Preparations underway for Salcombe Regis Fair while car parking remains a hot topic

Mike Dibble Picture: contributed (Image: Picture: contributed)

This year sees the 50th anniversary of Salcombe Regis Fair. It is on Thursday, June 2, between 2pm and 5pm.

Over the years the fair has donated in excess of £100,000 to local charities as well as supporting the local church.

All the usual arrangements have been finalised with the Gittisham Hall Jazz Band striking up at 2pm.

The fair are looking out for a wide range of articles for their stalls but cannot accept large items or linen.

A number of local charities will benefit from the profits. Free parking will be available at the Salcombe Regis Recreation Field where the Scouts will be doing the marshalling.

Minibuses will provide transport into the village and return people to the car park. Refreshments will be available in the village.

Donations for the Fair will be gratefully received by Mike Newman 01395 513313, Rob Speers 01395 513395 or Nicola Channon on 07962 303158.

It was good to hear that our new living roof bus shelters are getting closer to fruition.

The shelters, with sedum plants on them, are going to be seen around Sidmouth.

They will add colour and also will provide flowering plants for bees and other pollinators.

Also on the nature front the turnstones have now returned north to their summer breeding grounds, in Greenland, Iceland and other parts of Scandinavia, after a winter holidaying on Sidmouth seafront.

In other bird news I haven’t seen a swallow yet at the time of writing but I’m sure they’ll be here in good numbers soon.

The vandalism at the Knowle amphitheatre reported in last week’s paper was very disappointing to see. Quite how the damage was caused is not known but whatever the circumstances it is something that the town could do without.

Parking prices in Sidmouth have been very much in the news recently so I thought I’d do a little bit of research to find the best value for a four hour stay. (I know life really is that exciting!) In the main town centre car park in Eastern Town it is £6.

The Bedford Lawn car park charge £5.80 for the same period. At Manor Road it is £8 for 24 hours and £7 for 3.5 hours.

I think most people will pay the extra 50p. Of course the council charge just £2 a day from November to March.

I note that Mica Paris has changed the date and venue for her Sidmouth concert over the Jubilee Weekend.

It is now being held in the grounds of Kennaway House on Sunday June 5, the day after the originally planned event at the parish church. It will be good to have an artist of such repute playing in the town.

It was good news for McColls last week after Morrisons announced that they were in the process of taking over the stores.

One little blip is that they have been unable to sell alcohol or lottery tickets because of licensing issues but this is likely to be resolved in the near future.

On the sporting front Sidmouth Rugby Club have announced that former Exeter Chiefs hooker Chris Whitehead will be joining the club as the new forwards coach next season replacing Jack Yeandle. On the cricket front it was a disappointing weekend for Sidmouth with all three teams falling to defeats. This weekend the 1st XI are at Cornwood, the 2nd XI are at home to Exeter and the 3rd XI are away at North Devon.

Finally I’m pleased to report that bookings are very good for camper van parking at Sidmouth Cricket Club during Folk Week.

It is so good to see that people are committing early after all of the uncertainty over the past couple of years.

We have more people booked this year for the 9 days than we had last year. And there are still over two months to go before the festival begins.