Ready for the parish fair at All Saints in Whanganui East are Neville Gorrie (left), Michael Simmiss and Tabea Braun. Photo / Paul Brooks
Ready for the parish fair at All Saints in Whanganui East are Neville Gorrie (left), Michael Simmiss and Tabea Braun. Photo / Paul Brooks
Once again, All Saints Whanganui East hosts the Anglican Parish Fair. It started off as a plant fair but has grown to encompass all kinds of goods for sale. "Funds go into missions and towards building projects in our church," says Tabea Braun, Community Co-ordinator for Whanganui Anglicans. Tabea says the parish fairis important as a fundraiser ... "But the main reason we put on this fair is that we want to work together to bless our community" "Everyone's welcome: we just want to bring the joy."
"We have a free bouncy castle for the kids — it's about having fun and us raising some money," says parishioner and volunteer Neville Gorrie. The big feature of the fair is still the huge array of plants for sale, grown by parishioners and donated to the church for the fair. Some people regularly contribute. "We have one guy who grows an awful lot of tomato plants," says Neville. Neville is one of the people who normally grow a lot of plants for the fair. "We'll have about 2000 plants here for sale," he says. "We normally have queues waiting."
Neville will also run his double-decker bus from the markets by the river to the fair. "The first trip will leave the markets at about quarter to 10. We'll do two or three trips back and forth." There is no charge for the bus ride.
Michael Simmiss is a Christ Church parishioner and is also helping with the fair, along with a lot of others who are pitching in to make it a big success. Michael is a fan of native plants. "We've got about 100 ferns to sell this year," says Neville. The Anglican parish comprises eight churches but the fair is always held at the Whanganui East church. "This corner is location, location, location," says Neville.
"This is the event of the year where we all chip in," says Tabea. On the day the fair will be spread across the church hall, the church itself and the grassed area between the two, creating a natural directional flow as people go from one place to another. "This year we will have pulled pork buns," says Tabea. "Home made."
