From left: Andrew, Hazel, Chris, Karen, Maggie, Ken, Francesca, Tony
We’ve thoroughly enjoyed our three Pantry markets this year, and look forward to seeing everyone again next year on 30 March, 7 September and 7 December.
We thank everyone for their support and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The Pantry Christmas Market, 1 December 2018
Photos: Chris Weavers and Kim Elliott
Thanks so much to everyone – stallholders, volunteers and customers – for coming along to our Christmas Market, which our Treasurer, Chris, tells me was our 22nd! I found this so hard to believe, I counted up all the markets we’ve held since we started in December 2012 and it’s true. We really have got together as a community this many times and created something that lots of us in the village think is meaningful and important. And not just in the village. We’ve got to know several of the stallholders who have become regulars, and real friendships have grown as a result of these markets. The Pantry is part of their world now, as they are of ours.
Glancing back over the list of producers and suppliers, I was surprised by the variety of stalls and produce we’ve had. We featured more food stalls at the beginning. The idea for The Pantry had grown from disussions about the possibility of having a village shop, so our initial focus was on food, with some craft stalls – hence the name! For various reasons the balance has shifted. (Reasons include, for example, the difficulty of finding small food producers who want to attend a market as infrequent as ours, or who already sell elsewhere on our dates. Also, we can’t guarantee large sales of perishable goods and, if we buy in stock to sell ourselves, most companies will only agree to sale or return on bigger orders than we can make, and of course won’t offer sale or return on food products, quite understandably.) In recent years we’ve mainly relied for our food offering on the homemade cakes and produce sold by villagers, the fab bacon and mushroom baps freshly cooked to order in the Coffee Shop, an order of bread from artisan bakers and Sandy from Waddesdon Deli, who brings her delicious cheeses, meats and home-smoked produce. We’d love to feature more food stalls, though, so if you’re a small food producer, or know someone who’d like to come to a market next year, please contact me.
Thank you again for coming on Saturday. The hall was lively and buzzing, as usual, and beautifully decorated for Christmas (thanks Kim, Chris and Ken!). We moved the Christmas tree into the front marquee to make it more festive out there, along with lights, tinsel and a festive soundtrack, then shifted it back afterwards. I’m not sure this was enough to keep customers from making a beeline into the warm hall, drawn by the delicious smell of bacon and mushrooms, so we’ll have to rethink this next year. We’re very grateful to the stallholders in the marquee for being so good-humoured about their position this time. And we’re sorry you missed the Christmas music, Jen. We were so concerned about having it in the outer reaches (the front and side marquees), we didn’t notice that neither sound system managed to make it into the main hall! We’ll do better next year – promise!
We couldn’t hold these markets without the help and support of everyone involved – no matter how small a part they may play. After all, someone coming along to have a cup of tea and slice of cake, then spotting a neighbour they haven’t seen for ages and enjoying a good catch-up was one of the main reasons for starting The Pantry 22 markets ago. To see it happen so many times, at every market, is absolutely brilliant!
See you at the Spring Market on 30th March!
Don’t forget, it’s The Pantry Christmas Market this Saturday (1st December)!
What a great year 2018 has been for our lovely market. We even broke our record for terrible weather with a hot and sunny Autumn Market in September. You can see that rare blue sky in one of the photos below.
We’ve raised lots of money for Piddington village causes (over £11,000 since we began in December 2012) and we’ve so far donated £3000 to the new village hall kitchen, £3000 to the refurbishment programme in St Nicholas Church, plus funding the Apple Day ploughman’s lunch. We also want to help with the fundraising efforts for a new children’s playground at the village hall.
Scenes from this year’s Pantry markets
We’ re now getting ready for the best one of the year – The Pantry Christmas Market. And there are even more Piddington stallholders this time!
Kim will be there, with her scarves, jewellery and hand-decorated boxes, Lynda and John will be showcasing their wonderful balloon arrangements for all occasions, Olivia will be fundraising for a new children’s playground at the village hall, Liz and Madeleine (sorry, I don’t have a photo!) will be selling handmade gifts, cards and prints and Alex will be selling her range of gorgeous accessories and gifts for the home.
