Shepperton has a heartbeat, and that pulse is the Shepperton Village Fair, a beloved summer event that brings together the community in celebration year after year. In this live podcast episode, we dive into the rich history of the fair with Dik Gregory, who has been at the helm for the past 25 years. We reminisce about the fair's humble beginnings, where the community spirit and charity focus were the main attractions, and how it has evolved into a vibrant affair that draws in local businesses and sponsors. Dik shares anecdotes about the fair's past, including some hilarious mishaps, like the infamous 'absent falcon' incident, as they watched a falcon decide not to return home. We also discuss the challenges of organising such a large event, including safety measures and the ever-increasing budget, which has skyrocketed from a mere £6,000 to over £40,000 in recent years. It’s a behind-the-scenes look that’s as entertaining as it is enlightening, showcasing the dedication of the volunteers and community that make this event possible every year. As we gear up for this year’s fair, scheduled for June 13th, we explore what’s new on the agenda, from a brand new live music marquee to the return of popular attractions like the BMX shows and the always-adored alpacas! The fair isn’t just about fun; it’s about fostering community ties and giving back to local charities. Dik emphasises the importance of feeling that sense of renewal in community spirit as families and friends gather to enjoy the festivities. So, grab your calendar and mark the date! This episode is a heartwarming reminder of the power of community and the joy of coming together to celebrate what makes Shepperton special.

Takeaways:

• The Shepparton Village Fair has evolved dramatically over 25 years, demonstrating community spirit and growth.
• Dik emphasised the importance of local businesses in supporting the fair financially and logistically.
• The fair committee has streamlined processes and embraced technology to better manage the event and ensure safety.
• The upcoming fair promises new attractions, including a live music marquee and even more local vendors than ever before!
• The dedication of the committee members and volunteers has been crucial to the fair's success, showcasing the power of teamwork.

• Shepperton Village Fair | The biggest event of it's kind in Spelthorne Borough

Produced by Gareth Davies at The Sound Boutique

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Welcome to the Sheppertonian. I'm Gareth. And what you're about to hear is something a little bit different.

In today's episode we have a recording from the Sheppertonian Live, our first ever live event held on 3rd June at Bishop Duppas Bowls Club in Shepperton.

A huge thank you to the team there for providing the space, the bar and an incredibly warm welcome on the night before we get into it, a thank you to the partners and supporters who make production possible through the Sheppertonian Business Club. The Ferry Coffee Shop, purveyors of fine coffee, tea and snacks.

Meon Media, small business support based here in Shepperton, offering flexible support to keep things running smoothly in your business. The Sound Boutique. Thoughtful audio for every story.

And our business members, Island Motors, Shepperton based family run MOT servicing and repairs; and LuvBiltong: a better-for-you snack, whole protein with real flavour. Now, let's get into this live interview.

The Shepperton Village Fair is this Saturday the 13th of June at Manor Park. It's free entry and if you haven't already got it in your diary, it really should be.

It's certainly on the Sheppertonian's brand new community calendar at thesheppertonian.uk events where you'll find everything that's happening in and around Shepperton. Anyway, I digress. Here's the conversation recorded live on the 3rd of June with Dik Gregory, chair of the Shepperton Village Fair Committee.

So this feels like exactly the right moment to sit down with him and find out what a quarter of a century of one of Shepperton's most loved events actually looks like from the inside. Please welcome Dik Gregory.

Thank you.

Welcome to the Sheppertonian, Dik.

Again, because for those of you who haven't heard last year's episode with Dik, we sat on a bench on Lady Lindsay's lawn on a beautiful day to chat all things fair. So it's well worth a listen, which you can do via the website theheppartonian.uk find the QR code there.

So, Dik, you've been chair of the Shepperton Village fair committee for 25 years. When you think back to the beginning, what was the fair like then compared to now?

That's assuming I can remember. I think the feel of the event is much the same. I mean, some things haven't changed at all.

The feel of the event, the community, the celebration of Shepperton. And of course there was then a huge charity focus, which hasn't changed.

The whole point of the fair, I think at the beginning was to give a chance to the charities to promote themselves and raise money and so forth. And that is very much a key theme of today's fair. And of course there's.

Well, you may not know, but there's at least one committee member who hasn't changed in virtually all of that time. As a 16 year old, she was running around the stalls collecting money as their contribution of being there.

She's now, guess what, she's now actually one of the treasurers collecting money from the stall. So now she hasn't changed. But there are a few things that have changed. There are a few differences.

I've been chair for 25 years, but before that I was secretary and actually is my wife Hillary, who was asked in the street to be secretary because there was a vacancy. And she said, I don't do minutes, but she said, I know someone who would. And that was yours truly.

