The Rotary Club of Scunthorpe has been renowned for many years for its highly successful, twice yearly, Antiques and Collectables Fayres that have raised many thousands of pounds for charity.
Now due to popular demand the club is expanding the remit of the Fayres to include crafts and local craftsmen and women.
The first of these new Fayres is to be held on April 1st 2012, full details appear below….
- A young visitor admires one of the exhibits.
FOR PHOTOS OF THE 2011 FESTIVAL PLEASE GO TO “TREE FESTIVAL 2011″ UNDER MENU (RIGHT) AND FOLLOW LINK
The Festival of Christmas Trees saw hundreds of visitors enjoying the spectacle of nearly 80 individually decorated trees. Additionally they were entertained by musicians including Hand Bell Ringers, The Wold Singers and organ recitals.
Reflections Choir at the 2008 Festival
There will be a great variety of musical groups performing for visitors throught the two weekends of the Festival.
The groups range from choirs to school bands organists and traditional folk artists.
On the evening of Saturday 10th there will be a special performance by the nationally renowned Scunthorpe Junior Co-operative Choir -winners of the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year competition 2008. This is a ticket – only event.
Below you will find a list of events with times and dates.
For more information on Lys St Georges – performing on Sunday 11th visit their website
The Festival commences on Saturday 3rd December. There will be a total of 74 trees on display – all decorated differently and showing great originality and skill. Here is a list of the groups entering trees. If you would like to know more about the opening times for the Festival please see the page on this site marked Tree Festival 2011.
Festival of Christmas Trees – 2011: Biggest in the North!
This year the Rotary Festival of Christmas Trees will probably be the biggest free display of its kind in the North of England according to members of the Rotary Club of Scunthorpe who are expecting up to eighty or more individually decorated Christmas trees to be on display for charity. This magical festival is a glittering wonderland for all ages, and now famous for decorative innovation, this year’s event will feature a mesmerising Winter Forest Tableau based upon the well known Narnia books.
Last time the Festival raised over £3,200 for Hospice funds. Over 70 trees were enjoyed by well over a thousand visitors as the members of the Rotary Club of Scunthorpe attempted to make this now well established event one of the biggest and best in the country. Now with even more support from local businesses and organisations this year’s event could well take the crown.
Once again the festival is being staged at the Old Brumby United Church, Ashby Road in Scunthorpe, DN16 2AQ, over the first two weekends in December. There is always a mystical atmosphere and the display is highly regarded as one of the best in the country.
The Festival is unique in that as well as a myriad of enchanting trees, both weekends will feature a wide range of seasonal musical entertainment. Among the dozen or so musical groups entertaining through the festival will be the Messingham Holy Trinity Hand bell Ringers, Jopsox, The Elderberries, Reflections Choir and St. Lawrence’s Academy music group. There will also be entertainment from guest organists. The big event however will be a concert by the award winning, world famous Scunthorpe Co-operative Junior Choir on Saturday December 10th at 7.00pm. This will include a Nativity event staged by members of the youngest training choir.
On both Sunday mornings the festival will start with a service surrounded by the twinkling trees. The service on Sunday 11th of Dec will be attended by the Mayor of North Lincolnshire and the Rotary District Governor, and everyone is welcome to attend both services.
Tree Festival organiser Rotarian George Jefferson says, “As well as being a worthy cause, the sight of so many beautifully decorated trees is incredible. The event has become a great community occasion with so many local groups, clubs, schools, businesses and churches taking part”.
Entrance to the festival is free and members of the Rotary Club of Scunthorpe will be collecting donations throughout the festival for the Lindsey Lodge Hospice. The Festival of Christmas Trees is open on the weekends of December 3rd & 4th & and 10th & 11th. The opening times are Saturdays 10.30pm to 5.30pm and Sundays 12.00pm to 4pm.
As usual members of the church will be on hand to provide a wide range of refreshments including light lunches and mince pies.
If you might be interested in displaying your own tree, please get in touch through our link. contactus@scunthorperotary.org.uk
Rotarian Don Payne at the Antiques and Collectables Fayre
THE ROTARY CLUB OF SCUNTHORPE INVITES YOU TO VISIT OUR
ANTIQUES AND COLLECTABLES FAYRE ON SATURDAY 22nd October 2011.
Bargain hunters beware because antiques and collectables will abound at the popular and extremely successful Rotary Antique Fayre which is once again being held at the Berkeley Hotel in Scunthorpe. The organisers from the Rotary Club of Scunthorpe are expecting a good turnout of visitors who always appreciate the quality items that are on sale at this prestigious event.
