Seasonal goods, Father Christmas, activities for children and carol singers galore

Christmas only comes once a year, and what better way to get in the mood than popping along to a lovely festive get-together? Luckily enough, exactly just such an event is being organised by your local community, in the form of the Acton Christmas Fair.

The fair will take place on Saturday, 10 December, from 11am to 4pm, on The Mount in front of Morrison's. It's being funded by Ealing Council via the Acton Central and South Acton ward forums, with the support of the Churchfield Community Association.

Plans are still evolving, but in addition to market regulars, you'll be sure to find lots of craft traders selling gifts and seasonal goods, Father Christmas, activities for children and families, and carol singers galore.

One of the fair's organisers is Martyn Clarke, who runs the highly successful craft fairs at St James's Church in West Ealing and whose involvement is attracting quite a range of traders to Acton's fair. In addition, community organisations and charities are encouraged to take stalls. Those who have already said that they'll be taking part include children's charity APPLE, the Priory Community Association, the Acton History Group and the police's Safer Neighbourhoods team.

The plan is to have as much of the fair under cover as possible - in marquees and in St Mary's church hall - so that it can go ahead no matter what the weather on the day. (Our more rugged readers might remember that last year's fair was derailed by a blizzard!)

'We'd really welcome hearing from anyone local who might want to hire a stall - both individual commercial traders and community and charity groups,' says Martyn. 'If you'd like a one, just get in touch with me as soon as possible and I'll send you our information sheet and application form.' He then generously provided his email address for just such an inquiry: martyn237@yahoo.co.uk.

Oooh, doesn’t that all sound lovely? You've probably got a warm feeling in your belly just thinking about it, though that might also be an unrelated health complaint. Either way, it will be great. Also, while this can't be confirmed, there will probably be some mulled wine too.

UPDATE: There will be no mulled wine.

November 3, 2011