And so on my first committee meeting there, I was introduced to the rest of the committee as the new secretary and there was a sharp intake of breath. But he's a man. I said that culture's changed, but other things changed as well, the scale of it.

I looked at a few old photographs that go back and there were the familiar gazebos and so forth 25, 26 years ago, but there's more of them now and it's rather more organized now. We have 140 field slots and 60 odd in the, in the marquee. So it's 200 stalls that we have now.

There's rather less then and now there's much more local business involvement. That's been something that we've developed over the years.

Local business is a very important way for them to promote themselves, express themselves and increasingly to help with the costs of the fair. Because that's another big thing that's changed.

I mean, the whole fair is free entry to the public, it's held on a public site and we're not going to start fencing it off and charging. So it is essentially a Free event. It was free to the public, but it's not free to us. We have to raise what's actually come to be a lot of money.

When I started, the budget for putting the fare on was around about 5 or 6,000 pounds. This year it's over 40,000 pounds and we have to get that from somewhere.

About half it comes from stallholder plot fees and so forth, but the rest of it comes importantly from local businesses and other sponsors, some of whom are here now. Dan Burton over there, Shepperton Studios, platinum sponsor of the fair, Surrey County Council.

Sinead and Maureen very kindly are regular sponsors of the fair and that's certainly the case this year as well, so thank you to them. And of course, all that money goes on things like attractions, infrastructure, insurance, security, promotion and so forth.

One of the other big things that's changed is the scrutiny that is made of us as an organising committee and that we have to pass on to all of the people that come, certainly the stallholders. We're now involved in safety advisory group meetings with the council, police, fire and so forth. That never happened when I first joined.

We have to create an event management plan which actually sets out a whole methodology for how we run the fair. We have a traffic management plan for the procession, we have street trader licenses that we now are required to get from the council.

And it's all a lot of work. And not least, of course, and very important, which has become very important to us, is the risk assessment. Risk assessment.

We didn't know how to spell the word 25 years ago, but now it runs into page after page and it's where we were kind of introduced to it as a good thing to do. It seemed like just red tape, it seemed like just bureaucracy, but actually it's actually critical.

It's now an operational document we use to reassure ourselves that we thought about every aspect of the fair and what can go wrong, how we can prevent that going wrong, if it still goes wrong, what do we do then? Etc. And it's been a very important exercise, so lots of changes.

What always blows my mind is all of that work over the year and how many on the committee?

10. There are 10. 10 People on the committee.

Amazing.

Through the year, rather more on a day.

Yeah. Just coming back to the fair a little bit. In a quarter of a century, something will have gone gloriously wrong.

A year where the weather, logistics, a performer, a raft didn't do what they were supposed to do. What's a story you always come back to for things that go wrong?

Interesting question after what I've just been saying about risk assessment. But yeah, there are a few, there are a few things.

But the, the true highlight was the falcon, which he launched and took, took off and he had a allure, a piece of rope with a bit of meat on it and he was spinning it around really fast. And the idea was the falcon would actually zoom down and pick up the, the meat. And it did. It was spectacular.

It was so fast you couldn't actually make it out. I was actually filming it and we had to run the film in slow motion to even see the thing. It was marvelous.

It got the meat, it shot off and at that point the guy who was commentating said, oh dear. And he said, up there, he said, there's a couple of strangers, which is, I think falcones talk for two birds that shouldn't be there.

And the falcon saw them and he decided that it had a better life following them. And it did. And it never came back.

There were sightings a few times after that, but the guy lived in Yorkshire and it was a long way to come to try and pick up his fault. He never did.

She came, she did a fantastic job and afterwards we sat her down in the chair that we prepared for her and the ground was soft and the two back legs sank into the ground and she launched, she launched herself backwards off the chair and at 91 years old, there she was with her legs in the air. I was, oh, God, this is catastrophe. In fact, she just sprang to her feet and was none the worse for wear. But that could have been very bad.

So there's a couple of things. Anyway,.

So coming back to the committee of 10 doesn't happen without the committee and the volunteers. After 25 years. Who are the people you couldn't have Done it without.

Well, that's an easy question. I couldn't have done it without them all. They're all absolutely vital.

We have 10 members of the committee and each one is responsible for a different aspect of the fair, whether it's attractions or field plots or marquee, the raffle, of course, and marketing, competitions, sponsorship and finance and so forth. All of them are absolutely vital. They all fit together into one picture and. And we couldn't do without any of them.

There are 40 more on the day who help. And again, these are all vital as well.

