IT was a day of contrasts on Saturday for myself and my wife Julia, as I attended the annual Pitminster and Angersleigh Playing Field Association fete.While Julia was in Plymouth for the day helping one of our clients - they organise the South West's largest Gay Pride event - I started the day at the Sunrise Celebration festival over near Tintinhull, the organisers of which are also our clients.
Having spent a few hours surrounded by several thousand people from the travelling and festival-going communities, many of whom would be described as hippies, it was a quick change of clothing and a dash across to Blagdon Hill for the annual fete, complete with straw boater.
Yes, there are hippy-types on the Blackdown Hills as well, but the Sellicks Green playing field didn't have the organic loos or the yurts or the tipis or the windmill-powered generators or the horse-drawn transport of the Sunrise Celebration.
The only thing that all three events had in common was the sweltering heat and brilliant blue sky which prevailed all day.
The Blagdon fete was a brilliant event with just about everybody in the community near and far seeming to be there.
What impressed me most was learning afterwards that something like £5,000 was raised from the fete and will be used by the charity to help maintain the playing field for the benefit of everybody.
An amazing result for a small rural community, which demonstrates how there is such a strong sense of community spirit here.
It was good to see the plans on show for the proposed new community hall and I was pleased to able to introduce the committee chairman Duncan Meikle to our Conservative Parliamentary candidate Mark Formosa when he joined me at the fete.
We enjoyed seeing so many different stalls and events being held at the fete, with Mark showing a keen interest in the dog show because he is a dog owner - while I have two cats.
- The images above show a group of Sunrise Celebration festival-goers taking part in a drumming session, and the Pitminster fete programme.
