February Market - 2025
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Our first market of the new year was held on Saturday 22nd Februrary and it was great to be back!
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With changeable weather lately we were lucky to have a dry, milder day with some sunshine.
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As usual we had a good selection of stalls with plenty to browse with gifts, fruit and veg, cheese, fresh meat and fish, bakery items and much more to choose from.
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This month's tea room was run by the local not for profit organisation Voxthrive who support the mental health of young local people through singing.
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They had a good day and took £420 towards their cause.
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You can find out more about them on their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/voxthrive.
Our new charity of the year, Newbury Cancer Care, joined us for the day and welcomed visitors on their stall by the inside market entrance.
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They are an independent charity, founded in 1984 to help local people who have been diagnosed with cancer or other life-threatening illnesses and offer practical help and information to patients and their families living in West Berkshire, and are the parent charity for the Rainbow Rooms and the Rosemary Centre at the West Berkshire Community Hospital.
they work closely with Clinical Nurse Specialists, medical professionals and the Day Hospice to help improve the support offered from the point of diagnosis, for as long as we are needed.
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Find out more by visiting their website at: https://www.newburycancercare.org.uk/
For the children this month, Balloon Modelling Berkshire came along to offer free balloon shapes - and they were very impressive. Many children were seen holding, wearing and playing with their chosen crafted balloon items.
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If you'd like to book a balloon modeller for your child's party or event you can find them at: https://www.balloonmodellerberkshire.co.uk/
Finally, our brunch bar was popular as usual, serving hot bacon and sausage rolls to hungry visitors and sold £280 worth of delicious hot food.
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So all in all a great day was had by all and we look forward to the next market on Saturday 26th April and we hope you will join us again then.
November Market – 2024 – Christmas Market
Our final market of the year was on November 30th – our Christmas Market – and what a day it was.
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The weather was kind seeing how it had been so cold lately, with a slightly warmer if grey day.
It was another fully booked market with around 65 stalls, many of them very festively decorated.
It was an excellent opportunity to do some Christmas shopping with our usual large selection of goods on offer and our visitors certainly seemed have the same idea as stall holders reported doing very well.
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This month’s tea room was run by Newbury Cancer Care who are also next year’s charity of the year.
They made some amazing cakes including some very festive chocolate reindeer cakes which were seen in the hands of many an excited tea room visitor.
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They provide specialist medical equipment, support healthcare workers to attend training courses, help to fund treatment for patients and drive them to and from their hospital appointments. Everything they do is geared toward improving the lives of those diagnosed with cancer.
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The tea room took an impressive and well earned £673 on the day for their charity and you can find out more about their great work by visiting their website here: https://www.newburycancercare.org.uk/
Our charity of the year Newbury Speakability held a raffle and had some amazing prizes donated. These included vouchers, a mountain bike and a 55" television and they sold approximately £3,500 worth of raffle tickets for the draw.
On top of that they were presented with a cheque for £4,000 from the market committee. A great boost for the charity to help them continue in the important work they do. You can read more about them by following the link here to their website. https://groups.stroke.org.uk/newbury-speakability​
Our brunch bar team was very busy as usual and took £360 from hungry visitors. The addition of the new wholemeal rolls, onions and cheese options were helping things along and have proved popular since they were introduced earlier this year.
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And finally, Santa and his elf had a busy morning chatting to local children and giving out free gifts for every child. The new grotto seemed to be a big hit and was certainly a very festive addition to the market.
For next year’s market dates, please see the useful information page so you can get those dates in your diary.
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The Woolton Hill and Highclere Village Market team would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we’ll see you in 2025.
September Market - 2024
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As autumn arrives, our penultimate market of the year was held on Saturday 28th September and we were once again blessed by a chilly but sunny day for the event.
It was a fully booked market with the most stalls ever, around 65 total, making it a busy day for all concerned and making good money for our charities.
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The selection of goods on offer at the market was huge, ranging from fresh bread, fruit, veg, meat & fish, to gifts, skin care, cakes & chocolate. There were even some seasonal items for Halloween and we spotted one or two festive gift items as well. We were pleased to see that the stall holders looked busy for most of the day, so a big thank you to all the visitors who took the time to support the market, the small businesses that make it possible and the charities we help.
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This month’s charity tea room was run by the Newbury Soup Kitchen who took an impressive £423.85 for their charity and had some rather tasty looking sweet treats on offer.
They do an amazing job feeding the homeless, the vulnerably housed and the less fortunate by providing freshly cooked and prepared 3 course meals. Their volunteers serve around 150 meals each week.
There’s a lot more to what they do and you can read about their work by following this link to their website. www.newburysoupkitchen.org.uk
Our Brunch bar served delicious hot sausage and bacon rolls all morning until they sold out around midday so also had a very good day by taking £394.25.
So a good day was had by all and we now look forward to our final market of the year on November 30th which is our Christmas Market! Don’t forget to bring the children to that one because Father Christmas will be at the market to spread some festive cheer.
July Market - 2024
What fun we had at the July market! Hundreds of visitors came along to enjoy the sunshine – and it was a particularly special day for our four-legged friends, with the market’s first ever dog show declared a great success.Big and small, young and old – canine fans were treated to dozens of different breeds, from basset hounds to labradors, pointers to jackapoos. Lots of prizes, rosettes and tasty treats were handed out – a big thank you to Laura Knapp from our sponsor Kingsclere Vets, for her expert judging skills.
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The market had a good footfall and market stall holders we spoke to said they’d had a very good day.
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The charity running the tea room was Guide Dogs West Berkshire Fundraising Group who took just over £327 and the Brunch Bar took £299 – so a good month for our charities despite it being summer and many people were on holiday.
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