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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

I've no doubt school fetes are worthy activities, but do people really need to let estate agents get free advertising by allowing them to set up their hideous boards on their property in return for advertising school fetes. There was even one attached to the rails at the end of a section of Harringay Passageway. Do people find them pretty?

Tags for Forum Posts: estate agents signs, school summer fair signs

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You haven't offended me at all! I apologise if I gave the impression you had. I just find the endless mention of McDonalds (by others) irrelevant and rather irritating!

As I say, I'm not really bothered by estate agents signs at any time, but the fact they've bolted one to my gate post cheesed me off a bit...!
Ah that would be me, I guess, irritating you. Schools promote healthy eating and in some parts of London the proximity of various purveyors of saturated and trans fats so close to schools, particularly secondaries, is a cause for concern to parents and councils. Accepting sponsorship from such a place would generally be viewed (although clearly not by everyone) as on a par with getting Metrobet to run the Tombola. McDonalds is simply an example and pertinent since we have a large one within an easy walk of our school but as the BBC would say, other sources of fast food are available.
"Schools promote healthy eating." Hmm. I am not too keen on them promoting anything outside their core ethos and would rather they stuck to educating. Mind you, the number of young people walking around in school uniform chomping on fried chicken or what have you is pretty scary, particularly as it has finally been confirmed that the chomping outdoes the good of the walking around.
Action taken on the Martyn Gerrard board in Seymour Road. Complaint made to the company.
Liz/All,

I am one of a small committee who run an annual fundraiser at our local church. I'm curious to know what expenses a school running a fete has. When we do ours we need to hire tables, buy tea, coffee, milk, bread, sandwich fillers, etc (parishioners bake cakes and biscuits) and print up posters for local shops to display, but other than that the costs are fairly minimal. Though I'm not sure if we pay the verger , so maybe there are other hidden costs that we don't account for.

I'm asking in case anyone has ideas for keeping costs down, which is one way of bringing in more money for what you want it to go towards. I was a little stunned that it can run into 100s of pounds. Not doubting you, just curious and hoping for some alterntive suggestions.

Btw, as someone looking from the outside on this one, I see both sides. Neither camp is 'wrong'. I really hope that something useful comes out of the discussion, as it seems that it already is.
Hi Jack, here is where I have to make a confession that I am not actually on the school fete organising committee so I can't be sure how much is needed to set up, perhaps someone else can tell you more. I think it was Helen who said that one thing money from boards does is guarantee that we still get some money for the school should the event be cancelled or rained on so badly that nobody comes.

We do try to make sure we don't spend unneccesarily and North and South Harringay do share some resources like gazebos, as the aim, of course, is to raise as much cash as possible on the day so we can fund things like our award winning garden, playground improvements and special events and trips out to museums etc.
I've taken a sneaky look at Angela's detailed response, so sure that there aren't any unecessasary expenses.
I wonder if some local businesses would loan their equipment or give raw ingredients though. I guess with so many local schools and other fundraising organisations, they might already be donated out.
Thanks for getting back to me about this, and so quickly, not sure now that there's much scope for economising.
Oh yes, some businesses do contribute, as I say we have links with the Traders Assoc (the chair is on the governors of the junior school).

The school fete is quite a complex beast, I think. It is partly a fundraising event but it is also a time for the school to invite the community in for a bit of fun and to demonstrate its place as a central plank of that community, as well as throwing a bit of a party for the kids at the end of a school year.

The planning for it begins at the beginning of a school year and can be very time consuming. It relies on the amazing organising skills of parents (in our case, led by Judith), the generosity of the community, the weather(!) and is about celebration of a school. So we like to make it as good as possible and give it a sense of occasion. Every year, I am astounded by the brilliance of the school organising committees at bringing it all together.

A good thing about this thread has been the opportunity for the work of PSAs to be discussed and elaborated upon and hopefully it has encouraged some people to think about joining PSAs or offering to help them out. You know who we are now (Helen, mention the name of your school so people near you know where to find you). Don't be shy!
Great, sounds like it's covered and folks are making improvements all the time.
Love the idea of a forum to share ideas and local resources - good luck.
Jack, I'm on the PSA committee of North Harringay Primary School and at our Summer Fair we have a number of stalls/events which we need to pay for upfront plus we need to cater for several hundred people.

For example

Bouncy castle
Barbecue
PA system
Beer/Pimms (plus license)
Soft drinks
Small prizes for children's competitions
Materials for the craft stall

We do rely on donations for the tombola, raffle, second-hand toys, books, games, bric-a-brac etc quite a lot. Not to mention the expertise of many of our parents!
Ime, your parents/carers/parishioners etc are your best resource for keeping costs down (for example, knowing who has contacts with other schools or community groups or local traders, or do you have professional musicians or superb cooks or people who work for companies which can help in your school or congregation)

Perhaps we could start up a separate discussion about this??
You know, we do have a page (under construction) on HOL for local schools. Perhaps we could revamp it and add contact details for the PSAs to make it easier for people to know who to offer help and support to.

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