Next week Wickham sees the annual event of the horse fair come to town. Advertised locally as a ‘Fun Fair’ this traditional event, dating back to the 13th Century is predominantly the travelling community’s occasion to sell and race ponies and horses. There are normally approximately 2,000 travellers from around the country who attend the Fair which includes a horse-run on the Winchester Road.
Although there is no official organiser of the horse fair, there are a number of authorities that attend and work together to make sure that it remains an enjoyable event. The Police, Winchester City Council, Hampshire County Council, Wickham Parish Council, the RSPCA and others are all involved.
Wickham itself goes into shut down as shops and businesses close their doors and nearby roads are cordoned off to make way for the Square to be filled with the fun fair and various other stalls along neighbouring roads.
For those of you who are local, the Square is closed from 12 noon on Tuesday 19th May until early Thursday 21st May. The A334 Winchester Road will be closed between the traffic signals at Blind Lane and the roundabout junction of the A32 from 5am to 8pm on Wednesday 20th May. The nearside lane of the A32 southbound at Hoads Hill, from the junction of the A334 to top of the hill, will be used for parking associated with the fair. Arrangements will be made for horse-boxes to be parked on the east side of the A334 between the north end of the Square and the junction at Blind Lane and Titchfield Lane (info taken from www.winchester.gov.uk).
Not without controversy, passions can run high and historic family feuds have been reignited in the past. This horse fair has seen some disputes, disagreements and even brawls in its time but ultimately, this should be an enjoyable, family event displaying traditions from hundreds of years. It is quite a transformation for a couple of days but the teams that clear up afterwards do such a good job, you would never know anything had happened if you came back to the Square on the Thursday.
So although the Glow team will not be actually in the office on Wednesday 20th May, we will still be working, albeit remotely. We mean that in the ‘from a distance’ sense of the word, not ‘in the least’!
Email will be answered and so will the phones should you need to reach us that way, we will be diligently working, not racing up and down the road on horse back.