Who Are the Knights of Southend-on-Sea 192?: October 2016

We got there in the end! The day worked out very well with a steady stream of people coming in to meet the different exhibitors throughout the three hours. Feedback from all involved was that they had gained some good contacts and leads and were given good exposure which was a part of the ethos of our event.

As part of our efforts to achieve the CAFOD #LiveSimply Award we sat down early in the year to see how we could help other local charities, local support groups and local businesses that are clearly doing very good work in the community but this would have to be above and beyond the work we already carry out. We had to challenge ourselves but be mindful that we all only have a few hours a week spare around jobs, families and other commitments so it had to work well. As with all our Live Simply efforts, we did not just want to run an event there and then with who we already knew and worked with, as we wanted to stretch ourselves and our capabilities and I am glad we did. By doing so we have met many more local champions in the community; if we had doubled the floorspace we could have increased the exhibitors as people were contacting us up to 48 hours before the doors opened to see if we could fit them in and sadly we just couldn't. We will need to review what we can do better for next year so as to maximise our floor space, fit the most people in and naturally improve our advertising. Information was sent to the Southend Echo who published this both online in the weeks leading up Saturday 22nd and on the 19th they ran a short article in their paper to support our event. Details were also sent to BBC Essex.

So what happened?

Firstly this would not have been successful if the public had not turned up in number. Regardless of how many exhibitors we had booked, it would not have counted had the hall been empty. For this we have to thank the many church parishes from many denominations within the Borough of Southend for their help in promoting our Community Fayre. With posters placed on noticeboards, newsletter inserts, web entries and so forth the word was spread. In particular we had great publicity from Sherry at Southend Soup, Mick at Essex Savers Credit Union, Dan at SAVS, Chris at CAFOD Brentwood, and Karen at Crowstone United Reformed Church amongst many others who provided great support. Thank you all.

We produced a series of signs and banners to support the function itself and although the community fayre was not a fundraiser, to cover costs we ran a raffle using #fairtrade products either bought from Sainsburys Southend or from CAFOD, and both exhibitors supported the raffle through donations with a huge fairtrade hamper provided by Sainsburys Southend, and a wonderful CAFOD mug, Romero Cross and candle from CAFOD also.

Fair trade was one of the themes of the community event to encourage people to consider buying items that are fair trade to support those workers producing the items. Considering others outside of our community is a part of caring for the greater good and is our own way of looking to change our own actions to be more considerate across the board.

The light refreshments we used were all fair trade as much as they possibly could be from the tea bags, the coffee, the kit kats, to the brown sugar and the white sugar used. The milk we used was locally sourced and delivered to us that morning by N.F. Collins and Son Dairy in Rayleigh Essex who are a long established local dairy with a traditional milk round delivering to people's doorsteps. Using glass milk bottles that are washed and reused is a great recycling method and the doorstep delivery removes the need to carry large plastic containers of milk from the shops and having to dispose of the container afterwards too. N.F. Collins and Son were one of our exhibitors and thanks go to them for their kind donation of milk for the refreshments and support on the day.

With so many local charities, local support groups and local businesses coming together under one roof to encourage the public to work with them and to offer help to the public, many people came away saying how much they enjoyed the Fayre and found it very useful. After all, this day was for the people of the Borough of Southend to help them and the wide spectrum of help on offer went a long way to giving support where support was needed.

For ourselves, the Knights sold second hand books for Nazareth House, collected old mobile phones, unwanted currency for Missio, used postage stamps, and unwanted spectacles for Vision Aid Overseas whom we have been supporting for a number of years now.

We are also supporting Tools With A Mission locally and suggested the public bring unwanted tools with them on the day to pass over to the TWAM team to take away which they did and this was fantastic to see. Hopefully with the collections we are organising we can fill a transit van! I have three very large and very strong cardboard boxes stacked in my dining room to be filled for a van (much to the annoyance of my wife) so hopefully I can get them filled and out of the house before I am out of the house first!

Thank you to the Nuns at Nazareth House for allowing us use of the hall especially after our original hall booking fell through in the summer. For the last year we had been raising funds to support their work so it was providence that they came to our rescue! Just before the end of the Fayre, we were proud to present them with a cheque from monies raised throughout the year to support their work in the community.

We are already talking about doing this again next year and next time we can add improvements that will involve contacting both Southend MPs as soon as we have a date to see if we can get them involved if they are free and we will also aim to see if the Mayor of Southend is free also.

If you couldn't make our event, please still check out our exhibitors as they will either be able to help you or you may be able to help them.

Here are some pictures of some of the stalls and displays. Apologies as at the time of writing this I do not have (good) pictures of every single stall and with everything going on I struggled to remember to get around and take the photos needed.