Christmas Market - 10 December 2011
The Chipping Sodbury annual Christmas Market takes place on Saturday 10 December. Local farmers and producers are joining the town's shopkeepers to offer shoppers a relaxing day out to help them prepare for Christmas. An extended Farmers Market will run alongside gift and craft stalls offering visitors to the town an opportunity to look for unique ideas for presents and to shop for their mince pies and Christmas Turkey. Parking in the town is mostly free with a car park located to the rear of the High Street in Wickwar Road. Chipping Sodbury has a wealth of independent shops and visitors will always find somewhere to rest and refuel in any one of a number of welcoming public houses, restaurants and cafes. 'Why shop anywhere else? Chipping Sodbury has all you need for a successful and enjoyable Christmas.'

Chipping Sodbury Festival of Food - 8 October 2011 - All Day
Come along to Chipping Sodbury and join in the celebration of local food and drink. Numerous events including tastings, samplings and cookery demonstrations alongside an extended Farmers Market.
click here for Press Release
click here for poster
click here for programme
click here for Vegetable competiton details

Sodbury Wedding Fair - 9th October 2011
Chipping Sodbury Town Hall - 12noon - 4pm
Organised by Wayne Smith and Linda Boughey
Contact telephone numbers: 07723 347784 or 01454 313194
Exhibitors so far include, Photographers, hog roasts, wedding cars, Balloons, wedding planners, bridal gowns, Nails and Beauticians , cakes, sweets etc.
To exhibit please contact Wayne or Linda. (Cost £50)

Rotary Club of Chipping Sodbury
Along the Edge – Charity Walk – 4th September 2011
Last year £2500 was raised for good causes when 63 intrepid walkers braved the rainy weather to take part in The Rotary Club of Chipping Sodbury 14th annual sponsored walk, 'Along the Edge' This year the Rotary Club's chosen charity is Hop Skip and Jump based at Kingswood where they provide support for families of children with special needs from birth onwards. Rotary Projects and walker's own charities will also benefit.
Click here to read more

Chipping Sodbury Festival of Food - 9 October
Celebrating local food and drink - Saturday 9th October 2010
The first ever festival of food took place on Saturday 9th October and thousands of visitors flocked to the town to enjoy the festivities. The monthly farmers market was transformed into a major celebration of local food with over 20 stall holders offering everything from venison to cheese to chocolate to bread......
Click here to view photos

Events took place throughout the day and visitors enjoyed tasting and samplings of oriental food, beer, gluten free food, fruit juices, bread and much more. A chocolate workshop and cup cake demonstration entertained and informed while the more competitive natured entered the cake baking and vegetable competitions.
We hope that if you visited or took part in the festival you will return to Chipping Sodbury soon. Look out for next years event and also make a date for Saturday 11 December when the town hosts a Christmas Fayre with an extended Farmers Market alongside.

Chipping Sodbury Mop Fair*
Since Chipping Sodbury was created by William Crassus in the twelfth century the town has been the venue for all manner of markets and fairs. The first Royal Charter was given to Crassus in 1227, but the development of “Hiring or Mop Fairs” can be traced to the fourteenth century with the passing of the Statute of Labourers in 1351 by Edward III. Click here for more details

Click here for more info on Mop Fairs

 

Chipping Sodbury Farmers Market

Sodbury Town Council have granted Chipping Sodbury Chamber of Commerce the Licence to hold a Farmers Market on the Market Pitchings in Chipping Sodbury with effect from Saturday 11th June 2011.

"It is our aim to provide more choice from quality local producers by running a 'FARMA' approved market twice a month in the town' commented Mark Lloyd, Chair of the Chamber, he added "we plan to increase the number of producers involved with the Market and to offer shoppers regular featured demonstrations and workshops'.

From the 11 June the Farmers Market will run twice a month on the second and fourth Saturday of each month.

For further information please contact: Mark Lloyd
e. info@visitchippingsodbury.com
t. 01454 334410

 

Chipping Sodbury Mop Fair

A twice-yearly event with funfair and stalls. Held on the last Friday and Saturday in March and September in the main street.
Contact: Sodbury Town Council
t. 01454 864666
www.sodburytc.co.uk/mopfair.aspx

 

Chipping Sodbury Festival

10-19 June 2011
A ten-day festival in June each year with musical and cultural events, talks and workshops. Includes a street fair and carnival procession.
Contact: Liz Gregson
t. 01454 318883
www.chippingsodburyfestival.org

 

