Lions' Swanmore Fete

Saturday 13th July 2019 – Summer fun brought out the crowds!

Drum session The 2019 Swanmore fete, organised by the Meon Valley Lions Club, turned out to be one of the most memorable in recent years. The weather was glorious, but not too hot, and the New Road recreation ground was packed from top to bottom with families enjoying themselves.

In addition to the hundreds of Swanmore residents, the event was also brilliantly supported by dozens of classic car and bike owners who brought along their shiny pieces of pride and joy to put on display.

As well as some wonderful music from local bands, including the Soberton Strummers and (making a fine debut) the Swanmore Wind Band, there were displays from regular favourites Roynon School of Dance and Kristian Bediako’s Djembe Drum workshop.

For the first time, we introduced a dog show to the fete and we were overwhelmed with the response, with dogs of all shapes and sizes competing across the handful of interesting and novelty classes. Its popularity means that it’s already in the programme for the 2020 fete! We haven’t had the final figures ratified yet, but it looks like our charity account will be around £7,000 better off as a result of everyone’s generous support. That’s £2,000 better than our previous record. The raffle proved particularly successful with receipts swollen by the extensive prize list with an estimated value in excess of £1,000.

Club President Andrew Brown said, “We’ve organised the Swanmore Fete for many years as part of our commitment to community involvement in the Meon Valley, so when villagers respond so generously and support our charitable work, it’s very rewarding.”

Dog Show

New for 2019 was a really fun dog show with prizes on offer in a variety of different classes.

Dashing Dude – Handsome Dog
Pretty Princess – Beautiful Bitch
Golden Oldie – over 8 years
Yummy Youngster – Under 12 months
Lookalikey – Owner and Dog that look alike
2nd Chance Hero – Rescue dog
Best behaviour on a lead over a short course
Best in Show from the winners of the above

Here are shots of some of the lucky winners:

1st prize 2nd prize 3rd prize

'Fraid we don't have the names of the winners as they were mislaid after the show. Can anyone help put names to faces?

Let us know through our contact us page

Classic Cars

A great turn out again this year from the classic car clubs in the area and local enthusiasts. Thanks to Steve Newton for organising everything again this year. Competition was hot for the top prizes, but here are the winners:

Paul and his Cortina Lisa's Austin A30 Nelson's Morris Minor Traveller

From left to right:

Best in Show: Paul Jorgensen and his 1965 Ford Cortina

Runner up: Lisa Hulbert and her 1955 Austin A30 called "Betsy"

Highly commended: Nelson Scott and his 1968 Morris Minor Traveller

Our thanks to Alan Prebble from Silverlake for presenting the prizes and sponsoring the classic car prizes.

Peter's mini van

Best Mini in show (sponsored by Chase cars): Peter Fitall and his 1982 mini pickup

Classic Bikes

Another great turn out for the classic bikes this year and our thanks to Lion Pete Meadows for manging the Meon Valley Classic Bike Run again this year.

Here are the wonderful winners:

winner Shaun Jackson 2nd prize 3rd

Classic bike winners 2019 (left to right):

Best English Bike: Shaun Jackson on his 1935 Jackson Indomitable

Best Foreign (Non-Japanese) Bike: A Collest on his Moto Morini Strada

Best Foreign Japanese Bike - David Sarginson on his A67 Honda CB450

Landlord's Trophy: Mr Lymn with his 1938 350cc Ariel (not pictured)

Thanks to our classic bike sponsors.

Thanks to our 2019 event sponsors!

Friary Meadow Retirement Village (Lions' Food area), Silverlake and Chase Cars (classic car trophies) and Swanmore Parish Council have helped offset the cost of staging the event this year, allowing us to channel more of the monies raised into charitable causes.

Friary Meadow logo silverlake header logo

In addition, thanks to all the prize donors for our Grand Raffle - it's bigger and better than ever before! Special thanks to

SAJE UPVC, All Time Grates, Crown Inn, Meon Valley Hotel and Country Club, New Place Hotel, Bowmans Brewery, Upfields Electricals, Paul's Plaice, Garsons, Mole Country Stores, Hylands Store, Hazel's Florist & Budgens.

The prize list ensures a very successful raffle for our charities.