As well as these, we have for the first time a stall from Piddington’s own Craft Club, featuring a variety of Christmas decorations and gifts, many made in the village hall on Wednesday mornings! And once again St Nicholas Church will have two tables, selling homemade cakes, Christmas wreaths and decorations and more.
Of course, we’ll have bottles of the new season’s Piddington Apple Juice, which has just been collected from Drover’s Hill Farm, who press and bottle the apples for us, as well as a new batch of Piddington Apple Chutney, made from Piddington apples by Jim and Jules. (The labels will be different from those shown here, but the contents will be just as delicious as ever.) There may still be some 2017 cider left (I’m not sure), but you’ll have to wait a bit longer for the new season’s cider, from juice pressed at this year’s Apple Day!
Naturally, we also have stallholders who are now very much part of The Pantry family: Zena with her fabulous bags, Chris with his classy accessories, Paul and Simon with their beautifully crafted wooden items, Jen with her varied and colourful range of handsewn and knitted decorations, cushions, scarves and cards, as well as newer visitors Kathy with her exquisite handmade fabric necklaces, pendants and snoods, Shuan and Daphne with handsewn items, pictures and crafts, plus Colin‘s clean and simple pottery. Plus two very popular stallholders who are back with us: Kathy with her exquisite handmade glass art and Sandy with her fantastic range of cheeses, meats and deli treats!
Plus our lovely Coffee Shop will be in the new village hall kitchen for the first time, with the kitchen team turning out bacon (or mushroom) baps as fast as you can order them.
And of course you can stock up on your Christmas ales at the Beer Stall – come and ask Andrew or Ian for a taster. Local breweries featured include XT, Vale, Loose Cannon (based in Abingdon) and Wriggly Monkey, a brand-new artisan brewery based at the Bicester Heritage Centre.
And it’s free entry, so please come along to The Pantry, on Saturday 1st December at Piddington Village Hall, near Bicester, OX25 1PU, between 10 and 2, to get your local Christmas started.
If you can help in setting up the hall and the two marquees on the Friday before (from 2.30pm) or taking them down on Saturday afternoon, that would be great. For a demonstration of what this entails, have a look at ‘The Pantry – Behind the Scenes’.
It’s not long till The Pantry Christmas Market on 1st December! Here’s who’ll be there – and where you’ll find them.
Zena Ashdown: Your favourite source of great handbags at great prices
Event and Party Balloons: Amazing range of balloons for all occasions
Horton Accessories: Fine accessories for women, men and the home
Prime Wood Studios: Exquisite handcrafted wooden gifts and decorative items
Jennie Bosher: Handmade decorations and cards, knitted cushions and toys
Kathy Chalk: Handmade glass art gifts and decorations
Kim Elliott: Fun and affordable jewellery, scarves and boxes
Haddenham Pottery: Functional domestic pottery
Kathy Hodge: Agate pendants, snoods, fabric necklaces
Piddington Craft Club: Unique gifts and decorations handmade by our village craft group
Liz Tagert: Handmade gifts, cards and prints
Topstitch (Shuan Meekings) and Daphne Bray: Handsewn items, boxes, pictures and jewellery
Alex White: Eclectic home accessories and gifts
Cake stall + Produce and gifts stall: Raising funds for St Nicholas Church
Children’s playground stall: Raising funds for the new children’s playground
Raffle
Beer stall: Local beers from XT, Vale, Wriggly Monkey and Loose Cannon Breweries
Piddington Produce: Our own Piddington Apple Juice, Cider and Chutney
Waddesdon Deli: Sandy is back, with her fabulous range of cheeses, meats and deli treats!
I know, I know, it’s only just October and the next exciting event in Piddington is Apple Day, but here at Pantry HQ we’re organising our 6th Christmas Market. The posters will be appearing on noticeboards and in local publications over the next few weeks, and a fantastic selection of crafts, gifts and treats will be available for you to buy, so please spread the word among family and friends that the Piddington Pantry really is the best place to start your Christmas shopping.
Well, what a surprise! The sun shone brightly all day – is this a first for The Pantry?
It was an absolutely brilliant market yesterday – one of the very best, we think. There were plenty of people enjoying the various craft stalls, beautiful paintings, homemade cakes, beer and of course the delights of the Coffee Shop. I think Maggie, Karen and the team of (very) hardworking volunteers deserve a huge cheer for how they managed to cope with the crowds clamouring for bacon baps and cake.
