Not your Average Fete

Along with some of the family Mr Geniaus and I attended the King's Spring Festival at The King's School in Parramatta yesterday.

Jam and Pickles 1977 (I'm in the Union Jack tshirt)

When my girls were at school these school fundraising celebrations were called Fetes and were very simple affairs with horse rides, home made cakes, a merry-go-round, handicrafts and secondhand goods. My baptism of fire came when I was a keen kindergarten mother; one of the more senior mums introduced me to another young mum, Kay, who has now been my friend for 35 years, and suggested we run the jam and pickles stall. So began our fete career. By the time my last child left school I had convened the whole affair a couple of times.

The Fete Festival at Kings was huge.  The school is set in 300 acres in what is now the geographic centre of Sydney so there is plenty of space for big gig. Gone were the handmade and secondhand goods; there wasn't a homemade sponge in sight but there was plenty to amuse young and old and plenty of opportunities to give the credit card some activity. Part of the festival that was held over three days was The King's School Art Show; it was pleasing to see that the school was supporting a local charity, The Westmead Children's Hospital with some of the proceeds from the Festival.

My favourite artworks were those done by the prep students

My favourite artist shows off his apple art

The male members of the family disappeared  to peruse the British Car Show - there were hundreds of vehicles

Three captivating sculptures from the Art Show

 

People were out in force on this glorious winter's day

There were novelties...

and posh hats for sale. (I got one too)

The boys didn't complain about the long wait for a Dodgem Car ride

We passed on the Teacups and other thrill rides

Don't know what these were

There were performers to get the kids dancing

Ice-cream rewards at the end of the day

Some people just thought the event was a big yawn.