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Hundreds flock to St Cross fete
HUNDREDS of people flocked to a sunny St Cross fete on Saturday,June 28, held, as per tradition, in the beautiful and historic grounds of the Hospital of St Cross.
The buildings surrounding the grounds are home to the 13 brothers of St Cross, elderly gentlemen who are looked after by the parish.
The first St Cross fete was held as long ago as 1868 in order to raise money for the fitting out of the hospital church organ and it has been going strong ever since.
As well as raising money for the St Cross Hospital and its ancient church, money also goes to a national and international charity every year.
This year Help and Homes for Children, a charity based in Wiltshire helping people across Europe and in Africa, and Hampshire Air Ambulance will benefit from the fete's takings.
Last year the event raised £5,000 and organisers are hoping to surpass that when all the cash has been counted up.
Attractions included a wide range of stalls, games and train rides organised by Winchester Model Train & Engineering Society.
Entertainment was provided by Winchester Morris Men, a brass band and a Punch and Judy show.
John Pringle, fete co-ordinator, said: "The weather has been fantastic, it could not have been better. The fete has been going for well over 100 years and it is a really good community event. News of the fete gets round by word of mouth and people just love coming here. Last year we raised £5,000 but that was because the weather was so wet. We are hoping to surpass that this year."
Nigel Woodham of the Winchester Model Train 7 Engineering Society was driving visitors around on his mini steam engine Silver Pea.
Mr Woodham said: "We have been coming here for about 20 years. We enjoy the steam and getting to run the engines."
Jill Baker was helping on the cake and refreshments stall.
She said: "We have been worshipping at St Cross Church since we retired to Winchester in 1993 and we love it dearly. People come from all over the town to this fete, it is quite famous. I like the White Elephant stall and rummaging about for something I didn't know I wanted."
7:08pm Sunday 29th June 2008
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CommentPosted by: Bob Thompson on 2:29pm Mon 30 Jun 08
Couldn't agree more with the comments in the above. Excellent fete and look forward to the next!
Couldn't agree more with the comments in the above. Excellent fete and look forward to the next!
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