Reflections on a successful Calderwood Fair

Many people were on the ground bright and early to help set up and get organised. Main Stage performances kicked off just after 11am and the Calderwood performances were a highlight, drawing a packed crowd. The wide variety of food and shopping stalls were kept busy all day, with many selling out of their goods or services before the Fair ended. People were able to see some wonderfully creative Lego and craft creations while purchasing bargain books in the Learning Hub. As always, the rides were a great attraction with many enjoying them and giving the side-show alley a spin. For the younger ones, the Hall offered great craft activities, the ever popular jumping castle and retro games on the big screen. 

An event of this magnitude does not just happen, and I really need to thank a lot of people.

• Firstly the P&F Fair Committee run by Stacey Andrews and including Evan Loats, Loretta Schweitzer, Pauline Farrugia, Alison Dwyer and myself. I can’t thank Stacey enough for stepping in to help out in this way and to the rest of the team who also put in a huge effort in providing support and helping with organisation of all aspects of the Fair. I would also like to acknowledge Tom Williams (our P&F Treasurer), who spent time in the lead up and throughout the entire day organising the financial matters of the Fair.
• Some key staff members were also involved in the Fair Committee, including Bri Haines, Linda Scherlowski, Greg Cleall and Darren Hutton.  Again, without the input, support and workload taken on by these staff, the Fair could not have been the success it was.
• Our Class Parent Coordinators did a superb job of planning and running their class stalls. I suspect many of these wonderful people didn’t really get to spend enough time enjoying the Fair with their families as they instead worked to ensure their stalls ran smoothly on the day.  I am very thankful for your commitment and sacrifice to serve our community in this way. 
• All the Calderwood staff who also helped throughout the Fair from set-up, tasks on the day and pack-up.  Your time, help and support was an encouragement to us all and highly valued. It would have been difficult to run the Fair without you. 
• The Calderwood students and staff, as well as the Illawarra Vocal Academy, for their amazing showcase of talent on the main stage during the day. You did a wonderful job of providing entertainment and creating a vibe that filled the Fair. 
• All the parents and family members who donated their time, finances and items to help facilitate the class stalls. Your generous gifts mean that the stalls ran smoothly and provided the opportunity to raise more money for our children’s educational environment. Thank you for baking, sending in your clothes and bears, donating money for supplies and serving on the stalls on the day. 

I have no idea how many people attended the event, but I know there were lots of people from the community who saw the body of Christ working together and supporting each other. What a wonderful witness and advertisement for our school. We have had positive feedback from some of the external vendors who attended, including the comment, "We had a lovely day, it is a beautiful community you have".

Over the coming weeks we will be evaluating how the day went in a productive way so that we can identify areas for improvement for future Fairs. Part of this review will include a school-wide survey, so we’d love you to look out for that in the coming days and are keen for you to provide your feedback in order to help the next Fair be even better.

We are in the process of finalising the financials related to the income and expenditure of the Fair. As soon as we are able, we’ll provide an update on exactly how much we raised. We are currently reviewing with Mr Hutton how to best use the money raised from the Fair, and at this stage we are considering large fans for the hall and additional playground equipment. 

Finally, thank you all for coming along to the Fair and participating in the fun day we had together.

Mr Graham Shaw

P&F President