On Saturday 21st November, Chertsey Rotary Club held the annual Charities Christmas fair, with more than 16 charities raising money for their respected causes. In 1983, 11 charities attended the first event, with £600 raised in total. The event is still going strong today, with £1500 raised this year.

This year, charities attending included Woking & Sam Beare Hospice, the Chertsey W.I and the RNLI. The Mayor of Runnymede, Derek Cotty, officially opened this year’s event. In the past, guests have included Bernard Cribbins and Michael Aspel. I had the opportunity to talk to the fairs organiser, Barbara Tomlinson, regarding how the fair first started. “This Christmas fair started when my son joined the brass band at the age of 9, and the band had a fundraising society, and every year we held innumerable jumble sales, in order to raise money for new instruments. We were set up where the old Co-op used to be in Addlestone, and used a small hall in there.” Soon after, Runnymede Council built the Chertsey Hall, however the Chertsey and Addlestone band could not afford to rent the hall out, as it was extremely expensive.

“However, we thought that we could make charities hire a stall, and therefore making the hall easy to rent. The fair first started in 1983, with charities such as RNLI and RSPB, and has gone on ever since! In 1999, I met Andrew Durrant when having my hair done, who suggested that the Rotary Club could sponsor the Christmas fair, and ever since they have hired the hall, meaning the stalls are free for the charities!”

The event continues to draw in a large number of people, with new charities attending every year. This year’s event raised the most money since 2009, and since the Rotary Club has started sponsoring the event, the charities have raised close to £30,000.

By James Stonehouse, St George's College Weybridge