Parish Cake Autumn 2020

eventnews
Some
of the great events
we are rightly proud of!
Apple Fair Back on the Autumn
Calender – With New Mayor!
IT IS all systems go for this
year’s Apple Fair – the
14th since it was launched
– with a ‘Smugglers and
Mods’ theme as well as
a surprise “crowning”
ceremony.
The organisers have
been trying to keep it a
secret that Linda Page, the
founder of Cranbrook in
Bloom, has been chosen
as the new mayor. She will
be following on from the
town’s first holder of the
title, the much-loved Phil
Mummery who sadly died
earlier this year.
On Saturday 3 October,
attractions will include a
Where’s Phil? competition
with cut-out scale forms of
his previous appearances,
loads of great music, stalls
selling everything from
cheeses to carved wooden
objects, apples in all their
different guises and fancy
dress from both themes.
Anyone who owns a donkey
is urged to bring it along to
take part in the Ugliest Ass
contest.
Joint organiser Stuart
Cleary said: “We sounded
out Cranbrook and the
wishes of the people were
that the show must go on.
“As well as the Red-
Barrows race down the
High Street there will be
displays from Mod Scooter
DAVID MEREWETHER
Chapters and the Dr Syn
Re-enactment Society.”
Mr Cleary, who is also
supporting a new campaign
to put Cranbrook firmly
on the tourist map again,
mentioned the “sad
quote” by Darling Buds
of May author H.E. Bates:
“Cranbrook is a village
giving the impression of
trying to remember what
once made it important.”
Mr Cleary said: “The new
mayor has lots of plans to
up the status of Cranbrook
and get it onto the existing
tourist trail and make
Cranbrook the Capital of
the Weald. How important
it is to lift ourselves above
our local rivals.
“Who needs Tenterden,
1400, when you have her
older sister coming of age?
Cranebroca 1100 will have
a new mayor to pick up
from Phillip’s great start. ”
Both Mrs Page and her
husband Fred, who own
Pages’ newsagents in
the High Street, will be
teaming up with the town’s
borough councillor Tom
Dawlings, Mr Cleary and
others to come up with
a strategy to make the
town the first destination
visitors to the area want
to see.
He joked: “…look at
Tenterden’s Wikipedia
page, it’s much better
written than ours and
more extensive. And they
haven’t done anything
since 1449!” TF
ON BEING MAYOR
On being chosen as the
mayor elect, Mrs Page
said: “It is all a bit
surreal. I thought, no
there must be plenty
of other people who
could be mayor but
Stuart wanted me and he
said it needed to be a female.
But it doesn’t make me any different. The
last thing I want is for people to put me on
a pedestal.
“It is a bit of a blank canvas with no
precedence. I will be speaking to Val [Phil’s
widow] to see what he had in mind. I am
sure there were things he wanted to do.
But I cannot replace him and I would not
want to.
“Phil was always dressing up in
costumes at events, often as a woman, but
I am happy to dress up, but not as a man!”
The mother-of three was a founding
member of Cranbrook in Bloom “at least
20 years ago” and the team has been
responsible for making the town even
more attractive with tubs of flowers.
Thanks to their efforts, the group has won
gold several times in the annual South and
South East in Bloom competition. TF
The mayor-making ceremony will take
place during the Apple Fair on 3 October.
The event will run from 11am to 4pm.
AUTUMN FLOWER SHOW GOES ONLINE
Following the successful spring and
summer shows this year, the Sissinghurst
Flower Show Society’s autumn show will
also be held online. Photograph your
exhibits and send them to SFSS@mail.
com by 5.30pm on Friday 11 September.
All entries are free. Visit
www.sissinghurstflowershow.org for
schedule and preparing entries. TF
Parish Cake • Autumn 2020 29