Christmas carnival is a crowd pleaser

Crowds attended a carnival in Newark Market Place on Sunday to follow-up the previous weekend’s ceremonial switch-on of the Christmas lights.

There were fairground rides and 35 charity stalls, including ones for Beaumond House Community Hospice, Newark Rotary Club, and Sue’s Place, a charity that helps bereaved youngsters.

One stall was run by students on Newark College’s Skills for Working Life course, who were selling Santa yule logs as part of a Young Enterprise project.

A learning assistant, Mrs Jane Harrild, said the gnome-like Santas were created by decorating small logs bought from a timber yard in Stapleford Woods.

She said the idea came from a tradition in Germany.

Mrs Harrild said money from the sale was reinvested in the company and used to pay back shareholders.

She said the market had been well attended and they had sold many yule logs.

Those not sold are likely to be made into garden gnomes, which could be sold in the spring, and possibly in a shop to be created on the college campus.

The owner of Pearson’s Amusements, Mr Gordon Pearson, supplied most of the fairground rides.

He said: “It was a big success doing it this way. More people turned up than we expected.

“I was not sure people would be interested after the event last week.

“This shows that the fairground and market is wanted by families because it caters for everyone, and the charity stalls all seemed to do very well.

“It is up to the council if it is to continue in this format in the future — but it seems it is what the people wanted.”