Church fairs cement community spirit

Worshippers are looking forward to Whiteley Spring Fair

You’re all welcome at Whiteley Community Centre, where we hope to enjoy family games together in the sunshine.

But if the weather isn’t good, we’ll still have interesting stalls and activities indoors.

It all happens between 2.30pm and 5pm, and there will be craft stalls, cakes, games, refreshments, and Messy Church-style crafts.

Children from Whiteley Primary School junior choir will be singing during the afternoon.

We have face-painting, and stalls, including Phoenix Cards, Arty Resin, My Lolly’s Cupcakes, the local division of Soroptimist International, Arbonne and a plant sale to raise funds for the Fareham Air Cadets.

Church fairs or fetes may sound a bit old-fashioned, but of course they do help to cement something of the local community spirit.

We can appreciate each other’s creative gifts and talents, and support local businesses and community groups by buying some of the products on sale.

Although Whiteley is a recent housing development, and there is some kind of community spirit already, it’s something that is always worth consolidating and improving – especially as new people move in all the time.

If there are local people who would like to host a stall, we can still take some bookings. It costs £10 for a table, so let us know if you’re interested on [email protected].

We’ll also launch a Toilet Twinning Fund to try to twin the remaining five toilets in the community centre.

This is a way of raising awareness about toilets in the developing world, and trying to improve them. We’ve already twinned two toilets in the community centre, which is where our congregation meets each Sunday morning,

The day will also help us to raise funds for Whiteley Church itself.

We’re a friendly group of people of all ages who run activities to help the local community – a toddler group on Monday afternoons, a monthly Messy Church, and the Open Door Café each Tuesday morning.

If you live in Whiteley and want to get to know people at a similar stage of life to you, why not pop into our Spring Fair and say hello.

I’m sure we can then find a group that will help you feel as though you belong to this wonderful community.

n WHITELEY CHURCH meets at Whiteley Community Centre, Gull Coppice. ,

For more information call 07760 771667 or go to whiteleychurch.org.uk.