Every year, the annual Shiplake Christmas Fayre draws crowds of friends, staff, pupils and family to the Sports Hall to indulge in a mince pie and some mulled wine, whilst perusing stalls to get ahead of the game with Christmas shopping. This year, the Parent’s Association were thrilled as Shiplake had the most successful fayre in recent years.
The Sports Hall was packed with people; staff, parents and pupils were joined by members of the local community. Alongside the ever-popular mince pies, mulled wine and turkey and cranberry rolls, punters enjoyed looking round an abundance of stalls. All needs were catered for, from fine silver jewellery, candles and Christmas cards, to eyebrow threading, Turkish towels and dog treats. The Sports Hall was transformed into a winter wonderland, and the thronging crowds were testament to the amazing quality of merchandise on offer.
And there was plenty for children to do whilst Christmas shopping was taking place; Santa paid a visit, and his magical grotto had a steady stream of little ones visiting. There was also face-painting, kindly manned by Sixth Form volunteers, and the Kiln Café from Henley-on-Thames had pottery painting on offer for all ages. The Shiplake Community Choir delighted the visitors with a festive selection of carols and popular Christmas songs.
Burr House was selling apple juice made locally from the College orchard, and raising money for Gap Africa. Many other pupils were involved with stalls and raising money; the Business BTEC class ran two stalls, selling sweets and personalised Christmas boxes, complete with socks, hot chocolate and mugs for the perfect Christmas Eve. This helped them towards the 'Running a Business Event' unit of their course, and was an eye-opening experience for how much time and effort it takes to create pieces and run a business (even if just for the day!) It was a superb event with record-breaking numbers, and the Parents’ Association would like to extend a warm thank you to all who helped make the event so successful.