The fayre is on Saturday 22nd October between 9-00 am and 3.30pm, when there will be a variety of stalls.
Rotarian David Nash the clubs Publicity Officer says that “these will range from pottery, jewellery and silver, to coins, medals and stamps, plus a host of Victoriana and Edwardian memorabilia. There will as usual be a large selection of plants and shrubs, grown by Rotarians for charity fund raising, cakes, books and much more”.
The Rotary Fayre is also a collection point for old spectacles, inkjet cartridges and mobile phones, all of which can be turned into cash for Rotary funds.
Stuart Knox, the President of the Scunthorpe Rotary Club, says that “The Berkeley Hotel is a great venue for one of our flagship events because this twice yearly Fayre forms the core of our annual fund raising, and it always provides a new challenge to our members who continually strive to make each Fayre bigger and better than the last one”.
The Rotary Club of Scunthorpe also welcomes new traders to the fayre and if you would like to have a stall on Saturday, then please get in touch via contactus@scunthorperotary.org.uk.
Jeanie Baker and Gerald Parks - new Paul Harris Fellows
Two former Scunthorpe Club presidents have been honoured with the highest Rotary award.
Jeanie Baker, twice Club president in the past 4 years was made a Paul Harris Fellow at the last meeting of her presidential year 2010/2011. The Fellowship is conferred by Club members and recognises outstanding achievements either within the Rotary movement itself or as part of the local community. Jeanie has not only served the Club extremely well during her two terms of office but has also been heavily involved in a variety of local good causes and civic service.
Gerald Parks was the proprietor of Scunthorpe’s last independent cinema; The Majestic, until its closure. Subsequently he and his wife, Denise, developed the successful Parkway Cinema & Theatre at Cleethorpes. This new venture opened during the year that Gerald was also president of Scunthorpe Rotary Club.
Business pressures mean that Gerald is unable to attend the Club regularly now however he has maintained his connections in a very tangible way. He is frequently asked to address social gatherings on his lifetime interest in the Cinema industry in the Yorkshire and Humberside areas. Gerald, very generously, has donated his fees for these talks over several years to Rotary charities.
Regrettably, for the first time in its history we have had to cancel the Festival of Christmas Trees.
The dreadful condition of the pavements and car parks following the heavy snow has meant that not only would we find it difficult to reach the church to set things up but neither would we get any visitors over the weekends!
This is a great disappointment to us and to all the groups who were going to enter a tree or provide musical entertainment. It is also very unfortunate that we will not be raising any funds either for Lindsey Lodge Hopsice or for our hosts Old Brumby United Church.
Weather permitting we hope to hold a Festival in December 2011; for more details please keep an eye on this website.
For now we would like to wish all supporters of the Festival a happy and safe Christmas and good health and happiness in the New Year. - George and Sue Jefferson, Festival Organisers
Oct
On a very wet Friday 1st October 17 local schools helped the Rotary Club of Scuthorpe plant 5000 crocus bulbs. The planting was part of the ”Thanks for Life” project which aims to raise funds to assist Rotary International’s avowed intent to “End Polio Now”!
It is hoped that the purple crocuses will be in bloom by Rotary Day 2011 – February 23rd – when Rotarians across the UK and Ireland will be collecting money in various ways to help conquer polio in the last remaining areas of the world where it is still a problem; particularly for children – India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. Every £1 raised in this campaign will pay for 5 doses of the special vaccine that will protect these children against polio forever.
The significance of the puple colour of the crocus flowers relates to the colour of ink dabbed on a child’s little finger when he or she has received the vaccine: “Purple Pinkie Power”!
Rotary International has been fighting to eradicate polio across the world since 1985.
The local children who have been helping to plant the bulbs will be able to say “I helped to rid the world of polio”. Schools involved included: Berkeley Infants, Bottesford Infants, Broughton Infants, Bushfield Road Infants, Enderby Road Infants, Frodingham Infants, Grange Lane Infants, Riddings Infants, Broughton Juniors, Bottesford Juniors, St Hughes, Westcliffe Primary, Riddings Juniors, Holme Valley Primary, Lincoln Gardens Primary, Parkwood Primary, St Augustine Webster RC Primary. In addition 3 other groups helped by planting bulbs – Lincolnshire House, Great Oaks and Yaddlethorpe Methodist Church.
Students at Broughton Junior School prepare to plant crocus bulbs outside the classroom windows.