Category: 2010

Somehow, I’m not quite sure how, Nigel Baynes’ B Factor managed a surreptitious appearance in the photograph of Steve Roll, second place finisher of the Strongest Man competition. So that was a clever bit of advertising placement, wasn’t it!

Meanwhile, no doubt the organisers of the Hexham Regatta were a bit dumbfounded to see their event relegated to a little bit of text at the end of the Allendale Fair piece, which really showcased the Children’s Race organised by the Allen Valley Striders. So cute!

It was always great fun to see what post-event write-ups came along after the May Fair, and the publicity from the Lions’ 2010 event was no exception. Clearly, however, as the little yellow arrow indicates, online content was making an inroad into the print media.

How times change, and how we enjoy reminiscing about the times past while accepting that things do move on.

The Hexham Courant sent its local reporter Rebecca Dixon along to try to capture some of the excitement of the fair. From the blurb, it’s clear she did manage to chat with a few folks, including Stephanie Thompson from Durham on the karaoke heat and Simon Morton from Haltwhistle on the Strongest Man competition.

Additionally, she got a quote from Robbie Loraine from Wickham who won the children’s race, and Raymond Jaffrey from Hawick who took gold in the 8km Fun Run. So she reported well, but what must have been Sheila Baynes’ additions to the longest T-shirt went unremarked, though the photographer caught Cordelia Harrison in the newer yellow section. I don’t think the Guinness invigilator ever agreed that the T-shirt really was the longest contiguously occupied, but it was certainly fun to have been a part of it.

The image most of us will chuckle over, though, as we think back to that May Fair (held, as bemused as residents were, in the first weekend of June), has to be that of Nigel Baynes struggling with his aplomb (never really a challenge, that!) as he announced the fair events and marshalled the dancers from his wheelchair with his broken ankle on display for all to marvel at.

I was there, back from a school run to see Nigel on the ground, his face white, while he was being kept warm while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. How he missed more serious damage with the chainsaw he’d been brandishing, nobody ever figured out.

That was, however, the beginning of a long odyssey of recovery which eventually got him back into the ranks of Allendale’s Retained Fire Fighting Service. As I recall, the worst of that recovery was the enforced cessation of his smoking habit, about which in any event he was rather circumspect.

Anyway, as with all things in Allendale, the show must go on, and go on it did.

Typically, as I recall, the Hexham Courant helped out on the publicity front by running content pieces to accompany the advertising feature the Lions Club purchased. Although I found this clipping tucked in with others from the 2010 May Fair, the text suggests that it may have been an earlier year, as it was possibly the first time that the longest continuous T-shirt was attempted. Until I’m informed otherwise, however, this entry can stay as part of the publicity for the 2010 fair.

Anyway, this one itemised just a few salient events scheduled for the Fair, of which the Pet Show was a brilliant image to conjure with.

As I recall, June Thompson took over the Village Shoppe from the wildlife photographer and his partner. It was never easy, that shop. But back in the day it also functioned as a video and then DVD rental store, in addition to its National Lottery terminal sales. It did, of course, stay open until 9pm most nights, and thereby proved a valuable local for ciggies and booze when stocks ran out at home.

BECKs Training may have taken over Deneholme by then, or was just about to, as the effort involved in running the centre by the voluntary sector was proving too big a mouthful for Fawside to handle. But the resilience of the community was well-founded in a kind of doughty perseverance in the face of the sort of adversity that we all weathered together.

The Allen Valley Striders were already traditionalising their Fun Run 8km race, which always felt to me like another example of great community enterprise synergistically becoming more than the sum of each individual contribution.

Whenever the year of this press clipping, it’s safe to remember those times with good cheer, to think about the optimism and hopes for the future, while contributing to brilliant good causes like the Great North Air Ambulance.

Actually, I think these advertising features tell us more about the village than any number of historical anecdotes. It’s always fascinating to see what enterprises were active when, isn’t it?

Of course, the features used images from previous fairs to remind readers of the fun in earlier years, while the good wishes from advertisers offered a glimpse of the great times ahead.

Clearly, the Baynes enterprise was working within the zeitgeist as the Baynes Factor Karaoke Competition was launched at the height of the X Factor television talent show.

But the ads show that it takes all kinds of effort to engender a vibrant village community, and it’s wonderful to remember the times when we were able to take a full page feature in the Hexham Courant and expect to be seen by everyone. Social media had not yet taken over from print media.

And the fairs rolled on.