Its an old saying that spring rains do a great deal more than just water the earth. And this was certainly the case in drought stricken, water stressed South Africa, which was in need of a big deluge of good news. However, everything has consequences, and one of these was that extreme weather conditions forced the postponement of the highly popular St Cyprians Highlands Country Fair. This was due to have been held last Sunday but has now been rescheduled for the coming Sunday 16 October.
The main beneficiary of funds raised at the Country Fair is the Holy Cross School at the Monastery. But this year there is a particularly urgent need for support. Apart from having founded the school, the monks have now also vacated their own quarters to make available another building for the school to advance from Foundation Phase teaching. It will be offering teaching at Grade 4 level for the first time next year. While the building is now available it is essential to provide the equipment and teaching materials necessary to turn it into a functional classroom for Grade 4 learners.
Although the Fair is a great day in the country for children, with masses to do and valuable downtime for minders, adults are also special with superb lunches and teas, pub, fresh produce, books, meat and farm foods. The auction highpoint has many fine items on offer this year and starts at around 1pm. The animal farm is open to everyone as are pony rides, treasure hunt, feeding lambs, face painting, candy floss etc.
The Fair starts after the St Cyprians Day service at 10am. To get there from Grahamstown either take the Highlands Road at the Rautenbach Road turn off the N2, or the Alicedale Road off the N2 further towards PE and follow the signs.
