
Rose Fair July 2016
Rose Fair has started as I write this, and while the weather is changeable, it’s always a lovely, friendly, beautiful event. Such a fantastic turnout of people, and so many are visitors who come by the coachload. If anyone in town doesn’t know it’s Rose Fair, then there’s hundreds who visit us who do. Looking from the outside in is a good exercise for anyone who’s ever thought “there’s nothing goes on here”, or that the town is “boring”. It may not have everything you want right now, but you could always change that by starting your own activities. Tourists however can show us what we have, and why we should celebrate it. So much of interest is free or almost free – from the museums to the park to the guided walks. Perhaps, if you can only visit on one day, just spend an extra few minutes walking to the nearest cultural centre, whether that’s a church, the library or a museum and have a quick look inside. Taking time out for yourself is always worthwhile, it will set you up for the rest of the day (especially if you have children to get from school, a busy job, or you’re looking for a job – mindfulness is a bit of a buzz word at the moment but it just means taking a few minutes to notice what’s going on around you, it’s a good way to relieve stress).
Use the internet, or pick up a brochure from the Horsefair/Bus Station, to see what tourists come here for, and plan a “staycation” – holiday at home, literally. Pretend to be a tourist, and visit all the places, and eat in all the cafes, just as if you were visiting for the first time.
If you’ve always lived here, and generations before you, then you should find out more and feel extra proud of how the town has developed. Maybe you have some stories to tell about your own family history as I talked about in a recent article? I’d be really interested to hear, as I recently did from a local friend, about the people who built the town, who so often get missed from history books. (My own recent research has found that the women who worked at home don’t get mentioned very much, I’d like to change that!)
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