Well, Lyn and Yvonne have been working hard to finalise returning Fairs and finding new venues and we have been successful to a degree!
Whilst we haven’t found any new venues to satisfy our (and your) demanding criteria, we are able to announce that we will be back at the Lakeview Suite upstairs at Millets Farm Centre on Saturday 23rd November.
Here are the events planned for this year:
Sunday 16th June – Sandhurst Military Academy Heritage Open Day
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Sunday 23rd June – Yattendon Classic Vehicle Day, Yattendon near Newbury RG18 0UR
Saturday 6th/Sunday 7th July – Millets Farm Centre, near Abingdon
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On the personnel front, one of the organisers, Alison, is taking a step back from Ruby’s due to her new job at a posh kitchen design company as well as family issues and with the same serendipity that saw Alison take early retirement from her pharmaceutical career at the same time as Yvonne, one of the original co-founders was moving to live and work in Shanghai, Yvonne is now back in the UK and taking early retirement from her career in the perfumery industry and is raring to get back into the vintage world.
So Yvonne Hockey is now back on board at Ruby’s from January 2019 onwards!
We will be having our first planning meeting in the New Year but in the meantime, please put the dates of 6th/7th July for the Millets Farm Centre weekend in your diary as well as that of 14th/15th September for the Hughenden Manor 1940s weekend
I’m sure you would like to join me in thanking Alison for all her hard work and cheerfulness during her time at Ruby’s and to welcome Yvonne back for more vintage loveliness!
Lyn
Our last event of the season was a cracker! Hughenden Manor near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire was awash with wartime activities and entertainment with various army camps (including our Russian allies still with snow on their boots), live entertainers, the Home Guard, Landgirls, the ATS, the RAF and civilians all immaculately and accurately dressed.
In fact the Commander of RAF Northolt who visited on Sunday said it was nice to see so many accurate uniforms as it meant he didn’t get stopped all the time. Lyn took the time to admire his shiny medals however! (Ruby joke)
Our vintage marquee was small but filled to the brim with great vintage ranging from beautifully classic 1940s outfits for ladies and gentlemen from Cock-a-Doodle Vintage to retro sweeties from The Sweetie Shop in Wycombe.
We were all very excited for the flypast by a Spitfire on the Saturday and a Hurricane on the Sunday – the marquee emptied pretty quickly by visitors and stallholders alike at the first sound of those Merlin engines!
All of the visitors were delightful and we had a great time admiring and in some cases, adding to, their period outfits so all in all, a fitting and enjoyable end to Ruby’s season.
We have been asked back to Hughenden Manor for next year so 14th/15th September are the first dates in our diary for 2019 – we will let you know our other events as we progress with our planning.
So our sincere thanks to all of the many visitors to Hughenden Manor and all of out other Fairs in 2018 and of course to our wonderful stallholders without whom etc….
See you next year!
Lyn & Alison
It was very early when I arrived in the Market Place at Newbury – just me, a couple of delightful streetcleaners in shiny new beeping machines and the local drunk on his way home…. or his way out, I wasn’t sure.
Anyway, Sheree Monroe of New Beginnings Vintage Chic soon arrived and helped me to put my gazebo up then it was fast and furious until 10am when we opened to the public.
Sunday 9th September was the second day of Newbury’s 1940s event Their Legacy, Our History and Ruby’s was privileged to be providing the vintage market.
We filled the square with some great stalls and enjoyed a busy day full of shoppers, dancers, cooking demonstrations and VIP visitors.
We hope to be back in Newbury very soon!
Our next event (and last one for this year) is at Hughenden Manor near High Wycombe for their 1940s weekend – we will be in the marquee on the front lawn.
A last minute change of plan saw Ruby’s in the Shop and Taproom at the West Berkshire Brewery in Yattendon, rather than a marquee outside and it all worked wonderfully!
We were part of the action and the whole venue was abuzz with conversation and music from Serena Lin.
