Keeping everyone happy was proving difficult for Barbara . . .
BY MARIAN MYERS
BARBARA listened to the points of view from either side of the table. “We don’t want to be caught out like last year,” Sylvia was saying. “We had to cancel our fair and other places didn’t because they knew what to do in bad weather.”
“You’re being too cautious, Sylvia,” Vernon snapped. “How often are we likely to have a storm during the summer fair? We’ve never had to cancel before.”
The Chelfirth Village Fair committee was meeting to plan its annual event.
Usually they’d note which stalls had done well the previous year, what entertainments had been popular and how many refreshments had been sold.
But last year’s fair had been cancelled at the last minute due to atrocious weather, meaning they had no comparisons to make.
Instead of making a profit, they’d made a loss, so Sylvia thought they ought to make contingency plans this year.
Vernon was of the opinion that she was overreacting, and Barbara, as the official organiser of the fair and chair of the committee, decided they should discuss the matter as a group.
“Sylvia’s right,” Barbara said. “It would be sensible to have a plan. We weren’t prepared last year.
“There must be a few places in the village where we could move the stalls inside if we get bad weather this year and can’t be on the village green.”
“If it’s only a little bit of rain, we’ll carry on outside,” Vernon insisted. “Storms are usually reserved for autumn or winter. Anyway, we’re famous for having good weather at our fairs!”
“I’ve got one word for you, Vernon,” Sylvia replied. “Climate change.”
“That’s two words, Sylvia,” Barbara pointed out. “But I take your point.”
“We only know about Lower Hayden’s fair going inside,” Vernon muttered. “To my mind, they shouldn’t have been holding their fair on the same day as ours anyway.”
“Which isn’t anything to do with preparing for bad weather,” Barbara pointed out. “How about we take a vote?”
That was how it started.
The committee agreed to devise a wet weather plan for the village fair.
Later, Barbara was to complain that planning for what to do in bad weather was harder than running the fair itself.
However, at that meeting, the committee simply discussed venues where the stalls could be moved inside in the event of bad weather.
“The
