See you in 2024!

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We’re back on Saturday 17th August 2024!

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Dear friends
As you know Chettle Fete is run purely by volunteers and at every event we want to bring you the most incredible and deeply silly fun, as well as raise serious dosh for some excellent and important causes. Last fete was no exception: after a period of pandemic potato we bounced back to welcome almost 3,000 people, many of whom not only merrily ate, drunk and played hard but also squeezed their hairy butts into sparkly lycra in the name of cheap seaside postcard entertainment. Thanks to you and our hard-working team we raised over £9,000 which went to help a huge range of causes from the local community centre and food bank to desperate refugees to rewilding local wildlife habitats.

As you can imagine it is an insane amount of work and expenditure, and it has occurred to us that in order to keep up the standard AND keep it the very toppest-notch fun for both the public and the team we will be putting on the fete biannually – and that way we can all reunite our juicy strawberries with double the crazy and double the cream.

Please keep in touch – follow us on our socials by clicking the icons on this site, please send, post and/or tag us with any past fete photos, we’d love to see them. You can keep supporting us by buying our fab Chettle merchandise in the shop on this website.

Thanks for your understanding, it will come round in a flash, don’t you worry.

Lots of love, The Chettle Team X

What the devil is Chettle Fete?

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It’s no accident that Chettle Village Fete has earned itself the title of Dorset’s Whackiest Fete – it is truly is bonkers.  As well as all the traditional favourites like cream teas & cakes, pets corner, face painting, bouncy castle, tombola, plant sale, book stall and bric-a-brac, there’s also a healthy dose of loopy Chettle humour: the Alternative Dog Show presented by The Brigadier, Miss Chettle Beauty Pageant presented by Raoul Bandana, the amazing Art Auction, the infamous Human Fruit Machine, Cowpat Bingo, Bang the Nail and you can place your bets for the Chettle Derby!

Throw in a wide choice of fantastic, quality food stalls (both meat and veggie), a fully-licensed and widely-stocked bar, plus a Big Prize Raffle with prizes so enviable you’d be mad to miss it: past winners have enjoyed tickets to Wimbledon and West End productions, well-known music festivals, lavish beauty treatments, fine dining and signed items from the likes of Terry Pratchett and Guy Richie. Over its time the fete has raised tens of thousands of pounds for local, national and international charities like Dorset Air Ambulance, local hospices, Marie Curie, Save the Children and many more.

Come and visit what is now widely regarded as Britain’s craziest and most original fete, in the heart of the West Country, where the juiciest strawberries grow, beautifully accompanied by Chettle’s very own dairy cream and all washed down with a pint of Dorset’s finest cider or ale (or a cup of tea, possibly…).

Contributions ALWAYS welcome…

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Every year we are bowled over by your generosity in donating wonderful prizes, cakes, clothes, plants and bric-a-brac to raise decent money for our causes. Please help us further by getting in touch in advance to info@chettlefete.co.uk and letting us know what you will be bringing and when. Needless to say it must be QUALITY (ie – please do not use us to offload your unsellable junk!).

Our BIG PRIZE RAFFLE is famous for it’s second-to-none prizes like delicious nights out (in or near Dorset and London), extreme desirables like cases of fine wine or bubbly, tickets to hot events or vouchers for shops or treatments. If you or your workplace are able to offer these kind prizes we’d love you forever.

– ART AUCTION –

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Are you a budding Rembrandt or an Andy Warhol wanting your 15 minutes of fame? Your art – be it painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, textile, something pimped up or anything – is needed for our famous Art Auction! Watch with pride as your piece, under the heavy gavel of our experienced auctioneer, whips up huge sums for worthy causes! Please bring your piece with you, in whatever form or size, with a small note attached stating the work title and the artist’s name, and help us raise more dosh with your dashes!

You won’t want to miss bidding either – we’ve had some very famous people draw us a picture, including this gorgeous piece last year from none other than Axel Scheffler of The Gruffalo fame…

Where your money goes

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Over the years we are very proud to have raised tens of thousands of pounds for local, national and international charities such as Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance, Marie Curie, The Three Peas, Weldmar Hospice, Save the Children Fund, Handley Scouts, Diverse Abilities Plus and The Dandelion Trust as well as other causes including youth centres plus medical, learning and play facilities and much much more.

As a huge thank you to the villagers each year we also keep a bit back for Chettle Village itself: this has paid for new trestle tables for the village hall, a new notice board that is outside the shop and a bench in memory of Teddy Bourke, a Dorset legend and one of the custodians of Chettle.

 

Can you help?

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The fete is a massive undertaking but is brimming with free goodwill – we always appreciate helpers during the day, would you like to be involved in some way?  Maybe by running a stall, help park cars, litter pick, collect recycling etc?  Please email info@chettlefete.co.uk

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