Fete

It's good to be able to report tonight that the great British summer fete is still alive and very much kicking. Of course, the weather has helped today, but a good crowd of folk gathered in the churchyard of the little (and very beautiful) parish church of Trelystan, high on the Long Mountain between Shropshire and Montgomeryshire, for no better reason than to have fun together and raise some money for a special building and its work.

In these days when everything has to have a screen and go 'beep', it was both good and, I have to say, somewhat reassuring, to see old and young alike doing all the traditional things: buying second hand books, spare garden plants and home made cakes, indulging in ice cream, cups of strong tea and the products of the barbecue, shying for coconuts and trying their hand at hoopla, and running obstacle and sack races. And loving every minute of it.

Of course, the incidentals are just as important - meeting up with old friends, keeping up with the news, greeting strangers, visitors for whom this was a great opportunity to get inside one of the most interesting churches in this part of Wales, and just enjoying the wonderful weather. That weather made sure some of the farmers were absent, making the most of the opportunity the day brought to bring in the hay or start cutting and combining the wheat - but there was a big crowd, for all that.

I don't know how much was made on the day - raffles, tombola, bottle stall, it all adds up - but I doubt anyone present begrudged a cent of it. This is always a good day, and the regulars have it inked in in the diary months beforehand; but I guess this year's will be better than most - "This is one we're going to look back on," as one local told me.