Northiam Bonfire Society
Craft Fairs
Northiam Bonfire Society organises three craft fairs a year, one in the Spring just ahead of Mothers’ Day, one as part of our Midsummer Festival and then the Christmas craft fair in early December.
The Spring and Christmas events take place in Northiam village hall (Frewen Close, Main Street, TN31 6AF) when crafters are provided with a table and two chairs and we run a kitchen where tea, coffee, cakes and bacon rolls are on sale so visitors are able to sit down for a snack and a chat after they’ve looked around the craft fair, and crafters can enjoy some refreshments.
The June fair takes place on Northiam Playing Field (Main Street, TN31 6LP) as part of our larger Midsummer Festival. A 16sqm pitch is provided and crafters bring their own table, chairs and gazebo as they wish.
Local bakers, makers and crafters from East Sussex and Kent take part in the craft fairs with a variety of handmade goods including honey and hive products, silver and other jewellery and decorative items, stained glass, wooden toys, clocks, utensils and wood carvings, glass pendants, coasters and dishes, ceramics, knitted, felted, embroidered and crocheted items, children’s clothes, science toys, pictures and paintings, home-made cakes and preserves, handbags, scarves, painted stones, patchwork, recycled items, sweaters, cards, candles and soaps. We don’t take bookings for the craft fairs from market traders or to sell bric-à-brac or jumble.
The cost of taking part in the craft fairs is £20 per event or £50 if bookings are made for all three at the same time. An application form can be found here, please complete and return it by post or email to the address shown. Payment has to be made at the time of booking by cheque or bank transfer because we can only accommodate 28 crafters in the village hall and these fairs tend to sell out quite quickly. We run a waiting list in case of any dropouts. We can take any number of crafters for the Midsummer Festival fair and may be able to accommodate traders (but not jumble) elsewhere in the Festival, so please ask.
The Midsummer Festival also provides an opportunity for local societies and organisations in Northiam to take a pitch as a meeting point for their members or to promote their activities to anyone else who might be interested in joining them. In 2023 the organisations who took part were the Allotments Society, the Conservation Society, the Footpath Group, the Historical and Literary Society, the Horticultural Society, the Library, Northiam Village Hall Trust, St Francis Fields Community Interest Company and the WI.
We hope to see you as a crafter or a visitor to our craft fairs!