We have 15 or 18 Thames prefects who actually come and help with the procession marshalling and help on the field setup and so forth, and litter picking at the end. Fantastic.

Ellie Roper, who is the fair announcer and has been ever since, certainly, and before I was involved and she now lives on the south coast and she looks forward to coming back every year from the south coast to come and commentate. Chris Murdoch and the team at Nauticalia who run the raft race as like a subcommittee, they're all absolutely vital.

Ian Botham, who is our key contractor, supplies the marquee, the huge marquee that goes up every year, supplies a lot of the infrastructure. Again, we couldn't do it without him. And of course, all the sponsors.

And As I mentioned, £20,000 has been raised this year from local businesses and donations. And they're all absolutely vital, I suppose two people I mentioned in particular.

One is Paul Chapman, who's not here tonight, but Paul Chapman for many years ran the field and the field store holders.

He actually created the process from first application of stallholders through to field layout, the mapping, the conversion of a scale map on paper to the white lining on the field. He actually created that process. We've made a few changes, but essentially it's the same process and that's an amazing plank for us.

And the other person I'll mention is a current member of the committee, who's here, Martin Gammon, sitting there, been running around, taking photographs. He has been instrumental in transforming the technology that we use to run the fair and the management and the way it's run.

So he actually runs not just the social media side of the fair, but all of the information technology and the back end of how the fair is now run, which is an important point about how it comes to pass. I'm able to step down. We'll come to that later.

Yeah, yeah.

I do keep hearing the words well oiled machine, and it sounds like you have all of these different cogs in the same machine that have to work together in order for it to happen.

Absolutely, yeah. Yeah.

So what's new this year? I'll ask that question. What's returning? That always goes down well. Is there anything new coming to the fair?

There's always something new.

Anything you can share?

Yes, yes, yes, of course I can.

Well, actually, the first thing that I mentioned that's new this year, new to us, and a bit of a surprise is that we are normally selling stall plots both in the market and on the field. Up until the week before this year, we virtually sold out by the end of April. Oh, extraordinary.

We've never seen anything like it, so obviously we're doing something right. But. Yeah, so it's a. It's a sellout, though. There were one or two slots that we could squeeze. Squeeze in in May, but it was actually sold out.

So that's the first thing.

In terms of other things that are new this year, we have a brand new marquee, Six by Three marquee for the live music, which we initiated a couple of years ago. And we're very grateful to John Jagger, who actually handles all of the production for the live music marquee.

So that's a little present to him, is a new marquee that he can operate from. By the way, I should say that the new marquee that we bought is courtesy of Maureen and Surrey County Council. So thank you for that.

In terms of who's appearing in the live music, we've got the Kelly Stewart Academy. Who's back?

John Jagger's own band, One Chamber Down, a couple of local bands, one faking it and the other is the Plastic Boot Band, which some of you have may seen in the pubs they'll be appearing brand new for this year is a new procession route.

Well, most of the route is the same, but we are starting not from outside Shepperton Station, but we've decided to do away with all of the issues of traffic management across the lights. And so we're very grateful to Nic Cook at St. Nicholas School for opening her playground.

And so this procession will be starting there and coming down Manor Farm Avenue before it turns into the high street for the. For the normal route. The alpacas are back. That's something that's a huge favorite. But joined by more animals.

Tom's talking reptiles, which I think the reptiles don't actually talk, it's Tom who talks about them. So they'll be there. We've got the Lilly Mills drinkery complementing the Red lion pub on the park, which is back. The main event is BMX bikes.

They were with us a couple of years ago, hugely enjoyed. In fact, the arena event can be a bit difficult. There's certain constraints. The problem of course is we've got no audience sort of banking.

So everyone is standing around the arena, quite a lot of people. So you've got to actually put something in the arena that people can actually see. So anything that flies through the air is fantastic.

And these BMX bikes on huge ramps will be flying through the air.

One new feature this year which we're very pleased about, the late Robin Cider, who was an amazing friend of the fair and responsible for standing up in council chambers and demanding that the council provide money. More often than not successful. But he left the fair a legacy.

An amount of money which we've used to construct a very impressive looking signpost with finger signs which will stand in the corner of the arena and point to all of the different areas of the field and that'll be adorned with a plaque and actually that's being unveiled, so to speak, for the first time at the fair obviously this year. And there'll be a little sort of semi public ceremony with Robin's children will be there and also attended by Diana Moran, Green goddess fame.

She opened the fair one year.

She was at the side of Robin in the last few years and she'll be there as well to, to witness that obviously and all the other stuff that I think that people know and love about the Harleys and so, yeah,.

