CONTINUING the tradition, the St Teath village garden fete was held on Sunday, May 19.

One hundred years ago a resourceful, enterprising priest was desperate to find enough money to finish building a hall for his beloved parish of St Teath. He came up with the idea of a fete in the garden of his vicarage.

Turn to the present day. Current owners of the Old Vicarage, Sue and Tom Imber, were researching the history of their home when they heard about the fete which started a tradition of annual fetes in the grounds of the vicarage.

With the help of friends, family and enthusiastic volunteers, Sue and Tom planned a truly traditional garden fete to commemorate the centenary.

Planned as an afternoon for the whole family, the entertainment included a mini merry-go-round, bowling for a pig, a human fruit machine and many more competitions and stalls. Wadebridge Town Band entertained the crowds while plenty of volunteers tried their hand at tossing the sheaf or competed with their decorated hats.

The fete was opened by Sylvia Mewton and Pearl Pluess and a highlight of the afternoon’s programme was Maypole dancing by the pupils of St Teath Primary School.

A commemorative brochure explained the history of the fete which was originally the idea of the indefatigable curate in charge, the Rev Claude Kingdon in 1919. Having embarked on a project to build a new church hall in St Teath, he needed more money urgently to finish the work and the fete was one of his fundraising ideas. The brochure also highlighted memories of villagers and of Mrs Elaine Pearce, who organised fetes when her husband, the Rev Michael Pearce was vicar of St Teath.

The afternoon was so successful that it raised £2,200 which will be divided between St Teath Primary School and a fund for a new community bus.