Chipping Sodbury Classic Car Run
Sunday 27 June 2011
Organised by the Rotary Club of Chipping Sodbury
e. rotary.classic.run@hotmail.co.uk
Open to all pre-1985 cars, motorbikes and light commercial vehicles.
• Start in Broad Street, Chipping Sodbury (will be closed from 7.30am)
• Vehicle movements from 8.30 to approximately10.00
• Breakfasts available at The Squire from 7.30am. (Proceeds to R.N.L.I.)
• Coffee halt at Churchdown Community Hall, Gloucestershire
• Finish at famous Castle Combe Racing Circuit

 

South Cotswold Beer Festival

8-9 July 2011
Organised by Yate and District Rotary Club
www.bs37.com/beer
An annual festival held at Chipping Sodbury Rugby Club in Wickwar Road. Over 100 real ales, ciders and perries, six live bands, great food, and a championship tug-o-war tournament
Opening / Closing Times
Friday 8th July 2011 - 6:00 pm - midnight
Saturday 9th July 2011 - 12noon - midnight

 

The Sodbury Slog
Sunday 13 November 2011
Organised by Bitton Road Runners
t. 0117 9671490
e. gordon.robbins@sodburyslog.co.uk
www.sodburyslog.co.uk

The Sodbury Slog is quite simply not for the faint-hearted! Forget roads - they're for wimps - this is a lung-busting, trainer-ruining, hill-climbing, multi-terrain challenge held over and through some of South Gloucestershire's most stunning countryside.

Attracting around 1300 runners annually the route uses the same paths, fields, ditches and mudbaths since it's original inception in 1990. The race always coincides with Remembrance Sunday and is preceded by a blessing, a two- minute silence and playing of the Last Post, which sets the scene for a memorable day.

Mop Origins
Farm workers, labourers, servants and some craftsmen would work for their employer from October to October. At the end of their employment they would attend the Mop Fair dressed in their Sunday best clothes and carrying an item signifying their trade.

It was customary for those looking for work to display an item that indicated their trade. Waggoners wore whipcord in their hats, a knot of horsehair indicated a groom, a shepherd would wear a tuft of wool, a farm labourer an ear of corn. More lowly workers with no trade and domestic servants carried or wore a piece of mop, which is where the mop fair name originates. Household staff were a significant percentage of those available for hire.

If they were chosen for a job, they were given cash as a retainer, which was usually spent at the fair on sideshows, food and drink and having a good time.

Many towns held two Mops, the 'Little Mop', held on the Saturday before old Michaelmas in October and the 'Big Mop' a week later. If after the first week they were not suited to the job (in their or their employer's opinion), they could go to the 'Big Mop' Fair a week later to try again.

Employers would move amongst them discussing experience and terms, once agreement was reached the employer would give the employee a small token of money and the employee would remove the item signifying their trade and wear bright ribbons to indicate they had been hired.

Michaelmas Day is celebrated on 29 September but Mop Fairs were tied to the seasons and the harvest, not the calendar. When the Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1752 and eleven days dropped from that year, events associated with the end of the harvest moved eleven days later to 10 October. This date is known as "Old Michaelmas Day" and since 1752 has been the date most Mop Fairs take place.

Mops Today

The following towns have a history of holding Mops and still hold one each year on or around Michaelmas Day. A theme common to these towns is that they were, several hundred years ago, medium-sized thriving market towns surrounded by a large number of smaller villages, hence their obvious choice as the location for the Mop.
Alcester
Banbury
Chipping Norton
Chipping Sodbury
Cirencester
Daventry
Evesham
Kings Norton
Marlborough
Moreton in Marsh
Stratford upon Avon
Tewkesbury
Warwick

Stratford-upon-Avon Mop Fair

The issues covered included both the rights to hold these Fairs, the locations where there they are held, and how arrangements could be made for them to be moved to other locations such as recreation grounds.

The lawyer retained reviewed all relevant material including the original Charter granted by Edward VI on 28 June 1553; the Charter granted by James I on 23 July 1611; and the Charter from Charles II dated 31 August 1676. The latter provides that MOPS or fairs should be held “...within and through all places Streets Lanes Alleys and Fields in the said Borough (Stratford upon Avon)”

He also identified that if the District Council wished to move the Mop from the current historical location, it could only do so with the approval of the public. In December 2004 the District Council consulted the public, with 813 local residents responding to a postal survey.

Key results from this survey were that:-

• When asked where the Mop fair should be in the centre of Stratford, two-thirds of those responding (68%) felt it should remain at its current location. Exactly one in five said it should be moved to the edge of the town, notably to the Recreation Ground.
• 81% of respondents agreed that the Mop fair was part of the heritage of Stratford, but conversely 28% expressed the opinion that the Mop fair has no place on the streets of Stratford.
• Although 56% of respondents said traffic congestion caused them to alter their plans when visiting Stratford at the time of the Mop, 66% did not mind being diverted on to an alternative route.