So that's what's going on at the fair. What do you actually do? Because it's, you know, it's such a busy year really, isn't it? What do you actually do on the day of the fair? Where are you.

What are you looking at? Who are you talking to? Are you hiding with an ice cream? What, what happens?

I. I get to hide with an ice cream towards the end of the day. As long as none of those risks have occurred. Yeah, well, of course, fair day itself is the culmination of all of the things that have been taking place over the year. All have to be brought together and happen and unfold in.

In what essentially really officially is 5 hours affair from 12, when it officially opens until 5 o'. Clock. And it's obviously a lot of effort to do that. And so it actually starts on the Wednesday before the fair as datum day.

And that's where we appear on the field with Ian Botham of marquee fame, where we triangulate one corner of the marquee from three trees. If anyone ever removes those trees, we are completely screwed. But.

And if we can't actually lay that corner of that marquee, everything else on the field, all of the field plots, everything keys off of that. So it's quite an important moment. Datum day, Thursday, the marquee arrives. They always put up the generator, toilet blocks, etc.

Friday, field layout day, which I'm heavily involved in actually making sure that we translate Paul Chapman's plan to the field and turn it into white paint. And of course meeting the security who arrived to look after things at that night fair day itself. There's.

Well, there's four locations that I have to really manage and coordinate. There's the main site, there's the procession assembly site, which as I said will now be up at the nick school.

There's the, the raft race start and the raft race finish and that's obviously the contracted out to Chris Murdoch. Thanks, thank goodness. And Desborough Sailing Club again, who we couldn't do without it.

But on the day itself, I'm there at 6am setting out the car park which the council have handed over to us for the day. I say 6:00am and in fact there's some of the. My crew members have been there since five, actually starting the process.

We actually set up all the plot markers, locating all the mini marquees, making sure that the litter bin plan is.

A litter bin plan, there's a litter.

bin plan for the 50 bins or so that we actually need across the field. 7:00Am, I'm taping off the field car parks with colleagues.

At 8am, I'm briefing the day security who've just arrived and helping to manage the arrival pressure of the stall holders who are, if we're not careful, are queuing down to the. To the roundabouts. We've got to manage that. 9Am, I'm assisting with storeholder reception and attractions arrivals.

10Am, I'm briefing road closure stewards and the Harley riders who by that summer arrived to make sure they know what they're doing. At 11am, I'm assisting with the road closure and the procession because by now I'm up at the procession assembly.

At 1pm I start the troubleshooting and if possible, enjoy the fair. Right. As long as there's not too much troubleshooting.

Well, I was going to ask if you ever stop and just take a moment to enjoy what you build, but I'm going to rephrase that to what are you looking forward to next year? Because you won't have that on your plate, will you?

Yes, I probably will, because although I'm stepping down as chair this year, so this will be my 26th year as chair and 30th year involved with the thread so far, I'm handing over to one of our committee members, Elizabeth, who has been on the committee the last couple of years, and she's been one of the main finance officers and she has been extremely enthusiastic about stepping into a breach which I'm only too happy to create. However, part of the deal is that I become her vice chair.

My real passion with the Fair, in terms of what it actually gets done is actually with the field management and field allocation. And I intend being involved with, with that for still quite some time.

But for the next two, three years, I don't know, whatever it is, I'll be vice chair helping Elizabeth.

Fantastic. So what made you decide that now's the time to. To hand over that baton?

I think 26 years is long enough.

Well, yeah, absolutely. And what are you going to miss the most about that role?

That's a kind of difficult question. I mean, it's sort of mixed feelings, I suppose.

I. I really enjoy the whole business of coordinating the whole thing as it comes together from the previous September, right.

The way through the monthly meetings and all the bits happen in between to the point where for those few hours on one day, everything has to come together I and unfold in the right order. And so I really enjoy that. On the other hand, it's a hell of a strain to do it.

So I'm very pleased that Elizabeth is going to take over the overall responsibility for that.

And it's only been made possible, really, because for the last two or three years we've been talking on the committee about succession planning because it's really important to all of us that the fair survives. Any of us. I mean, it's too important not to.

So the question is, how can we create a situation where the fare can be handed over to someone, assuming we've got someone who wants to do it, which we have.

And so for the last few years, we've actually been going through a series of stages where we have engineered a situation where everything that we know individually, the 10 of us know, is actually externalized and written down in some kind of structure.

And then through Martin's agency, all of that structure has now been rendered into a publicly observable form on a computer, which means that the whole thing has now become externalised and anyone can take over anything. That's not quite true, but that's how we got to the point.

