The second Arborfield craft and food market of the year was held at the weekend – and the event is starting to gain momentum.
The market is organised by ENGAGE, Emerging Neighbourhood Group for Arborfield Green Events and takes place on the second Saturday of the month at the Arborfield Green Community Centre, Sheerlands Road, Arborfield.
Sophie Ames, chairman of the group’s committee, said it was a good day with lots of crafts including stalls selling candles, sweets, knitted items and wax melts. “We started the market as a community interest project so people could get together as well as a way to support local businesses.
“The area is continually growing and because the developers have not done anything to bring the new community together we decided to do it ourselves.”
As a regular monthly event, they are hoping to attract more stallholders, particularly those selling local produce such as eggs, honey and preserves.
On Saturday they had a guest of honour as the out-going borough mayor popped in to meet traders and to do a spot of shopping. Mayor Caroline Smith told My Wokingham : “It’s lovely to see local events like this and I do hope the local community will turn out to support them.”
Sophie added: “The Mayor has always been a really big supporter of ours and I believe this was one of her last events before stepping down.”
All the money raised from stallholder contributions from the event is put back into the community – so with plans for even more stalls and extended advertising and signage, next month’s market is set to be bigger and better than ever.
If you are interested in having a stall, contact Sophie by emailing ar**************@gm***.com