Festive fun at this year’s Cathedral Christmas Fair and Christmas Gift Market
Portsmouth Cathedral welcomed over 3,500 people across the three days of the Christmas Gift Market and Christmas Fair, raising much needed funds to support our mission and ministry.
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For the first time this year, Portsmouth Cathedral ran two complementary Christmas events, a new Christmas Gift Market in partnership with Love Southsea Markets and the welcome return of our much-loved Cathedral Christmas Fair.
Dean Anthony writes, “It is amazing that over the course of two to three days, over 3,500 people visited the Cathedral for our Christmas Gift Market and Christmas Fair, especially when we consider that in pre-Covid times we welcomed 20,000 visitors annually. The Market and Fair have together raised over £9,000 to support the mission and ministry of Portsmouth Cathedral with over £6,000
of that total associated with our Christmas Fair. This is an amazing success, both in terms of raising vital funds to support our work, and also in bringing new people into the Cathedral.”
The Christmas Gift Market in partnership with Love Southsea welcomed over twenty local traders and artisans in the Nave across a Friday afternoon and Saturday. Food stalls outside and coffee, mulled wine and bagels inside added to the experience. A special Advent Carol Sequence on Friday evening took the place of Choral Evensong, and many of those attending the Market paused their shopping to join in with this short, reflective service of readings and music from our Cathedral Choir. On Saturday we welcomed the Urban Vocal Group, a local community choir, and star Portsmouth singer Amba Tremain who entertained guests with festive music. Cast members from the Guildhall’s pantomime popped by for a meet-and-greet.
This inaugural event is one important way we are meeting the ambitions of the Partnership and Engagement strand of the Cathedral’s Vision. This shared venture with Love Southsea Markets saw many people come into the Cathedral for the first time, breaking down invisible barriers with over 2,500 people visiting us during the Market. The Cathedral Shop saw sales soar to over £2,000 during the market, providing vital extra income for our mission and ministry.
The return of our much beloved Cathedral Christmas Fair has been the highlight of the festive season so far. Over 90 volunteers, led by Ann Wilson and her organising team, came together to create a fantastic event with numerous stalls, tombolas, Santa’s Grotto and delicious refreshments. Over 1,000 people visited the Cathedral in just three and a half hours, and the space was filled with festive excitement and joy. The Christmas Fair raised over £5,300 with these funds supporting the ministry of the Cathedral generally as well as the Flower Guild and the Portsmouth Cathedral Choir Association (PCCA). In addition, some stalls supported the work of the Roberts Centre and our link Diocese in Ghana, Sunyani. In addition, the Cathedral Shop had another excellent day, with sales in excess of £1,100. Our thanks again to everyone who was involved in making this event such a success, both to those who volunteered on the day and everyone who donated and made goods.
On a normal Saturday, Portsmouth Cathedral welcomes around 80-100 visitors and the Shop would make sales of circa £300. This underlines the incredible success of both events.
Dean Anthony continues, “On behalf of the entire Cathedral community, I want to express my thanks and that of Chapter to Ann Wilson, her organising team and all of the 90 volunteers for delivering such a successful return of the annual Christmas Fair – it was a truly wonderful event for the whole community. My thanks also to our Digital Marketing Manager, Joseph Keele-Toms, for his tremendous work in organising the first Christmas Gift Market through developing the partnership with Love Southsea Markets. His work helped to develop a new and innovative way for us to support local small businesses, grow partnerships and put us at the heart of our local community in a new way.”
Initial results indicate that having two complementary Christmas events has worked well. For example, the Gift Market was a useful advertising opportunity for the Christmas Fair, as people attending the Market were invited back to the Christmas Fair the next weekend. A lessons learned meeting in the new year will review what went well and what we could improve for next year.