So writing things down, moving into the machine and Elizabeth, those are the three key ingredients.

The stars have aligned.

The stars have aligned. Yeah. And in any case, I'm not actually leaving.

Well, Exactly.

But after 25 years and you know, the Shepperton Village Fair is such an important day in Shepperton's calendar and so well run and admired, what do you think the fair actually means to the people in the village? Not what it is, but what does it mean to them, do you think?

Yes, it's a great question.

The fair, which being the summer event, of course, Big Tree Night is the big winter event, which the two committees haven't typically had a lot to do with each other and that's kind of partly deliberate. They are two entirely different things, but they kind of, from a, an external observer point of view, they kind of complement each other.

They're all part of what Shepperton is. And for me, I think events like the fair and Big Tree Night, their expressions of the social and business community that is Shepperton.

And in turn these events energize this positive community spirit that we know and love and which actually characterize Shepparton, which in turn leads to further events. So it's a kind of a dynamic, it's almost like a rhythm, an annual rhythm.

And for me, events like the, the fair and the Big Tree Night together are like a heartbeat, like a yin and yang. The yin and yang and a heartbeat that actually keeps Shepperton breathing or helps to.

Yeah, I agree with that. I have some audience questions, some of which can't be here tonight, but I'm going to ask them anyway.

First of all, Andy at the back there, Andy has asked who's responsible to check that stallholders selling food have the right license to do so. And if a charity is to accept donations from the public, a street collection.

License, if a stall holder is a food business in their everyday non fair lives, then they are required to register with a local authority and we need to check that that registration has been made and, and we then pass that information onto the council who also need to check that that registration is active.

If we've got a food stall, which is not, well, it's not, it's normal business is a pop up like a cake stall with selling homemade cakes, then there is no need to register with a local council.

But what we require as a fair committee is that they have the self certificated online food hygiene certificates and we, we need to see those, but we don't need to pass those onto the council. We just need to make sure ourselves that. That everyone's covered in that regard. In terms of collections.

I think that was the other part of your question, the. The collecting money.

Well, of course, if charities are exchanging or taking money in return for merchandise or a game or some kind of product, then there's no issue.

If they're rattling a box and expecting money or hoping that money will be put into it, then they do need a license for that, the collection license for that. And that's between them and the council. We don't interfere, we just make it clear that that's what they need.

Right. Paul has asked, when people leave the fair at the end of the day, what do you hope they're feeling as they walk home? It's a nice question, isn't it?

It is a nice question. Well, we hope that they walk home with the feeling that they had a really enjoyable experience at the fair, really day.

But beyond that, I hope they actually take home with them a feeling of renewal of the community spirit that they've experienced and which, by being there, they've contributed to.

Fantastic. Final question. A slightly mischievous one from Peter.

If you could make one decision for Shepperton tomorrow and nobody was allowed to argue with you, what would it be?

It's perhaps a slightly philosophical response.

The Iroquois nations in America, Native Americans, they have a fantastic principle that guided them for hundreds and hundreds of years, which is called the Seventh Generation Principle, otherwise known as the Great Peace Principle.

And the Seventh Generation Principle says and dictates that as a leader, whether you're a leader of affair or the leader of the council or whatever, as a leader, you do not take a decision or enact a policy that will have a negative impact on the unborn seventh generation from now. And I think that's just a great principle.

And I hope that the fair and all of the bureaucracy and all of the scrutiny and all the rest of it and all the stuff that we have to attend to as the fair goes on, that actually. That those decisions and those policies are enacted in that particular way. And since no one's allowed to argue with me, that's it.

Fantastic. Dick Gregory, chair of the Village Fair Committee, thank you for joining me on the Sheppertonian.

Thank you.

Thanks again to Dick Gregory for giving us his time, his stories, and that Seventh Generation principle, which I suspect none of us will forget in a hurry. Thanks also to everyone who came to the Sheppertonian LIVE on the 3rd of June.

Your energy made the night what it was The Shepperton Village Fair is this Saturday the 13th of June at Manor Park. Free entry, go along, support the stalls, enjoy the raft race and take home that feeling.

Dick described a renewal of the community spirit that that by being there you've contributed to all events. Coming up in and around Shepparton are on our brand new community calendar thesheppertonian.uk/events.

Thanks as always to the business partners and business members backing the Sheppertonian through the Business Club, the Ferry Coffee Shop, Meon Media, the Sound Boutique, Island Motors and LuvBiltong. Their support keeps this podcast rooted in the community. I'm Gareth, this has been the Sheppertonian and until next time, I'll see you around.