The directors and producers of Hexham Farmers’ Market were deeply saddened to hear about the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth yesterday. We extend our condolences to all members of the Royal Family.
We have decided to go ahead with the farmers’ market scheduled for tomorrow as normal, be it in a slightly reduced form. We will not have any music or flags, to reflect the national period of mourning.
We’re delighted to welcome Imogen and her partner from the Northern Pasta Company to the market on 27 August 2022. They are based in Kendal which is right on our 50 mile radius (we measure as the crow flies) but as we don’t have anyone else producing pasta we’d be happy to have them with us. The pasta is hand made and they use spelt flour and semolina from farms like Gilchester’s Organics near Matfen.
Can’t wait to try this great new product!
On Saturday 14 May 2022 we see the very welcome return of Transition Tynedale’s popular plant swap. We’ve always been advocates of people knowing where their food comes from. Being able to talk to or ask questions of the person who made, grew or reared the food you are buying is one of our core criteria. We’re also advocates of people growing some of their own food, even if it is just a pot of herbs on a window sill. Both are important parts of a more towards greater resilience and food sovereignty, where we take responsibility for the food that we eat.
So we’re delighted to have the plant swap back. Most gardeners will grow more seedlings than they know what to do with; after all, you never know quite how many seeds are going to germinate, or how many might get eaten by sneaky slugs. We’re hoping that some of those surplus plants will make it to the market on Saturday for others to be helped out by them. More often than not we have more plants than we know what to do with, and if you haven’t got anything to add to the stall, don’t worry, you’d be welcome to take a few home and grow them on at home anyway.
In addition to the plant swap stall we have 22 fabulous local producers of great food and drink, all from within 50 miles of Hexham. The market runs between 9am and 1.30pm.
This week is the second anniversary of the start of the Covid pandemic and the time we closed down, be it for a very short time. On the last market in 2020 the 10 Avenue Band had been booked to play music at the market and iut is only right that they’ll be coming back this Saturday, 26 March 2022. The 10th Aevnue Band is a colourful and very lively street band and we look really forward to having them with us this Saturday.
We’ll also have Cycling Minds with us which will be providing free bicycle health checks.
Some of you will remember Maggi and Malcolm Dearmer of TOC Aromatherapy who attended the market for many, many years and retired from the market at the end of 2018. Malcolm rang us last night to give us the sad news that Maggi died at home, just before Christmas. Maggi had struggled with her health for a number of years.
In addition to producing beautiful soaps and creams, Maggi was a director of Hexham Farmers’ Market Ltd for many years. Our thoughts are with Malcolm and their family at this difficult time.
Those of you who visit the market regularly will have noticed that we have slowly grown over the past year or so and finding space for new producers is becoming a bit of a challenge at time. As we head towards the end of 2021 and the Christmas period we will also need to accommodate the Hexham Christmas tree and in early December we’ll have the Christmas Market and Abbey Christmas Fair.
The Christmas tree will go on the Beaumont Street side of the Abbey which means there will be fewer stalls on that side of the Abbey. We’ll need to use more of the space on the north side of the Abbey and are likely to squeeze the stalls a bit closer together to be able to accommodate everyone.
It is obviously great that more local prodcuers want to come to Hexham Farmers’ Market and we try to accommodate as many as possible, especially if they offer something the market doesn’t have. Obviously you’d also expect us to continue to maintain our standards and the core ethos of the market: prodcuers from within 50 miles of Hexham, use of home-grown and reared or locally produced ingredients where possible. The person on the stall shopuld be involved in the production process and every producer will have appropriate insurance, training and be registered with and inspected by their Local Authority.
