Forest Fairs Sussex

19/08/2022

HMS Sussex - County class cruiser - the second ship to carry the name. Other local naval ships include HMS Shoreham herself.

There are always plenty of ship postcards for sale at the Shoreham Postcard and Collectables Fair.

It's on this Saturday.

SHOREHAM-BY-SEA Post Card Fair Saturday August 20th 2022
The Shoreham Centre, Pond Road, Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex. BN43 5WU
Opening times are 9.30 am - 3.30 pm

18/06/2022

It’s that time again. There’s exactly one week to go to the Shoreham Postcard and Collectables Fair at the Shoreham Centre in Pond Road.

Saturday 25 June, from 9.30 AM. Easy parking at the rear of the building and there may be trains too.

The card is appropriate as Campbell McCutcheon is travelling from the far north of Scotland for the show.

22/04/2022

The Pom Poms may be at Littlehampton but you SHOULD BE at Shoreham for the postcard, cigarette card, stamp and collectibles fair. It’s on tomorrow, 23 April from 9.30 to 3.30. Be there or be square.

You know the drill - it’s at the Shoreham Centre on Pond Road. Easy parking and easy transport links by road, rail and bus. There’s even an airport to fly in to.

Hundreds of thousands of postcards for sale, along with stamps, cigarette cards, photos, books, ephemera, records and cinema memorabilia.

16/12/2021

‘East West, Hame’s Best’ but this Saturday is the Shoreham Postcard, Paper and Collectibles fair.

See you from 9.30 to 3.30 at the Shoreham Centre, Pond Road, Shoreham by Sea. Approximately 20 dealers with wide ranges of postcards, ephemera, cigarette cards and stamps and numerous other lot collectibles.

Don’t forget, Saturday 18 December, at the last dedicated postcard fair of 2021.

Have a great new year and for those we don’t see on Saturday, stay safe and take care and enjoy your Christmas and Happy Hogmanay.

27/10/2021

Yes, it’s that time again. The Shoreham postcard, paper and collectibles fair is on this Saturday at the Shoreham centre, Pond Road, Shoreham by Sea.

Get in training for looking at thousands of postcards and other collectibles.

Don’t forget the date!!! Saturday 30 October, from 9.30 to 3.30.

10/09/2021

We will see you all at Woking.

One week to go! 59 dealers booked! 122 tables loaded with goodies for you!

10/09/2021

Exeter is on. Be there or be square. Hope you all have a good day buying and selling.

EXETER Post Card Fair
Saturday September 11th 2021 at
Clyst Vale Community College, Station Road, Broadclyst, Exeter, EX5 3AJ

26/08/2021

Don’t forget to visit Shoreham postcard fair on Saturday 28 August. No need to come dressed in your finest … it’ll be a glorious day, with the sun shining so you will not need your Paisley shawl to keep you warm. Expect thousands of new postcards, cigarette cards and pieces of ephemera, as well as cinema memorabilia and records.

Open 9.30-3.30 at the Shoreham Centre on Pond Road.

26/08/2021

Yes, it is that time again. Shoreham postcard fair is on Saturday 28th August. 9.30-3.30 at the Shoreham Centre, Pond Road, Shoreham by Sea. The fair has 20 dealers and al have new stock to purchase. See you there.

09/08/2021

Good to see Woking restart. Don’t forget, it’s not long till the next Shoreham fair on 28 August.

It’s on!

27/07/2021

27/07/2021

As some of you are aware, Janette, Evie and Campbell have moved to Scotland and have passed the Forest Fairs events onto two new organisers. For Bristol, the fair has been passed to Karen & John Ainslie, who already organise the excellent Exeter Postcard Fair and the next event is on 1 August.

The Sussex fairs have passed to new local organisers too and it is hoped that, with the loss of the Clair Hall, that a new venue in Haywards Heath will be up and running shortly. Shoreham will continue as normal and dates are as previously announced.

Campbell and Janette would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our customers for supporting the postcard and paper fairs that we have organised, and will have exciting news about our new postcard adventure shortly. A hint is that it involves a shop... We expect to trade at numerous fairs and will be at Bristol, Exeter, Shoreham and Haywards Heath at least once per year.

We wish the new organisers every success and look forward to many more years of fairs in the Sussex and Bristol areas.

02/07/2021

For those of you desperate to visit the seaside, the Margate fair is on in a week. Have fun and stay safe.

26/06/2021

Come along to a busy Shoreham Postcard Fair! It’s been lovely to see so many of our customers out and about again!

25/06/2021

It's almost Saturday and we know what happens on Saturday ... Yes! It is the Shoreham Postcard and Paper Fair - and it's on tomorrow, 26 June, from 9.30-3.30, at the Shoreham Cenrtre, Pond Road. So, 'Tanks' for coming along and we look forward to seeing you bright and early.

22/06/2021

A reminder to all that Shoreham Postcard Fair will take place on 26 June, 9.30am to 3.30pm. Remember your masks and we will still be doing track and trace and temperature checks. I think entry will be around the back of the hall.

Meanwhile… following in the footsteps of her dad, Evie has produced her own postcards. As part of her final major project at Hereford College of Art, Evie chose craftivism and ME/CFS as her topic and produced a series of postcards on the debilitating symptoms. As part of the project, she was interviewed by BBC Radio Gloucestershire! Well done Evie!

15/06/2021

Our Great Leader has pronounced that we are still following regulations till 19 July. How does this affect our fair at Shoreham on Saturday 26 June? Well, the good news is the fair is on! Yes, you heard it right! We are operating, albeit on the same rules as last year's fairs, with reduced numbers of dealers, social distancing, track and trace and the usual masks and hand sanitiser. See you on 26 June, The Shoreham Centre, 9.30 till 3.30pm. Bring sandwiches or starve as the cafe will be closed.

Please share!

12/05/2021

Evie’s final major project at college! She’s incorporated craftivism, ME and postcards!

04/05/2021

A heads up for our Bristol customers. BAWA is not opening for events until after 21 June. This means our first fair at BAWA, Southmead Road, Filton, will be on Sunday 1 August.

Shoreham's first fair will be Saturday 26 June.

We can't wait to be back out meeting our many postcard friends again.

Please share!

04/05/2021

An interesting overview of the Clair Hall, Haywards Heath situation. Forest Fairs have been helping img the Haywards Heath CIC in any way we can.

The latest edition of Haywards Heath pages has published an article from HHCommunityCIC, giving some of the facts about Clair Hall. This is the full text (vaccination figures correct at time of publication) :

The facts about Clair Hall
1. Clair Hall was built with the 6d subscriptions paid and collected from local people over a number of years. The site was specifically selected for its excellent location, near to transport links and readily accessible to everyone.
2. It provides facilities for all age groups from youngsters to Age UK with full disabled access.
3. It is the only hall in the area with a seating capacity of 360 suitable for performances and larger events.
4. It is a Theatre protected by the Theatre Trust.
5. The Theatre Trust is a statutory consultee but their representations against the closure of Clair Hall have never been made public.
6. S106 payments amounting to some £187k specifically available for the maintenance of Clair Hall has never been spent and remains held by MSDC.
7. While claiming poor state of repair as grounds for closing Clair Hall, MSDC have only spent £100k on repairs since 2013, £48K of which for the car park. This is approximately £6.5K pa on the building itself – hardly a drain on the public purse.
8. Claims that £1m repairs are required to CH are not supported by a professional report survey or proper cost estimate.
9. Claims that the 20 other suitable venues to replace Clair Hall within 1 mile identified by MSDC have, on examination, proved to be incorrect.
10. MSDC failed in their statutory duty to carry out full public consultation before a rushed decision to “permanently” close Clair Hall.
11. Officers accepted that Council procedure had not been followed.
12. Faced with High Court litigation challenging the decision for breach of statutory duty and Irrationality , MSDC gave a legally binding Undertaking contained in a High Court Order not to rely on the decision and to carry out full consultation, and paid the applicant’s costs.
13. Under the Court Order MSDC is not permitted to proceed on the basis Clair Hall is closed.
14. A copy of the High Court Order does not appear anywhere in Council meeting records.
15. Following statements issued by MSDC following the Undertaking suggesting MSDC were ignoring these obligations and faced with a referral back to the High Court, MSDC conceded they would carry out a review.
16. To date some 42K local residents have passed through its doors for their covid vaccination and seen for themselves the building is perfectly sound, suitable for many years use.
17. MSDC recently issued a statement stating they intend to
a. Appoint a consultant
b. Carry out “engagement” with as yet unnamed parties
c. Discuss the result of the “engagement” in a public consultation.
18. References continue to be made about “fresh modern hub”, which presupposes Clair Hall will be demolished.
19. Questions which might be asked:
a. Terms of reference of consultant?
b. Why is full public consultation not taking place FIRST ?
c. With whom is “engagement” to take place before report prepared limiting review by public ?
d. If there is to be a new building – where, when and how will this be provided and paid for.
e. If there is to be a new building – why close the old one until the new one is available. (Shades of the Martlets, Burgess Hill )

