"A great spirit of comradery"- Salford Cathedral host yearly Christmas Fayre

“A great spirit of comradery”- Salford Cathedral host yearly Christmas Fayre

Christmas celebrations on Chapel Street, as Salford Cathedral host yearly Christmas Fayre

The fifth annual Fayre is set to take place at 13:00, on the 4th of December 2021, after being brought back from a long hiatus in 2016. The Fayre has been a staple celebration in the cathedral’s calendar since the 1800s, and through the 1990s.

Part of the reason why the Fayre is returning to Salford Cathedral’s parish is because of the merging with St Joseph’s in Ordsall. Marketing Officer, Challoner Zon said: “This event has been a central way of bringing the people of the two parishes together. It’s open to all the community, religious or not, and we’d love to get people from the local area involved.”

The Fayre will feature: Santa’s Grotto in the cloister, stalls with handmade gifts, Christmas crafts, Christmas food and mulled wine, and the Grand Prize Raffle.

🎄There’s just over a week to go until our Christmas Fayre!🎄We can’t wait to share the creativity of our parish with you!#Christmas #Salford #Fair #Advent #Carols pic.twitter.com/Ua9JFHsdV3

— Salford Cathedral (@SalfordCathedra) November 25, 2021

Another major part of the day is the music. The cathedral’s Director of Music Alex has organised the MAPAS Senior Brass Band to play carols in the Piazza at 1 pm; the Cathedral Choir will sing Benjamin Britten’s famous piece ‘A Ceremony of Carols’ in the cathedral at 3 pm. After that, all the choirs will sing carols in the cloisters at 3:45 pm

The director of music, Alex Patterson, said: “‘A Ceremony of Carols’ is a charming collection of medieval carols set by Benjamin Britten in 1942. He first began setting the music whilst on a month-long voyage across the Atlantic on his return to England during the Second World War. The piece is formed of 11 charming and unique movements set for women’s voices and harp.”

One of the Fayre Organisers, Cath Astin says: “It’s a really great local community family affair. It had been a tradition for many years but lapsed in the early 1990s due to lack of space.

“It was brought back about 4 years ago to bring the Community of the Cathedral parish and St. Joseph’s parish together as a fundraising event for both churches, also to open our doors to the local community around us” he said.

“We have had some good support from local businesses as well, especially the Ainscow Hotel, the Co-op, Tesco, GK Tea Room and Gallery, Porta, a local Hair Salon and the School of Electronic music who have provided gifts for the Grand Prize draw which we also have in December, even when we didn’t have a fayre.

“It’s a great spirit of comradery which gets the job done and we raise about £2500.00 for the church.”

Here is Christmas Fayre in full swing and an interview with one of the event organisers: