St Anthony’s Summer Fayre 2006 - Thank you all so much

By Yvonne Nielsen, Chair of the Fayre Committee


Kraainem (11 December 2006).- Well Christmas is nearly here and we have already started to plan for next year’s Fayre which will be on Sunday, 10th June 2007. However, let’s take a step back and remember the wonderful Fayre we had this year. The weather as usual was wonderful but dare I say it, a little too warm for us. Next year we need good weather but no warmer than 25degrees Celsius, please.

Yet again, I am staggered by the great contributions and effort put in by everyone on the Fayre Committee and volunteers who come and help in the run up to the Fayre and on the actual day. The Fayre would not continue to be the amazing event that it is, in terms of fund raising and helping to continue to foster community spirit, if it wasn’t for each one of you. So please give yourself a pat on the back and accept our sincere thanks for all your time and considerable effort. 

The Fayre again this year offered a cornucopia of delights. The Food Stalls were as usual of the highest calibre with lots of delicious goodies on offer. The Bar as usual rose to the challenge of quenching everyone’s thirst which was very much needed on this exceptionally hot day. The Book Stall, the Bric a Brac Stall and Clothes Stall were a great success and continued even after the day of the Fayre to sell their goods. Many thanks for this extra work. The Games, the Bouncy Castle, Face Painting and the Pony rides exceeded all expectations and delighted all participants from the youngest to oldest. The Bottle Stall surprised and delighted in equal measure the lucky ones won a bottle of Malt or for the less fortunate a jar of beans, all in the luck of the draw. A special note of thanks should be extended to Liam O’Luanaigh who yet again excelled as the Master of Ceremonies on the day keeping his cool in the intense heat. He helped to keep everyone informed of what was on offer and kept the entertainment flowing with his usual wit and repartee.

The Entertainment this year was of the highest calibre. We panicked at the beginning of the year thinking we would not have enough acts but in the end we had a wonderful array of talent. We had the Brussels Big Band which meant we had over 30 musicians on the stage an amazing feat of engineering. The big band was fantastic and had everyone’s toes tapping to the music. We had marvellous displays of dance from all over the world. We had wonderful flamenco dancers, stunning Irish dancers who delighted the audience with their routines, lively African dancers, exquisite Philippi no dancers and of course the Karen Ward British school dancers with their fun displays. We had a wonderful Belgian singer Marjorlaine, an Irish Folk Group, the American Community Choir, Los Eternos a Spanish Folk Group, Crossroads Folk Group and our own Folk Group were was as usual superb. As if this was not enough, we also had the Brussels Caledonian Corneymusers Pipe Band, dressed in traditional attire, even in the scorching heat they turned up in their kilts which as a Scot made me feel very proud and nostalgic. Another great addition this year was the Fashion Show put on by our young parishioners on behalf Clothes Stall, a great fun idea Eleonora. We do have some exceptionally sassy young people.

The Tombola was also a success and special thanks must go to Ylva Mafeld for taking up the challenge of organising and running this major part of the Fayre. Also special thanks to Edward Hedges for his tireless endeavours in obtaining Tombola prizes from local businesses and ensuring that the Fayre was well publicised in the Belgian Media. We are now on the look out for anyone who would like to run the 2007 Fayre Tombola, a key role.

However, I think I’ve kept you waiting long enough. What you really want to know is how much we made. Well, as always it was exceptional, we made nearly 19,000 euro profit a truly amazing feat considering the added competition this year from compete ting events on the day of the Fayre. This money made a major contribution towards the cost of the new church car park. So many, many thanks to everyone for making the Fayre such a wonderful success. 
If you would like to join the Fayre committee please email yvonnenielsen@tiscali.be

Tombola 2007
Several years ago we were very fortunate to have generous sponsors for all the prizes for the Tombola. However, in recent years, it has been necessary for the Parish to make a coniserable contribution to the purchase of Tombola Prizes (last year - almost €2.000). Most companies/businesses (multinational and local) prepare their sponsorship budget in December for the following year and we would ask our parishioners to conisder approaching companies/businesses that you believe may be willing to sponsor a prize (eg. Continental Airlines, Dell, British Airways, Aer Lingus, Air Malaysia, ING etc.). In our parish we have in excess of 40 different nationalities represented amongst our parishioners and it would be nice to have a Tombola list of prizes that reflected the geographic make-up of the parishioners. The tombola is a hugely important aspect of the Fayre and any support/assistance you could give us with securing sponsorship of prizes would be greatly appreciated

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