tHE Midsummer Fayre

The 2010 Midsummer Fayre will take place on Saturday 19th June around Wellington's Market Square, All Saints Church and Market Hall. Introduced by the town crier and with a host of stalls set up outside the parish church, this annual event is inspired by the ancient June fayres that were being held in Wellington as far back as the 13th century, and the town's annual 'Jubilee' celebrations of the 1770s. For photos of our last fayre,

The main sponsor of last year's event was Wellington Market Company. 

THE EVENT'S ORIGINS

June fayres were taking place in Wellington at least as far back as the 13th century, when the town’s Market Charter of 1244 sanctioned a fayre to take place on the Vigil, Feast and Morrow of St Barnabas (10th-12th June). An important commercial event in Wellington’s calendar, it is likely that street entertainers would have been there to make the most of the large crowds and long hours of daylight - just as they are today.

Five hundred years later in the 1770s, the June fayres were still taking place, but the town’s most colourful annual celebration seems to have been the Wellington Jubilee.

This was staged slightly earlier in the year at Whitsun, and was advertised in the newly established Shrewsbury Chronicle newspaper from 1773 - 78. Described then as an ‘ancient festival’, it perhaps dated back much further. It comprised ‘a breakfast of tea, coffee and chocolate’ on The Green (the area just north of the parish church), followed by a costumed procession through town and, at night, a ‘Ball and Assembly’.

It is from these past fayres and Jubilees that today’s re-vived Midsummer Fayre takes its inspiration, stirring together six centuries of festivities and folk culture from the 13th to the 19th centuries, when Wellington’s June fayres disappeared.

WHAT YOU MISSED IN 2009:

FOOD & DRINK TASTING: A taste of Shropshire at the licensed ‘Tasting Theatre’ in Market Approach, where local producers offered an insight into the food and drink varieties that are the pride of the county - including cheeses & smoked meats, real ale and wine.

MUSIC & DANCING: Folk music from top local band Odd Socks, and The Shrewsbury Morris Dancers, who provided an exciting mix of traditional Border Morris and innovative dance styles. The award-winning Wellington Brass Band, Wrekin View School Choir & Wellington Community Windband also performed, alongside Wynndebagge, the ac-claimed minstrel of Wenlock, who enthraled and entertained on his medieval and Tudor instruments.

STREET THEATRICS: Jack Green the Jester & friends evoked the street theatre of old with stilt-walking, club-juggling, bal-loon-modelling and other tricks. Visitors enjoyed his explosive fire show in Market Square, and had a go honing their own circus skills at Jack’s circus work-shop marquee on All Saints Church lawns.

CRAFT STALLS... & MORE FOOD! Stalls outside the church sold a host of Shropshire delights including fidget pies, cakes & confec-tionary; homemade soaps & candles; local books & post-cards. There were craft demonstrations from spinners and lace-makers, and you could even create your own willow-head dress or see candles being made.

THE REVIVAL OF THE JUBILEE PROCESSION: The highlight of the day, this short promenade from the parish church to Market Square and back included many of the same costumed characters who appeared in the procession of 1773, along with a handful of other local Georgian personalities. Here are a few characters that visitors were able to look out for: 

  Dothill Hall in Wellington

  business that became a major publishing firm in the early 19th century

HELP SUPPORT THIS EVENT

If you would also like to make a contribution and help ensure that Wellington's ancient June fayres don't disappear for another 200 years, you can make out a cheque to Sounds in The Square and post it to Anthony Nicholls, care of Ken Francis Butchers, 9 Market Street, Wellington, TF1 1DT. Please include your address and phone number / email so we can thank you! H2A will not pass on your details to any third party.