Page 61 - ALG Issue 4 2014 Digital Edition

Newent Onion Fayre’s Donation to Newent Allotment Association
Newent Allotment Association in Gloucestershire was very fortunate in being granted a sum of money by the Newent Onion Fayre Committee to purchase a steel container for storage. The Newent Town Council kindly agreed to the steel container siting on the allotments. The Onion Fayre is a non-profit-making event and any local projects which are taking place in the Newent area are eligible to apply for a portion of any surplus funds which may be available at the end of each Fayre. The Allotments Association applied for such funding and was lucky enough to be successful in its application. Chairman Roger Dyer, Vice-Chairman Mike Davies and committee member Tony Yeandle visited several container outlets before deciding on the one finally purchased.
The keys were handed over by the Chairman of the Onion Fayre Committee, Peter Pain at a BBQ on the allotments in July.
Newent Onion Fayre is an annual one day street festival
which attracts almost 15,000 visitors on the second Saturday in September. At the heart of the festival is the Onion Show which is unique in its status in the UK, as its exhibition classes consist entirely of alliums. There are 34 classes in all for the Onion Show, including
a special section for the allotments, for which a trophy is presented to the person who gains most points. The trophy (the Geoff Duggan
Memorial Cup) was given to the Onion Show for the allotments section by Geoff’s widow. Geoff, who unfortunately died suddenly a few years ago, had an allotment for many years.
Newent, originally the site of a manor belonging to the Abbey of Cormeilles in Normandy, quickly grew into a sizeable community when King Henry III granted the new town of ‘Noent’ a market and two annual fayres by Royal Charter.
By the end of the 13th century it was well established as a thriving market town where Welsh drovers, passing through to Gloucester, would purchase local onions at the town’s newly established Onion Fayre. The Onion Fayre survived to the early part of the twentieth century when, unfortunately, the war years saw its demise. However, in 1996 the Fayre was revived by a group of volunteers and has since grown considerably to a fantastic crowd-pulling national event. (www.newentonionfayre.org)
It has become the largest one-day festival in the whole of Gloucestershire and the only national festival to celebrate the magnificent onion!
The Allotment Association is grateful to the Newent Onion Fayre Committee for its very generous donation.
Mrs June Davies
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