All Saints Parish Fair in Whanganui East a success despite Covid-19 restrictions

All the money raised is going to charity. Photo / Lewis Gardner

The annual parish fair filled All Saints church and its neighbouring buildings in Whanganui East on Saturday.

All Saints parish manager Din Bandara said while the event was traditionally for the sale of plants, a lot of other bits and pieces were added this year.

"The Anglican parish used to be four different parishes, and we amalgamated six years ago," Bandara said.

The plant sale was the parish's big sale of the year, he said.

"That was started around 15 years ago, and when we all came together in 2016-17, we thought we should be united in our fundraising as well."

It proved to be a huge success this year, with over $11,000 being raised for local and overseas charities.

Bandara said it was double what he had expected.

Isabella Handley, 7, keeps an eye on proceedings. Photo / Lewis Gardner

A wide range of items was up for sale, including canvas prints of a parishioner's photographs.

"We have a youth group of about 30 kids and their leader, Nathan, is a carpenter by trade," Bandara said.

"They made oversized Jenga, planter boxes, and even a couple of picnic tables."

There were also flower bouquets, china, baking, crafts, a Christmas stall, and a small cafe with Devonshire tea.

"As a parish support, we support another member of our parish, Paul Fletcher, who does Common Good Coffee. He supplied fresh barista coffee on the day."

Despite the ongoing threat of Covid-19 and the need to have a maximum of 100 people inside at any one time, Bandara said the organisers were determined to make the fair happen.

"I thought that might impact the number of people coming and going, but we had just as many as last year, if not more.

"A big thank you needs to go out to Neville Gorrie, Tabia Braun, and Sara Gaskin, they were the three big coordinators.

"Without them, it wouldn't have gone ahead."

Covid-19 restrictions didn't put a dampener on the event. Photo / Lewis Gardner

As for next year's event, Bandara said he was thinking about going a little more "out of the box".

"We were meant to have a couple of pianists play outside this year, but we scrapped that because of the weather forecast.

"Music is definitely in our plans for the future."

There are nine Anglican churches in Whanganui that can host fundraising events.

"We've got some big plans coming for the future, and it's all about raising as much money as we can for our local community," Bandara said.

"Luckily, we are blessed with a lot of people who want to give back."