Arguably the highlight of the Reigate calendar, Reigate Business Guild’s Christmas Fayre took place this year on Saturday 3rd December. Now in its eleventh year, Church Street once again closed so that the Fayre could provide a day of local music accompanying stalls selling food, drink and gifts.
The Fayre ran from 11.30am to 5pm, with the switch-on of the Christmas lights taking place at 4.30pm.
Once again this year,
Ralph James hosted a stall to raise money for
Reigate based charity, Stripey Stork, and their Christmas campaign, Santa Stork.
2022 has seen Ralph James partner with the team at Stripey to provide more support than ever before, with all three branches utilised as a drop off point for Santa Stork stocking fillers in early November, using our growing social media reach to spread the message, and volunteering.
With free parking available in the town’s (borough council run) car parks – you could expect it to be busy – and it was!
Stripey Stork kindly provided Ralph James with a donation bucket, their brand-new digital contactless payment system, and non-other than Stripey himself.
For the first time in a number of years doing the Fayre, we could accept card payments without the fuss of using a QR code and donations dropped immediately into the campaign’s bank. Amazing.
It was amazing seeing a community coming together in the festive spirit. It was so busy – but enjoyable – because we raised money for Stripey Stork!
Macy, Junior Content Creator
Behind the scenes.
The lead up the event is always met with enthusiasm, from creating the lucky dip design, to drawing the signage. The girls worked hard behind the scenes in anticipation of one of our biggest events of the year.
The day before, we even had Stripey himself supporting!
The day started at 06:30am – not including the weeks of preparation leading up to the event – when our Marketing Manager, Ashly set off to collect the homemade, just-baked goods from local baker, Capals Cupcakes.
At 08:30am, the team were in the office at 47a Bell Street, finalising the prep, loading up the car and by 09:30am, were checking into Church Street, ready to set up stall 25 for a day of Festive fun.
From balloons blown up, garlands hung, Christmas tree built and lit, and new Christmas boards delivered, from trays filled, cupcake boxes built and hamper wrapped, it was a team effort.
Thanks to you, Ralph James raised over £500 for the Santa Stork campaign.
Fundraising.
From 11:30am, it was non-stop!
Ralph James fundraised by selling baked goods, including cupcakes, with much sought-after dairy free and gluten free options, Christmas slices, mini brownies, and rice crispy treats.
Festive fun.
Festive fun included a lucky dip – a red front door with working letter box and knocker, lovingly home-made by Reigate’s Nicky – filled with sweets, chocolates and Christmas stickers.
How many baubles in the jar?
Many of our favourite spots on Reigate’s eclectic high street donated items or vouchers to the hamper, a temptation to encourage Fayre-goers to donate for a guess in exchange of being entered in to win.
Many of our favourite spots on Reigate’s eclectic high street donated items or vouchers to a hamper, a temptation to encourage Fayre-goers to donate for a guess in exchange of being entered in to win.
My favourite part of the day was seeing the little kids run up to the door and peek through the letter box to spy treats.
Robin, Sales Manager
To be able to do a little bit to help whilst having fun, I’ve been really looking forward to raising further funds for Stripey Stork at the Reigate Christmas Fayre.
Jackie, Sales Manager
Light switch on.
At 04:30pm, crowds gathered.
As traditional, the switch-on was performed by the Mayor of Reigate & Banstead and cast members from this year’s Harlequin panto, Cinderella.
A huge thank you to the team for their involvement: Ashly for serving and organising the event, Nicky – despite being devastated not to attend due to a wedding! – for all her preparation in the lead up, Molly for dressing the stall, Jackie for her enthusiasm on the day and drawing the crowds to take part and donate, Macy for her prep and documenting the event, to Chloe and Jasmine for their support on the day, and Robin for his thinking outside the box on the day. We had an additional £40 raised at the very end due to his innovation and wandering the leaving crowds selling the last cupcakes.
Despite being really cold, I had a great day, and it’s really touching knowing we were helping a good cause while having fun.
Jasmine, Junior Negotiator
Thank you also, to Reigate Business Guild for hosting such a marvellous event, Upright Construction for their support, and Virtue Property Group for sponsoring.
For more details, please visit Reigate Business Guild’s Facebook page and website.
I have worked with Ralph James on numerous occasions and always found them to be extremely professional, with a very high level of customer service. They are continually innovating and set the highest standards in terms of marketing and networking. They are an asset to our local business community in Reigate.
Spencer, Chairman of the Reigate Business Guild
Want to see more?
In true Ralph James style, you can watch a video reel with the evening’s highlights over on our Instagram and Facebook.
Be prepared to feel festive!
If you’d like to know more about the Ralph James community, events and happenings, don’t hesitate to reach out to our Marketing Manager, Ashly, by dropping a line to ashly@ralphjames.co.uk – or if you’d like to chat to the Reigate team, why not call us on 01737 333 677 or pop in for a coffee at 47a Bell Street.
