Barkway Market 2024 what a success!
Well, that’s a wrap!!
Barkway Market 2024 was an amazing success, helped in no small way by the glorious weather. We thank everyone who participated to make the day so special and raise valuable funds for local organisations and who have provided their feedback; overwhelmingly that it was “the best market ever”.
Special thanks to all the volunteers who willingly gave their time so generously, to the Barkway villagers who coped with the annual disruption, the stall holders who provided an amazing array of wares, the food vendors who kept us fed and watered, all the entertainers who helped all the wonderful visitors enjoy their day. Thanks to all of you who came along and enabled us to raise so much money for good causes. All profit is shared out within the community.
Most importantly our thanks go to the two landowners who allow the Market to take place on their private land and their meadow which transforms into a car park.
The Market itself raised nearly £10,000 and a further £8750 was raised by the collective efforts of Barkway Church by hosting the craft-fair and refreshments, Friends of Barkway Church bottle stall, Friends of Barkway & Barley School BBQ, Barkway Preschool playground games, Barkway Scouts’ sterling car parking stewardship and Home-Start’s stall and raffle which is tremendous for a small village. The opportunity to bid for a share of the money raised by the Market will be launched shortly and we encourage local organisations to apply.
The Committee is delighted with the amount raised. As a small team of volunteers (most of whom were new this year) it is no mean feat putting on such a large event and the inclement weather meant we had to put in significant time and resource to keep the market safe for all involved and minimise damage to the land. Our costs were up by £2000. The event itself requires a significant financial outlay to provide the infrastructure required in terms of insurance, toilets, first aid, refuse, public address systems, vehicle tracking & entertainment.
The Barkway Market welcomes everyone and must be a comfortable place to visit. As always, we learn more every year and we know that some visitors were understandably concerned about the content on one of the stalls. We apologise if you were affected by this and moving forward, we will revise our discrimination policies and the Market’s media outlets will include explicit messages about these to ensure our stance is widely communicated and understood by all.
We very much hope to be able to hold a market in 2025 and will start the planning in the autumn. If you would like to be involved next year as a volunteer or if you have an idea about how you would like to use the Market to raise funds and/or awareness for your own local cause, please email info@barkwaymarket.org and we will be in touch with you closer to the time.