Fairyland Fancy Fair, Timaru

New Zealand Tablet, 19 May 1910, Page 779

Fairyland Fancy Fair, Timaru

(From our own correspondent.} ;■ The Fairyland Fancy Fair was brought to a close on Tuesday night last, after a brilliant season of thirteen nights. It was the best-thought-out, best arranged, and most successful bazaar ever held in Timaru, and, as regards the financial result, perhaps a Dominion record can be claimed for it. The gross takings from all sources amounted to £1758 Is 7d, the expenses, by careful husbanding of resources, being only £l5B Is 7d. The net result is the really magnificent total of £l6ooa most welcome addition-to the new church building fund. The Rev. Father Tubman, our highly esteemed and popular pastor, must be greatly pleased at this result of his foresight. He chose the time and place for the fair, and events have proved his judgment sound. Mr. T. Lynch, as manager, was the right man in the right place, and Mr. N. D. Mangos, as secretary, was an indefatigable worker, with a thorough grasp of the situation. Rev; Father Smyth, placed in charge of the fete by the Rev. Father Tubman, flung himself into the work with whole-hearted enthusiasm, and showed himself a thorough organiser and one that got the most out of his co-workers without friction or undue straining. The tug-of-war, one of the great attractions of the fortnight, was practically run by him. Messrs. W. F. Bennetts and P. Mahoney, who had charge of the raffling, did excellent work. , The grand display given each evening by Mr. Wauchop was highly spoken of and much enjoyed. Mr. J. C. Coombs led the orchestra each evening, Miss E. Dennehy acting as accompanist. ... Another bazaar record for the Dominion was put up by Mrs. T. Lynch, whose stall returned the splendid total of £525 19s 2d. It is considered that this result from one stall in a bazaar will take- a lot of beating. All the stall-holders and their assistants worked with energy and well-directed enthusiasm, and the receipts as under speak volumes for the plentiful harvest of golden coins that they reaped. The different takings are as follow: —Mrs. Lynch's stall, £525 19s 2d; Mrs. Burns's stall, £356 Is 9d; St. Ann's Guild (Mesdames Power, South, and Dennehy), £339 3s lid; refreshments (Mrs. O'Rourke and Miss Ward), £212 17s 9d; doors, £293 2s; the Pilot (daily newspaper), £3O 17s. ' ' - * ■ At the 7.30 Mass on Sunday, and also at the evening service, Rev. Father Tubman returned the sincerest thanks of himself and colleagues to all those who had assisted in any way at the fair, and extended a cordial invitation to all workers to attend a complimentary social in the girls' school on Thursday night, when the detailed balance sheet would be read. Of all nations (writes a non-Catholic) the Irish cling most to sentiment and fond memory of things connected with the land of their birth. At the Fairyland Fancy Fair this'was strikingly exemplified. A beautifully carved little box, a genuine work of art, was raffled, and resulted in the handsome sum of £ll 4s being added to the funds chiefly on account of the box being full of sentiment in the shape of a turf from the bogs of County Armagh, the turf having been specially sent from the homeland to Mr

J. J. Weathered, Timaru, for the bazaar. Of the wealthy and those of lesser means who contributed to this sentiment none were too rich to be above admitting their intimate acquaintance with the bogs of Ireland, and none so poor as to prevent them contributing a shilling,to the little box and the sentiment it contained. And if the whole truth is to be told, not a few dropped a tear while they fondly and tenderly handled the precious turf and feasted their eyes on a sod of the old land ever' dear to their hearts and memories. K