Treasure hunters were early birds

Just as well Lions’ members were at Memorial Park early on Sunday morning and so were the 105 stallholders eager for the return of Cambridge’s Trash n Treasure market.

The market, which has not operated in the town centre for several months due to Covid-19 regulations, started at 9am but stallholders were there at 6.30am and members of the public arrived soon afterwards.

Testing, testing. Lions member Bill Cairns, right, borrowed his grandchildren’s walkie talkies but struggled for a connection with colleague John Brouggy saying: “maybe they weren’t in range.”

The crowd was in good spirits, said Rob Waugh from the Lions Club Trash n Treasure committee.

Estimates of crowd numbers ranged from 1000-2000 people throughout the morning.

The monthly market raises thousand of dollars for Cambridge.

Lions members were on hand to scan vaccine passes, a requirement under Covid red light.

Once inside the fully fenced park, the public maintained social distancing and wore face masks.

The food court, which operated away from the stall holders by the Hautapu Rugby Club grandstand, did a roaring trade, said Ian Crabb, who volunteered in the Lions caravan.

Meanwhile, the Lions Shed Op Shop at 26b Vogel St will re-open on Saturday after closing for a fortnight due to increasing Covid cases.

Lions Shed director Dave Philip said the shed would re-open March 19 from 8.30am to noon. Vaccine passes and masks are required, and he called on volunteers and customers not to attend if they are fearful of catching Covid.

“To keep public and volunteers as safe as possible, we will limit the number of people who can enter the premises at any one time and ask all to monitor their own distances between people.  We are asking for patience while shopping … we can only do our best to try and keep everyone safe,” he said.