No one is suggesting that the Council maintain an old out of date, under used building which no longer meets the needs of the community, but the facts to date do not bear out this assertion.

21/04/2021

Unlike the Blue Anchor Line's SS Waratah, our fairs are not missing - even if we are missing you. No need to search for fairs as they are returning soon.

Here's Janette's update - tell your fiends (oops, friends) and encourage everyone to come back to see us and our dealers again. We really have been missing you. Campbell has bumper stocks of new cards - of all subjects, counties and countries - he thinks 42 boxes now, and most not filed away so if anyone fancies a chance to look at lots of new cards, we're sure he isn't the only dealer with lots of new things.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FIRST FAIR OF THE YEAR WILL BE SHOREHAM ON SATURDAY 26 JUNE

So here is the update on the Forest Fairs fairs for 2021:

SHOREHAM

I have been in touch with Shoreham. Their staff are on furlough, so our next fair will be on 26 June from 10am-3pm.

SHOREHAM

2021

24 April - cancelled

26 June - confirmed and already booking up with dealers (John Kidson will be back selling here)

28 August

30 October

18 December

2022

26 February

23 April

25 June

27 August

29 October

17 December

HAYWARDS HEATH

The hall is still being used as a vaccination venue.

Not much to report. I am writing to Mims Davies, MP, this morning. However, I am completely fed up with not knowing what is happening, so in the next month, Campbell and I will start looking for a new hall. We cannot go on like this. We have at least two venues in mind, so we will take time and go and view them.

BRISTOL

The hall car park is still being used as a Covid testing area, so I don't expect it to open any time soon.

Sunday 7 March - Cancelled

Sunday 6 June - please check with Janette prior to travelling - we will know sometime in May as to Bristol's re-opening dates.

Sunday 1 August - please check with Janette

Sunday 3 October

Saturday 13 November

Please contact me prior to travelling to Bristol to check that the fair is on in June.

Also, I will be sending out advertising for the fairs via Facebook and some pages. I will also be sending emails like this and posting to customers on my list. If you know anyone who is not on Forest Fairs page, my email list or my postal list, can you ask them to get in touch with me and I’ll put them on the list. At the moment, advertising in publications isn’t an option because we have such a short lead-in time to the fairs starting (normally two weeks notice).

Hopefully, we will see you all at Shoreham in June.

In the mean time, stay safe!

Best

Janette, Campbell and Evie

PS the Waratah to this day has yet to be found ...

14/02/2021

It seems there is a use for the many millions of damaged and unwanted postcards ... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-56060910

Bill Caldwell's children say receiving a postcard he wrote 77 years ago was "surreal".

12/02/2021

Our village has a Happy Hearts window trail going on this week, and our window uses postcard valentine cards as part of the display.

Have a fantastic half term and we will give an update on fairs sometime after 22 February.