So come- make over to me your ware,
In church today at Strawberry Fair.

Strawberry Fair is an English folk song collected by H. Fleetwood Sheppard in Broadstone, Devon, in 1891

 

On Saturday I was invited to take my books and artwork along to one of the local village churches. As Cressing wasn’t that far away from my village I took up the invitation.

Wall plaques, books and paintings

The church was having its first Strawberry Fair and wasn’t sure how successful it would be. They had invited a few people along with me to set up their stalls. There was a beekeeper, an art group, a book group, and someone from a local scout group. I wasn’t expecting much in the way of crowds coming to the fair, but I did some marketing across the internet for the church. I got busy painting as many wall plaques as I could create within the weeks leading up to the day of the fair, as well as finishing off a few paintings I had in my studio.

I sold two wall plaques.

Russell and I arrived early and set up our stall and then helped the church members as much as we could.

It was lovely chatting with people about my writing and painting. Although I felt a bit rusty at first, I soon relaxed and explained how my journey started.

By the end of the day, I had sold eight books and two wall plaques. Even though I didn’t sell any of my larger paintings I received many lovely comments about them.

A lovely lady bought five of my books.

The church didn’t want any donations from us for having a stall, so we felt it was only right for us to help the church members tidy up after everyone had left. The minister said they are hoping to have another strawberry fair next year so I asked them to keep my name on their list.

I hope to do some more events next year so I’d better get writing and painting.

Best wishes,

Paula