Fete History
The Froyle Archive looks at Fêtes & Flower Shows in Froyle
from the early days to the 70th in 2016
Fêtes have for ever been very much part of village life and Froyle’s annual event is always looked forward to with anticipation.
Before the turn of the previous century it was more of a ‘club’ than a Fête and was, apparently, held on Whit Monday, when the village would hold a cricket match, at which there would be a few stalls and a band.
Sir Hubert Miller, Lord of the Manor of Froyle, was responsible for starting an Annual Flower Show and, since that time, the Fête has been run in conjunction with this. At those first shows, the exhibits were displayed in the schools and... No, let Nellie Smith tell you about them. She was 13 years old in 1904 and wrote this imaginary letter as an exercise at School.


“I am writing to tell you about our Flower Show which took place on August 3rd, 1904. All the people were glad because it was a nice fine day. All the things that were brought to the school were very nice. The wild flowers also looked very nice. The prizes were given out by Lady Lindsay. After she had given them out we went into the meadow which was kindly lent by Mrs. and Mr.Simpson. Dancing and other amusements were held in the meadow. We also had a band. Swinging boats were placed in the meadow and a lot of people had some swings. Some of them went up so high that you would think they were going to fall out. After the dancing and sports, a grand display of fireworks took place. They were let off by Mr.Curtis.”
As well as the Show, there was a Best Kept Gardens Competition. For a while in the 1930s the Flower Show lapsed, but it was revived by the Froyle W.I. in 1940 and has taken place in July or August ever since, although now it is organised by the Froyle Gardening Club.
Around 1947 the newly formed Sports Club joined forces with the Flower Show and turned the event into a real village Fête Day.
These Fêtes were often held in the grounds of various large houses in Froyle, but from the late 1960s they were held on the Recreation Ground, as they still are to this day.

Chinook 2002 2006