Cuddington at the Circus

The 2005 Fête celebrated all the fun of the Circus, with clowns, jugglers, stilt-walkers, candy floss, toffee apples and much more.

Steve Davies built a terrific giant clown for the Upper Green, who swayed about as he balanced on his ‘high wire’.  On the Lower Green, the CircusBox troupe taught children circus skills in their ‘Little Big Top’ and finished the afternoon with a full performance.

The Fête was opened by the honourable Boris Johnson MP who said he was most impressed by the attractions on offer.  The event raised £3,977 for the village.

Greece Ancient and Modern – a Marathon Celebration!

With the 2004 Olympic Games being held in Athens, the Fête this year celebrated everything Greek – from the ancient gods and goddesses through Olympic sports to Greece as a modern holiday resort.

This year’s event was marred by heavy rain, so some attractions moved to the Bernard Hall while others were cancelled.  Nevertheless, there were demonstrations of archery, fencing and karate, and visitors were entertained by a most enthusiastic, authentic Greek band and dance troupe.  The Greek-style barbecue and taverna bar in Lower Church Street provided appropriate food and drink.

The 2004 Fête raised proceeds of £3,520 for the village.

Cuddington Ahoy!

The 2003 Fête celebrated Britain’s maritime heritage – everything to do with boats, sailors and the sea.

Village signs welcomed visitors to Cuddington-on-Sea.  An authentic Viking living history group, Regia Anglorum, camped out on the Lower Green for the whole fête weekend and brought with them a 20-foot replica Viking longboat.  They demonstrated ancient skills and crafts like spinning, weaving, leatherwork and woodwork, showed how to arm a Viking warrior, and re-enacted a major Viking battle!

In the true seaside tradition, every child who visited the fête was offered a free stick of Cuddington rock, and free eye-patches and cutlasses added the finishing touch to the children's pirate outfits.

This year’s Fête was opened by Commander Jeremy Nash OBE, who served with distinction as a World War II submariner, and a major highlight was the fly-past of a Spitfire and Hurricane from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Cuddington’s Medieval Pageant

In 2002, fête visitors were transported back in time to the England of the Middle Ages.  Here’s how the August 2002 edition of Village Voice reported the event:

The sun shone, the music played and the village enjoyed the biggest and most successful summer fête in its history.  All the fears over the weather proved to be groundless as the sun blazed its way through the village, sending all the committee (who were hard at work all morning setting up) home with sunburn.

There were, of course, the usual last-minute panics: Louise kidnapped Kevin at the village crossroads, evicting Saskia from the car to whisk him off to Nether Winchendon in a hunt for the missing coconut shy; Chris dashed off to the studios of Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio to hijack an extra set of public address speakers; and surely that wasn’t a fire engine parking on the Upper Green?  (We didn’t think they could make it!)

But promptly at half-past one the procession began, with Louise’s sister-in-law leading St George (alias fête chairman Karl Hine) on his mighty steed Uppity and Cuddington’s Medieval Pageant was under way.   The procession looked magnificent, with dozens of villagers in medieval costume and of course the children with their bright red and white shields and swords.  When the procession arrived at the Bernard Hall, Sherry Scott formally opened the proceedings and introduced Jill McCullough from BBC daytime TV’s “Life’s Too Short” programme.  Both then welcomed visitors to the pageant.

To say that this was a busy afternoon would be an understatement.  One poor woman on the “Nearly-New” stall removed her cardigan in the heat and disappeared for a few minutes, and by the time she returned her cardy had been sold!  The pig roast was all served up in little more than an hour, meaning frantic dashes to the fridge for the reserve stocks of burgers.  Michael, John and Tom were coping with a roaring trade in beer, punch and soft drinks, with the queue stretching out well into the road at times.  Owing to the heat and the weight of his heavy armour – which he refused to take off – St George jumped the queue a number of times to demand and consume pints of medieval ale, claiming he would otherwise faint.  Failure to oblige would no doubt have meant being run through by the thirsty knight’s sword, so the team complied!  The bar did actually run out of beer and were down to their last bottle of orange when the show finished, but after a few glasses of special medieval brew everyone seemed to be extremely happy nevertheless.  And the fire crew?  They disappeared half way through the afternoon on an emergency call!

The Lion Rampant stole the show with their amazing portrayals of medieval life on the Lower Green, culminating in a fierce sword fight between two “knights in shining armour”.  (That’s not quite how Chris described it over the public address system, but we’ll move swiftly on…!)  When the pageant finally came to a close, Treasurer Louise Waters’ smile grew ever wider as the takings were counted, and she realised that this was going to be a record year.  The final totals are not yet available, but it looks as if well over £4,000 will be distributed to the church, school, and other village concerns.

2001 – A Space Odyssey

2001 was the year when Cuddington entered the Space race.  At least, that had been the intention, but the plans were thwarted by a development that resembled a plotline straight out of Midsomer Murders.

Fête chairman Sarah Coombes and her team assembled a huge space rocket on the Upper Green.  Towering several feet into the air, the rocket looked magnificent with its brightly painted nose-cone and tail fins.  One night just before Fête Day however, the rocket was stolen and towed away on a trailer.  The next morning, the rocket was discovered in pieces on Chearsley village green, with the nose-cone pointing into the ground next to a sign that read “Houston, we have a problem”.

The remains of the rocket were hastily transported back to Cuddington.  Despite this setback – and the disappointment of the village schoolchildren who had admired the space rocket so much – the Fête was a great success.