St Andrews Church Fair January 2026
The first text came at 3.45am and by the time the St Andrew’s Anglican Church Fair got underway on Monday at 9am, 25 stalls had pulled out from the usually packed event.
Despite the cloudy skies and blustery winds, the St Andrew’s Anglican Church fair went ahead. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
The threat of severe weather and road closures around the region which prevented some stall holders getting to Cambridge were cited as reasons but so adept is organiser Ian Dunn at filling gaps, few would have noticed.
In the end 130 stallholders took their places in the grounds of the church, and no one complained, said Dunn – now into his 30th year running the show.
St Andrews Church Fair, Anniversary Weekend 2026. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Barista Miriam Ellis of Cy-Co The Cycle Coffee Company was so busy she ran out of milk before midday – two hours before the fair’s scheduled closure.
But it was a “whacked” Dunn, 80, who told The News on Tuesday that after a good night’s sleep he was ready to send emails of thanks to all stallholders who attended, the ones who didn’t and the 60 on his waiting list.
“And it must have been a hot day or a windy one,’ he said. “I forgot to take a cap, and my head is sore on top,” the bald-pated verger said.
St Andrews Church Fair, Anniversary Weekend 2026. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
When he gets through the debrief, Dunn will make a start on the next church fair on Labour Weekend in October.
Ian Dunn
But the work associated with pulling together a fair pre-Christmas sees him desperate for a rest.
“I won’t be doing that again – two in a year is enough.”
In addition to preparing for the next fair, Dunn has the imminent arrival of a new vicar. Stephen Black will be the ninth on the verger’s watch in nearly 40 years when he has his installation on Sunday.
Never one to single a particular stall out, Dunn made an exception this time citing the tea and home cooked delights put on in the church hall by the St Andrew’s ladies as a particular highlight.
In fact, he has renamed it Granny’s Delight – a reference to the famous Granny Dunn’s jams he launched in the early 1990s. He went on to sell thousands of bottles around the country with all profits going to the church.
Despite the cloudy skies and blustery winds, the St Andrew’s Anglican Church fair went ahead. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
