Castle Street Markets
The street is closed to traffic each year for two of the town’s busiest events of the year.
The Farnham Food Festival is a free annual event that marks the end of a two-week celebration of food. Castle Street is closed to traffic and is transformed into a bustling marketplace for 80 or so food stalls, live music and food demonstrations. The Christmas Market has now become one of the busiest one-day Christmas Markets in the South-East and is set across five locations, stretching from Castle Street and The Borough through to the Bush Hotel and Ivy Lane Club.
Green Spaces – Gostrey Meadow
One of the first things we did after being elected in 2019, was to persuade Waverley Borough Council to return Gostrey Meadow and six other green spaces to Farnham ownership. There is no doubt that Gostrey Meadow is the Green jewel in crown of Farnham and attracts many visitors to our town to enjoy the wonderful festivals and events. Music in the Meadow and the Christmas Lights Switch-on have become just two of the most popular events in the annual calendar.
Alan Earwaker
Farnham Residents
Spokesman for Tourism & Events
World Craft City Status
Farnham is a town rooted in the crafts, with its many arts and craft venues, so we applied for Craft City Status to the World Craft Council (UNESCO) and to our delight, we were the very first town in England to be granted “Craft City Status.” We need to encourage and foster the many incredibly talented people who live in our community as our many Arts venues are essential in bringing visitors into the town, to support its economy. Boosting the town’s economy is also one of the reasons we implemented both the Art & Craft and Antiques & Brocante Markets in West Street.
Literary Festival
This has been the second successful year of this new festival, with over two hundred people turning up on the final day to hear the popular children’s books author, Jacqueline Wilson give a talk – and at least half of them were kids! The opening ceremony for the festival was given without a fee by the writer and broadcaster, Sandi Toksvig (a big thank you to the Blue Bear Bookshop) and the well-known actor, Christopher Biggins. There were more than fifty events during the festival, which are too numerous to mention here. Our hope is it can continue to grow and flourish year after year. As we are now in the age of the mobile phone, it is important that our children learn to appreciate all forms of literature, and how the written word can improve the language of communication.
Farnham Museum at Wilmer House
Some of the achievements we have seen for Farnham over the last four years have really been worth fighting for. As Farnham Residents Councillors, we have been determined to save Willmer House that contains Farnham’s Museum which had effectively been left unrepaired because of the sheer cost of the restoration work required. This seemed an impossible task at first, given the amount of work and money required. However, supported by the gritty determination and hard work of members of the Waverley Executive, the Maltings, and other bodies, we finally got £735,000 of funding we needed from the Arts Council after an elongated bidding process. This will result in the Farnham Museum, in this beautiful Grade 1 listed building, being enjoyed by residents and visitors for many years to come.
