FUNDRAISERS in Mickleton are hoping for a huge turnout when they host a three day “pop up” art and crafts exhibition and sale in the village hall this weekend.
Money raised will help fund a community building project.
For the past three years Mickleton and Eggleston carnival committees have been working hard to raise funds to pay for the construction of a storage barn for equipment they own jointly and the volunteers say they are now in “swinging distance” of their target.
The project to construct a storage barn is being organised jointly between Mickleton and Eggleston village hall committees which share equipment for their carnivals, including bulky market stalls and gazebos.
Sue Brown, a committee member of both Mickleton Village Hall and the carnival committees, said: “At the moment a lot of the carnival equipment is stored under the stage, which is supposed to be used for visiting theatre groups to practice and change.
“Even though it’s packed, it’s not all here. There’s bits scattered around the dale in garages and barns.”
The committees said they needed to raise close to £40,000 and intend on splitting the building work into two phases.
Phase one will deal with the groundworks and foundations and phase two the rest of the build and fitting out.
Mrs Brown added: “We have enough money to do phase one, but we still need to raise more cash to ensure we can finish the build. As when we built the village hall, there are a lot of people who have said they would help, so we don’t know what the actual cost will be.”
Planning permission for the single-storey, low impact building, which has been designed to resemble a traditional stone barn, was granted earlier this year and will be sited in the field adjacent to Mickleton Village Hall.
However, the building is also going to house a public disabled toilet, as currently there are no public conveniences in the village.
Mrs Brown added: “We get a lot of walkers coming through the village and at the moment there isn’t a public toilet. There is the village hall, but this isn’t open every day.”
Suzanne Herbert, secretary of Eggleston carnival committee, added: “We just thought this made sense and it will benefit everyone.
“It would be great if we could get enough money together to make the building a reality by next summer.”
The pop up exhibition in Mickleton Village Hall will feature work in a variety of media with many items available for sale, including hand-made and designed purses and bags, photographs, artwork and of course lashings of home-made cakes and refreshments.
The exhibition will be open on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, August 25, 26 and 27 between 11am and 4pm.
