At February’s Parish Council meeting members from the council's leisure committee reported back on several key issues and several decisions were taken by Councillors.
Fair in the Square 2025
The difficult decision was taken to not hold “Fair in the Square” this year due to the significantly increased costs and the financial performance of the event in recent years. “Fair in the Square” as it’s now known, first started in 2002 and has been an annual event since then. However the increasing cost of hiring the fairground equipment, coupled with decreasing attendance and ticket sales have meant the event has failed to break even for several years. We are aware that Fairford Leys as a community is changing and from the most recent census (2021) we can see that the proportion of younger children (0-14) has reduced, while the proportion of older teenagers and adults has increased, so this may explain the decline in popularlity of this event. For 2025 the proposed cost of hiring equipment has risen even further which has forced us to take this decision. The Parish Council has resolved to look into the possibility of holding an alternative event this year and will be meeting to discuss that soon.