMENTS AND MUSIC

In 2017 our regular Scouts Barbecue and Hannah Restaurant Indian food were joined by Pizza Maker, Chateau Crepes, Tatton Brewery and "Bubbles and Bale" prosecco van. The scouts provided tent, tables and seating and many people sat enjoying the music provided by Redwing.

Chris Oatway (Macclesfield Lions) also arranged for some entertainment and PA System in the Childrens activity area. Unfortunately the refreshment van that should have also been in that area had a breakdown on the day and was unable to attend!

SPONSORED WELLY WANGING

Two 'KNUTS' (welly throwing lanes) were set up - KNUTTERS of all ages competed by throwing four wellies down a KNUT for an entry fee of £1. Prizes for longest throws in 3 categories - picture shows District Governor Steve Shields presenting the trophy (produced by Knutsford Academy Studio) to the Junior winner. See our KNUTTERS GUIDE!

TUG OF WAR COMPETITION

Competition won by Everybody Leisure - trophy presented by Val Young. We are grateful to the Bosley Tug of War Club for bringing the rope and managing the Competition on the day.

Proceeds in aid of the East Cheshire Hospice, who also had a fund-raising stall.

PRETTIEST POOCH COMPETITIONS

Organised by two of our younger members - these proved particularly popular.

There were awards for The Waggiest Tail, The Prettiest Pooch and The Pooch most like their owner.

GRAND CENTENARY RAFFLE

27 great prizes - see List of Prizes. The draw took place on Monday 5 June at Knutsford Heritage Centre. We are very grateful to the donors who gave a great selection of prizes and to all the people who generously bought well over 2000 tickets.

PREVIOUS ANNUAL STREET FAIRS

From 1990 to 2016 Knutsford Lions organised an annual Street Fair in King Street on the late May Bank Holiday Monday. Each year we had a wide range of trade and charity stalls, food stalls and street entertainment for all the family. Examples are below:

KING CANUTE STREET FAIR - Bank Holiday Monday 30th May 2016

In 2016 we supported the Town's celebration of 1000 years since Canute the Great became King of All England. The town's name of "Canute's Ford" in the Domesday Book is reputed to have come as a result of his crossing of Knutsford's River Lily.

We had a sunny day and King Canute was delighted with the crowds that flocked to see his commemorative event. Thanks to all those who supported us - particularly those who dressed as Vikings! See pictures on our facebook page.

MAGNA CARTA STREET FAYRE - Bank Holiday Monday 25 May 2015

In 2015 we celebrated 800 years since the Magna Carta.

Our President was King John and members were a mixture of Barons and Ladies and a Villein - oh and also the rather colourful Court Jester. The Knutsford Town Mayor ('Tony Earl of Knutsford' for one day only) and royal May Queen joined us to judge the best stall!

There are more pictures and information about the 2013 (60 years since Coronation - red/white/blue theme), 2014 (Mad Hatter theme), 2015 (Magna Carta theme) and 2016 (King Canute theme) events on our facebook page.

2012 was a special Jubilee year, when the Bank Holiday was moved to the beginning of June and our event was adopted as one of the town's Jubilee Events - see pictures below. The weather was kind to us and the fair was crowded, with thousands of people attending over the day.

We arranged for up to about 40 stalls to be erected - available for local organisations or traders to hire for the day.

Stall holders enthusiastically incorporated the jubilee theme for their stalls in June 2012

We provided entertainment for all the family at various locations along the street - examples shown below:

Eckie Thump with his magic and balloon modelling entertained the younger children.

Street music and fire eating kept the adults amused!