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St Anthony’s Summer Fayre 2007 - Thank you all so much

By Yvonne Nielsen, Chair of the Fayre Committee

Kraainem (04 September 2007).- Well all our prayers were answered this year and the Lord provided us with wonderful weather yet again for the Annual Church Fayre which was held on Sunday, 10th June 2007. I remember writing a similar thank you last year and asking that the weather if possible be no warmer than 25degrees Celsius and God must have been listening as we had perfect weather, thank you. 

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 whole Parish community get involved from the Church Folk group to the Knights of St Thomas More. 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 and this year we had the added attraction of a Portuguese Stall selling espresso and Portuguese tarts. The Bar as usual rose to the challenge of quenching everyone’s thirst. 

Special thanks must go to the Book Stall, the Bric a Brac Stall and Clothes Stall for all their hard work not only on the day of the Fayre but in the weeks prior to the Fayre sorting and categorising stock. It is a big commitment and very much appreciated. Yet again these stalls made a significant contribution to the overall success of the Fayre. For book lovers, we will actually be selling any unsold stock on Sunday, 16th September, the day of the Meet and Greet, so please come and browse you never no what little gem of a book you might find. 

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. 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 were delighted to welcome back Mr John and Dr Rob who have now become a bit of Fayre institution. We had wonderful Irish dancers who delighted the audience with their routines, wonderful displays from the Jeanette Marino Dance School and the Karen Ward British school dancers with their fun routines. This year we were also delighted to welcome the Jane Law Scottish Country Dancers, a great addition. 

For the second year running, we were very lucky to have the wonderfully talented Belgian singer Marjorlaine. Also present was the splendid Brussels American Community Chorus keeping us entertain with their show tunes and the shoe tapping return of last year’s Irish Folk Group. This year we were delighted to welcome The Veers, a pop group made up of 4 of our own very talented young parishioners who had everyone rocking to their music. Our own Folk Group was as usual superb with Fr John on the accordion. For the second year running, we had a Fashion Show put on by our young parishioners on behalf of the Clothes Stall, many thanks to Eleonora. We do have some exceptionally sassy young people.

The Tombola was also a great success and returns were up on the last few years, thank you all for your support. This year the Vlerick School of Management made a significant contribution sponsoring our star prize and weekend break away. Special thanks must go to Edward Hedges one of our long standing parishioners who this year on turning the very young age of 70 years old, set out on a mission to ensure that he managed to obtain at least 70 tombola prizes from local businesses and restaurateurs . He more than exceeded his target. Thanks also to him for ensuring that the Fayre was well publicised in the Belgian Media. 

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 23,500 Euro profit an amazing amount of money. This money makes a significant contribution to the running cost of the parish. 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

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