Father Christmas has made his annual arrival in Broad Street under many different circumstances, but perhaps never stranger than when he was saved from a Dalek and Cyberman attack by good old Doctor Who last month.

Amidst much smoke and chaos, Doctor Who emerged from his spectacular Tardis to save the day and ensure the safe arrival of the great man in red and white – who went on to entertain the massed galleries and host a generous distribution of presents from his grotto!

Our annual thanks go out to FC himself and to everyone who made this possible.

Our thanks go out to all of the local businesses and residents who have supported local worthy causes by purchasing a Christmas tree – and how magnificent have they made the town look?!

Many thanks also to Dave and his team for a fantastic job – purchasing, selling, stringing, bulbing and erecting a record number of trees, without which we all wouldn’t feel quite so festive.

A Merry Christmas to you all!!

September is an important month for the Pigs with funds raised via our support at the hugely popular Alresford Show.

Dodging the recent unseasonal (& unwelcomed) weather, this years Show was blessed with fine & dry conditions and attracted ,000’s of happy visitors who once again enjoyed the sights and sounds of a traditional Agricultural Show.

As usual, we were on hand to help the Show Committee organise and man the car parks and entry gates as well as taking on many important duties as Safety Stewards. To complete all these tasks, we drew on superb support from a wide range of friends, family & ex-Pigs (respectfully & collectively known as Old Boars) as well as local clubs and committees, including the Alresford Rugby Club, Old Alresford Cricket Club, Tichborne Cricket Club, Ropley Parish Hall Committee, helpers from 345 Playgroup, Sun Hill Juniors & Infants and Cheriton schools.

It’s certainly fair to say that it was truly a terrific community effort – and one enjoyed by all who took part.

We are delighted to announce that our Co-op community card fundraising programme which began at the beginning of September last year has reached a massively successful conclusion – with Robert Sanders (our Chair Pig) dropping into the store to collect a £15,000 cheque!!

Commenting on the achievement Robert said, “we are delighted to have reached the generous £15,000 target with 2 months of our year to spare. We cannot thank The Southern Co-operative, their loyal customers and all of the staff in the Alresford store enough for their fantastic support over the last 10 months – they’ve certainly done their community proud!”

And from all of the Pigs: “Thank you….Thank you….Thank you”  to everyone who has supported us with this fantastic initiative.

As the sun blazed through the summer skies (remember that?!) hundreds of families and groups of friends visited our biggest and best ever Duck Race. Held, courtesy of George & Jeanette Hollingbery, in the beautiful surrounds of Weir House, June 26^th proved to be a day to remember with 32 athletic ducks (each sponsored by a local business) paddling  their way down the river to entertain, and in many cases delight the betting crowds.

Our thanks for their support go out to everyone involved, including sponsors, stall holders and most importantly for everyone who attended on the day and made a valuable contribution to our charitable funds which will, as ever, go to help many local needy causes.

Congratulations to Charlotte Hilton and Maddie Cleeve, both aged 10, who are winners of the Duck Race Poster Design Competition recently held at the Sun Hill Junior School. Both winners received book vouchers and their posters will be displayed in the Alresford Library from the beginning of June.

Pictured below are Nick Denbow (Alresford Pigs), Charlotte Hilton, Maddie Cleeve and Miss Cooper (Sun Hill Junior School)

Last Sunday brought fabulous weather and great crowds to the town for the expanded and better-than-ever Alresford Watercress Festival. As ever we helped man car parks, managed traffic and escorted the Watercress carriage safely through the town.

A big thank you too to everyone who visited our stand on the day, and in particular to those who supported our fundraising raffle. There were 9 lucky winners on the day - with one prize still to be claimed, so if you own ticket no. 9 from race 9 drop us an email and we can arrange to exchange your ticket for a bottle of Pimms!!

A ‘publicity Pig’ was recently caught red handed along with Steve Brine, our local ‘Pig supporting’ MP outside the Alresford Co-op.

Snapped by local paparazzi, Chair Pig Robert Sanders was spotted outside the store with cameras and video cameras in tow.

Amidst the media frenzy, Robert’s message to all Co-op shoppers on the day was brief and to the point, “please keep carrying and using your Co-op Community cards – and help us to reach our fundraising target of £15,ooo”.

Our thanks for all of their support go out once again to Southern Co-operative – and of course, to Steve.

NEWS FLASH:

As noted in this month’s ‘Forum’ our local MP, Steve Brine recently mentioned The Alresford Pigs Association in Parliament whilst discussing and debating the PM’s vision for a Big Society.

With a proud heritage spanning over 37 years we have to admit that this was our first ever Westminster mention, and we are absolutely delighted to have our work, and our town referenced in such auspicious surroundings.

Thank you Steve!

With an impressive and generous target set out for our Co-op Community card fund we are delighted to confirm that we have reached the half way point. With five months to go this makes the £15,000 target achievable – though not without even more shoppers picking up and using a card.

A big ‘thank you’ to everyone who is using a community card and to the Co-op for their generous support – please continue to spread the word!

Pictured below at the ‘half way point’ are store manager, Derek Hawkins and Pigs Publicity rep, David Learmonth.