Two local vintage cars were on display outside including RubyToo plus we had a visit from some very smart scooters.
Thank you to the team at the Brewery – we all had a blast plus we sampled the products and found them excellent!
There was also a video taken by the Brewery of the day:
Our next event is in Newbury Town Centre on 9th September as part of Their Legacy, Our History – a celebration of all things 1940s so come and see us in the Market Square from 10am!
Is this possibly the best combination in the world? Well, it’s your chance to find out this Saturday 18th August when Ruby’s comes to the West Berkshire Brewery & Tap Room.
This venue in Yattendon, near Newbury (RG18 0XT) has grown from a couple of sheds at the back of a local pub to a multi-million pound brewery which also owns 3 pubs in London. And all this without losing the personal touch and the traditional taste of bitter and lager. And now they do food too!
Come and find out for yourself this Saturday 18th August when Ruby’s will be in the Shop and the Tap Room along with live entertainment, classic cars and vintage style teas…..
We open at 11am and will close between 5pm and 6pm depending on visitor footfall.
Free entry and free parking so see you soon…
What are the chances of having the same weekend at the same venue with the same scorching weather? Well, it happened again at our 2 day event at Millets Farm Centre near Abingdon.
Our marquee was as open to the elements as we could make it but the heat was frankly stifling – our stallholders stuck it out manfully and the visitors went outside for a breather in the shade and then went back in again.
Steve Conway sang in the sun all day and you could hear his dulcet tones echoing around the Millets site adding to the perfect summer occasion.
We were up against the England v Sweden match on Saturday so it was a little quiet in the afternoon with only the shouts of excited stallholders and organisers following on their phones and tablets.
Overall we had an amazing weekend with some lovely compliments from our visitors – we are always open to feedback so please don’t feel shy about making suggestions. We already have ideas on making the changing gazebo a little more welcoming if the weather is the same and also adding some fans if the system will take it.
Thank you to all our visitors , we were pleased to see that lots left with bags of goodies. Please do post pictures on our Facebook page so we can see what you bought.
And of course thank you to our stalwart stallholders and the Millets Farm staff. And thank you to the cows for providing us with some exciting moments during the weekend but that’s another story
Same time next year?
Ruby’s had 2 events in 2 weekends and, as it typical with an English summer, you could not get 2 more contrasting days of weather!
Sunday 17th June saw us at Sandhurst Military Academy’s Heritage Open Day for the second year. Our marquee was in a different position and thanks to the Army, slightly more open to the elements. Now that would have been perfect last year when it was the hottest day so far but this year saw wind and drizzle. But in true British style, we carried on.
As before, we had loads of visitors to our tent and the locals are gradually getting used to vintage being available. We all had a brilliant time and enjoyed the day no end. We even had a Brigadier with very shiny medals come round afterwards for a chat.
Sunday 24th June opened to blazing skies and it stayed that way all day as we became part of the Yattendon Classic Vehicle Day with gazebos in the display field and stalls in the village hall. Over 250 classic vehicles streamed into this pretty Berkshire village and there was a good turn out of visitors to admire them. There were even 2 flypasts – one arranged by a local and a squadron of bi-planes buzzed overhead on their way to somewhere else.
Thank you to all the stallholders who took part in both events and as ever, thank you to our visitors.
Now it’s time to finalise details for our 2 day extravaganza at Millets Farm Centre near Abingdon next weekend (7th/8th July) so it’s all go!
So here we are back at Sunny Sandhurst. The Royal Military Academy opens it’s doors to the public for the one and only time during the year and we are part of their Heritage Open Day
Look for our marquee next to the craft tent right in the centre below the parade ground. We will have some of our Ruby’s Regulars and some new stallholders plus entertainment from Serena Lin so if you want to visit this great family day out with military exhibitions and displays, classic cars, parachute jumps, polo, show jumping, guided walks and tours plus the famous Ghurkha curries, join us this Sunday 17th June.
Doors open officially at 11am (but in reality, a little earlier) and entry plus parking is FREE
