Saturday 24 November saw the Friends at St Edward’s School, Oakdale, for their Christmas Indoor Market, taking advantage of their kind offer of a free stall.
In spite of the poor weather, there was a steady stream of customers throughout the day. Our stall was made up of an adult and children’s tombola supplemented by our usual calendars, cards, coasters, fridge magnets, chutneys, and knitted toys.
Oyez oyez!
Pictured is Poole’s Town Crier visiting our stall – his presence must have had some effect as our tombola table was completely cleared and I don’t recollect ever selling out on any previous occasion. Considering the location was somewhat out of our area, we also sold a reasonable amount of our promotional items.
As is usual, an important aspect of these events for us is engaging people in conversation, hearing their views and promoting our park. It was encouraging to learn that many of the visitors were already aware of the Friends and particularly our project to save the paddling pool – okay, the Paddling Pool Van had been granted pride of place at the main entrance! Nevertheless, a number of the Oakdale community we met were park users who were fully supportive of our efforts. They also expressed appreciation of the many wonderful features of Hamworthy Park.
At the end of the day, our funds had increased by just over £125.
On the same day, we were also invited to have a stall at the Lake Avenue Community Centre where they were holding a Christmas Fair. Two of our regular volunteers, Catherine and Jane, covered this for us. At this event, they have a raffle, a tombola, and a few stalls and it is aimed mainly at the immediate community. The Friends often support their events and it seems our Christmas and blank cards were popular.