THE Old Alresford traditional village fair was held in sweltering temperatures on the picturesque village green.

Many visitors were, as they have been for the last 30 years, brought in from Alresford in a vintage bus by enthusiasts’ club Friends of King Alfred Buses and this year their open-top bus proved very popular.

The heat didn’t seem to put them off as feared and the village green was swarming with people soon after the 2pm start.

Thanks to an improvised dam, the village stream hosted the Eastleigh Model Boat Club where visitors could sail their radio-controlled boats. The duck race was also held on the stream, with all 200 plastic ducks having been sold and released promptly at 4pm. The owner of the winning duck received a £20 prize.

The main arena event was the Alton-based traditional dance group Knickerbocker Glory, who performed their Appalachian-style clog dances in the shade of the alder trees on the green to the delightful tunes of their own musicians.

The heat affected the fun dog show entry, which is normally well attended. The most popular classes were the best puppy and the best dog or bitch with a child handler.

Only one dog turned out for the fancy dress class and, much to the amusement of onlookers, Hugo the black labrador, with his handler Angus Duncan, did a passable imitation of President Trump and not surprisingly won first prize.

As ever, there was a magnificent display on the popular plant stall.

The cool, shady tearoom in the village hall was beautifully decked out in vintage style and did brisk business. The villagers had baked cakes by the dozen and all were snapped up. The winner of the guess the weight of the cake competition is yet to be found.

Bric a brac, books and a toy stall did excellent business but as always the bottle stall queue was the longest. Sideshows were many and varied with ‘bash the rat’ and ‘milk the cow’ ever popular and children delighted in sliding down the bouncy slide all afternoon.

Bob’s Bar, a Volkswagen Camper parked on the green did a roaring trade in Pimm’s, Itchen Valley bitter and gin and tonics made with Twisted Nose Gin, as well as soft drinks. The gin is made a few hundred yards away in Old Alresford by the Winchester Distillery and free tastings were on offer by the distiller.

Hero of the Fair award, however, goes to Tony Thesiger and his family who manned the barbecue all afternoon in blistering heat.

The children’s tug of war took place at 4.15pm when the boys took on the girls. It looked like being an easy win for the boys until a few enthusiastic mums decided to even the odds by joining in and helping the girls to win by two pulls to one!

The fair closed with the grand draw at 4.30pm with the first prize being an iPad Mini donated by watercress and salad growers the Watercress Company.

Fair committee chairman Sarah Richardson was delighted with the fair and that the weather and villagers’ hard work resulted in such a successful and fun day. Takings are still being counted but are expected to be at least as good as last year’s net takings of £5,600, which will be shared between St Mary’s Church, the village hall maintenance fund, and the Village Amenities’ Fund.

Mrs Richardson said: “There are too many helpers and prize donors to mention individually but grateful thanks are due to them all for helping to make such a fun and worthwhile event.”