Thank you all – customers, stallholders and volunteers – for all helping to make it such a wonderful day. And for raising more funds to go towards various village causes. I heard so many comments about how lovely Piddington is and what a great community we have here – especially from first-time visitors to The Pantry, who couldn’t quite believe how many villagers we had helping and how friendly we all were.
Here are a few more photos to give you a flavour of the day – and to prove that we have had one day when the weather was kind!
And put The Pantry Christmas Market, on 1st December, in your diary now.
Having fun at The Pantry raises money that will help village causes – such as refurbishing the play area at the village hall
When you have a coffee and a chat with your friends and neighbours, or buy a homemade cake or a unique handmade craft item or painting at The Pantry this Saturday, you’re not just enjoying yourself – you’re benefiting our whole community.
The Pantry is a huge supporter of village causes. Past donations have included substantial amounts towards the new kitchens in the church and the village hall as well as funds towards village events such as Apple Day. This autumn we will be promoting the refurbishment of the children’s play area at the village hall, which is being championed by Olivia Barrett. Olivia will be at the market tomorrow, getting your ideas and hoping to get some more of you involved.
As well as our stallholders selling a varied range of goodies, from handbags to jewellery to miniature gardens, we sell some very local products including Piddington cider, apple juice and chutney, local beers, Maggie and Tony’s plants and – new this time – local small-batch honey from Roger Luck, who used to live in the village. Roger sent us a little piece he’d written about his bees – read it here.
Don’t forget to visit the Art Marquee, where among the artists featured is our own Karen Joy, who started the Piddington Art Group. Karen is becoming a very well-known local artist – have a look at her work here and come and say hello tomorrow.
And finally, help is always needed with setting up (3pm today) or clearing afterwards. If you want to know what’s involved, have a look at the video ‘Behind the Scenes’!
We look forward to seeing you there…
Here’s who you’ll find at The Pantry this time – your favourite stallholders plus a couple of new people.
Zena Ashdown: Bespoke handbags and baskets
Jennie Bosher: Handmade decorations and cards, knitted cushions and toys
Daphne Bray: Boxes, pictures and jewellery – NEW
Event & Party Balloons: Brilliant balloons for memorable occasions
Kathy Buckingham: Unique agate pendants, snoods, fabric beaded necklaces and more
Flooseymoo Jewellery: Handmade silver & semi-precious gemstone jewellery
Horton Accessories: Fine accessories for women, men and the home
Kim’s Jewels: Fun and affordable jewellery and scarves
Miniature Enchanted Gardens: Tina Allen makes exquisite tiny gardens for decoration and events, as well as kits for children to make their own – NEW
Piddington Cottage Garden Plants: A lovely selection of locally grown plants
Prime Wood Studios: Handcrafted wooden gifts
Topstitch: Handsewn items
PLUS
The Art Marquee: An Exhibition held by the Piddington Art Group, featuring the work of several local artists including Piddington’s Karen Joy
AND NOT FORGETTING THE EVER-POPULAR VILLAGE STALLS
Homemade cake + church stall
Local beer stall
Raffle
Secondhand books
You may remember that The Pantry Easter Market was filmed in its entirety by Tirion Ashton – from setting up the marquee to taking everything down and packing it away afterwards (see We’re ready for our close-up).
From the hours of film Tirion shot, she’s produced a great short video that really shows the business, buzz and friendliness of our markets. All the usual suspects can be spotted somewhere (except me – I can’t think how I managed to keep out of shot so effectively!), and we’re really pleased to have this video. Thank you, Tirion, for all your skill and hard work, which now enables us to showcase what we’ve achieved since we began.
On behalf of all of us who organise The Pantry, I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the volunteers who turn out every time, rain or shine (usually rain – and wind), to set up, work at and pack away after each market. And another huge thank you to all our customers and stallholders. We couldn’t do it without you!
And if you’ve always wondered how the well-oiled machine that is The Pantry actually works, have a look at Tirion’s ‘Behind the Scenes’ video. It may prompt you to volunteer your services at our next market, on 1st September.
Here are the videos. Have fun spotting yourself and your friends!
We’re very excited about this special joint event with the Piddington Art Group.
Put 1 September in your diary now – it’s going to be a brilliant day!
The Pantry 