Stately Car Boot Sale raises nearly £83,000

After five years and a couple of false starts the Stately Car Boot Sale, in aid of the Norfolk Churches Trust, took place at Sennowe Park (Marsdon Manor if you are a Poirot fan!) on Sunday 1st May. With special thanks to Mr and Mrs Charles Temple-Richards and Mr Tom Cook, who kindly allowed the Trust to take over the park for the weekend.

Whilst the skies looked ominous first thing, the weather could not have been better, not too sunny to encourage people to the beach, but temperate and dry, perfect for a bit of retail therapy in North Norfolk.

In fact, the enthusiasm for the event was such that the throngs were there early prompting Lady Dannatt to declare the boot sale open ten minutes before time.

The Stately Car Boot Sale 2022 is Open!

There were a record 193 pitches with an array of items for sale, china, glassware, garden and indoor furniture, clothing, artworks, cameras, typewriters for that first novel and even a suit of armour. All that remained was how to get your purchases back to the car.

For the first time this year there was a farmer’s market area offering a variety of delicious produce and when a break from perusing the pitches was required, there was an array of delicious food on offer, from pizza, fish finger sandwiches, hog roast, duck, churros, and bacon butties. Clearly retail therapy makes one ravenous as many of the outlets sold out. The tea tent was a welcome retreat with slices of cake generous enough to be meals in themselves!

The Norfolk Churches Trust had a selection of merchandise for sale, including tea towels, aprons, canvas bags and greetings cards which will be available to purchase from our website at a future date for those who missed out. And let us not forget the wonderful Emma Bridgewater pottery designed especially for the Trust, which was extremely popular on the day.

The Trust tent hosted a wonderful display of the entries to the School’s Art Competition which encouraged primary aged children to create a piece depicting their local church. The tent was also the place to buy a raffle ticket for a chance to win a £250 prize which attracted a lot of attention.

The Silent Auction provided a not on the high street opportunity to bid for items not normally for sale. Thank you to the donors who generously donated these items to the Trust.

Hopefully, everyone who attended, and there were thousands of you, enjoyed the day, there was certainly a good atmosphere. The success of the event resulted in almost £83,000 being raised after costs. These funds will go directly towards helping churches in Norfolk in the form of grants. Since its inception in 1976 the Norfolk Churches Trust has awarded more than £6.7 in grants so this fantastic sum raised means that more churches can be offered assistance in the future.

We expect to hold the next Stately Car Boot Sale in 2025 and hope that you will consider attending again. Details will be published on the NCT website nearer the time.

All that remains to say is a big thank you to the team of hard working volunteers, both on the day and in the months leading up to the event, it would not have been possible to host the event without them. 

To find out more about becoming a member of the Norfolk Churches Trust please visit our Membership page.

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