ON a weekend of celebrations, Cheriton Fitzpaine took a bold step that worked with great success with a flower festival celebrating all that the village is about.

Every organisation in the village did something, the new Community Shop, the school and pre-school through the PTA and Owlets, book clubs, short mat bowls, the garden club, WI, so many that there were almost 30 different groups represented.

Organisers were churchwardens Alice May and Hazel Norton. Alice said it was held to celebrate the many and varied village organisations. The idea had grown from the success of previous flower festivals.

As well as scrummy home-made refreshments throughout including cream teas, there was a wedding quiz for folk to have a go at answering.

The weekend, was in support of the Friends of St Matthew’s Church. There has been a church in Cheriton for more than 1,000 years.

In every programme that described what each of the 29 organisations does was a voting slip for the people’s favourite entry.

As well as the more usual organisation such as the Drama Club and Twinning Association there was an entry by Cheriton Fitzpaine Apple Pressing and Wassailing Society formed in 2016, the Cheriton Retired Active Gentlemen’s Society that began in 2005, Community First Responders, the Bonfire and Fireworks Club, the Carnival, and the Body Conditioning group.

Although there were other big events being televised all day on the Saturday, there was a constant stream of visitors. The flower festival ran from May 18 to May 20.