Pauline Batstone shares her monthly round up of what’s happening among the town’s collection of community enterprises and events
Make Stur Sparkle 2024
Thank you to all those who worked so hard to make Stur Sparkle this Christmas, despite three major storms. The two before Christmas blowing the lights off the little street trees (and blowing down some of the trees themselves), and then the storm which blighted the New Years Day Classic Car event (but still more than £2,000 was raised for the Air Ambulance).
Thank you to the Town Council grounds team for all their input, to the Fire Brigade, and to Lee, our 1855 blacksmith, who got the trees and lights back up for the second time.
A special thank you to Father Christmas for coming to meet our children and their families ahead of Christmas Eve at this busy time for him.
And none of it would have happened without the work of our events coordinator Jacqui Wragg, our shops manager Cheryl Basten, their colleagues and volunteers, and the generous support of our sponsors, businesses and SturAction customers who pay for it all.
The next event in Stur’s busy calendar is the Wedding Festival. The Wedding Fair will be held at The Exchange on Saturday 25th January.
It’s set to be the best wedding fair yet, with more than 60 exhibitors, live music and entertainment and two catwalk shows featuring 15 brides, grooms and flower girls. There’ll be lots of offers for bride and grooms, of course, and food available in the café by Black Cat Catering. And the fair wouldn’t be complete without the wonderful wedding dress display in the church – see 21 dresses from the last 100 years, displayed with the wedding pictures of them being worn and the romantic story of the couple. Don’t miss it at St. Mary’s Church on Friday 24th and 25th Jan.
The wedding fair is FREE entry and runs from 10am to 3pm. Car parking in the town will also be free.
Business Awards are open
It’s back to work for some of us and just checking the entries/nominations we’ve had so far – big thanks to everyone that’s taken the time to enter again this year.
If you haven’t yet, remember the way it works – you enter your own business (or where you work) and anyone can nominate a business they love. If you’re a local resident and there’s one you think deserves an award please do put them forward – they could be our winner!
All the details are on the website and that’s where you enter – marketingwest.co.uk/sturminster-business-awards
Lastly, we’d like to thank the teams at both Charterhouse Auctioneers and to Horrocks & Webb for all the support and advice they give to us at The Emporium, enabling us to get the best value from the collectable donations we receive.
We’d love to see your dress!
We have held an exhibition of wedding dresses at St Mary’s Church in Sturminster Newton for the past two years in conjunction with the Wedding Fair in the town, and we are now looking for wedding dresses to display in the 2025 exhibition. Would you like to share your wedding story? Whether recent or from years in the past, every wedding has a story, and we display your stories with the dresses together with any memorabilia and accessories (photos, shoes, veils) that help recreate the memory of the day. We have been able to include family wedding dresses worn across the generations, wartime and vintage dresses, new dresses and some of different colours. Each has its own unique tale to tell – details of the dress, why it was chosen, or perhaps an unexpected happening on the wedding day. There will be bridal flower arrangements and wedding hats on display in the church too, all of which create a beautiful celebratory atmosphere.
If you or your family have a cherished wedding dress, old or new, simple or elaborate, that you are happy to lend to us for the 2025 display, we would love to hear from you:
Please email rm.damerell@gmail.com
We welcome everyone to come and see the display (free admission) at St Mary’s Church on 24th and 25th January.