The District Council concluded that the Mop would need to continue to be operated in the town centre.

There is currently a legal agreement in place for the practical management and operation of Mop Fairs. The consultation will be repeated at some point in the future to see if there is any difference in public opinion before any future agreement is considered by the District Council.

Chipping Sodbury Mop Fair*
Since Chipping Sodbury was created by William Crassus in the twelfth century the town has been the venue for all manner of markets and fairs. The first Royal Charter was given to Crassus in 1227, but the development of “Hiring or Mop Fairs” can be traced to the fourteenth century with the passing of the Statute of Labourers in 1351 by Edward III.

This Statute was aimed at controlling the wages of servants after the Black Death. Labour was short and demands for more money by labourers was rife. The Statute, enacted by the landowners, put controls on wages and hiring took place at the fairs.

To quote an 1867 document “the hiring of servants was accompanied by cake and orange stalls, shows, roundabouts, fiddling, dancing and all manner of high jinks”. Local schools were given the Friday off to join the festivities, but there was much concern “that excessive drinking plays a most conspicuous part at these gatherings”.

The hiring element died out in the late 19 th century, but the twice-yearly Mop Fair continues.

Following a death from a shooting incident around 1904, when a young boy, Charlie Morgan, as he was on the roundabout ride, was hit by a stray bullet from the shooting gallery, the fair was moved from the Street to the Rag (Couzens Close)

The Mop Fair moved back to the Street around 1930 where it has been held ever since.

Today there is much concern about the merits or demerits of the Mop but this is nothing new. The following is a quote from the Fly Leaf - the Old Sodbury Parish Magazine. “Mops then, are unsatisfactory as to the purpose for which they are intended, they cause much drunkenness and other vice, and are a source of great annoyance to the respectable inhabitants of the towns in which they are held; and, on all these accounts, the sooner they are swept off the face of the earth the better for farmers, for their servants, and for society at large.” The date - February 1878!
* Provided by Jim Elsworth, Sodbury and District Historical Society

Rotary Club of Chipping Sodbury
Along the Edge – Charity Walk – 5th September 2010 The Rotary Club of Chipping Sodbury annual sponsored walk is now in its 14th year. We are continuing to support a children’s charity this year - the Children’s Hospice sw. They are raising funds for a third hospice near to St. Austell, Cornwall to add to the facilities already available at Little Bridge House, Barnstaple and Charlton Farm, Bristol.

Donations from the walk have varied between £4000 and £3000 depending on the enthusiasm of walkers to collect sponsorship from friends and colleagues. Already some of our regular groups have promised to join us – Walking to Health group, U3A cyclists and the Wild Wanderers.

In addition to Rotary International charities, this year we have added the BUI (Bristol Urological Institute) Southmead Prostate Cancer Appeal to our list.

A feature of the sponsorship plan is that half of an individual walker’s donations can be allocated to their own charity (last year walker’s supported Wotton Animal Rescue, Cancer Research, Help for Heroes. RSPCA), with the other half divided between the other three charities.

The BUI charity has a mascot, DAVED the bear, who will be joining us walking ‘Along the Edge’. Our Rotary President Peter Heffer might carry him on the day, however there is some competition for the honour. A number of other Rotarians intend to take along their own bears to keep DAVED company. Walkers are encouraged to book in their own favourite bears on the day. There will be a “Best Bear” competition judged by DAVED!

The route is a real favourite with walkers, starting from the attractive village of Hawkesbury Up-ton, taking in sections of the Cotswold Way and Monarch’s Way through the Kilcott Valley to visit the villages of Alderley and Tresham. (10-mile walkers)

Rotarian Dr. Anthony Sarafian, commented “I have walked ‘Along the Edge’ for many years, what better way to raise much needed funds for Charity than to enjoy a healthy walk yourself”

Sponsorship forms are available in the Tourist Information Centre in Chipping Sodbury and from Barry Riley the Walk Organiser.

Do join us on Sunday 5th September. Walkers can book in from 8.30am at the Beaufort Inn, Hawkesbury Upton, (back garden). 10-mile walkers should aim for an 8.30am start, with 4-mile ramblers setting off around 10.00am, both groups aiming to be back by 12.30/1.00pm for a BBQ in the garden of the Beaufort.

So dust of your boots, bring a bear and join us for a really enjoyable day in the Cotswolds. Issued by The Rotary Club of Chipping Sodbury.
PR Contact: Mark Lloyd Telephone: 01454 334410
Email: rounceval-house@btconnect.com
Entry forms: Barry Riley T: 01454-314192 e. barrymriley@hotmail.co.uk
Along the Edge 0nline: www.rotary-ribi.org/clubs/homepage.asp?ClubID=594