Fairy tale glass wedding coach and elegant white horses

The charity wedding fair, organised by Jane Marchington and Megan Riley at the Whaley Bridge Bowling Club, followed by an auction evening at the White Horse pub, has raised well over £2,500 for the Manchester Royal Children’s Hospital.

Jane Marchington demonstrates hair styling

Hairdresser Jane and beautician Megan, who work at Sammie’s, were delighted with the support. The final amount will be ‘getting on for £3,000’, they hope.  Said Jane:  “It all goes to a very good cause.”  Jane and Megan were inspired to set up the wedding fair by Whaley Bridge toddler Max, who has faced ten operations at the hospital in his first two years of life. Max and his mum Rachel Jones were at the fair for most of the afternoon.

Megan Riley demonstrates make-up techniques

The Parish of Whaley Bridge supported the event with a stall, providing information about Whaley’s two Anglican churches as wedding venues.  A loop of continuous wedding videos, taken in St James’ church, Taxal, was shown all afternoon.

Among the glamorous displays was a glass coach, complete with elegant white horses (see photo above).  Wedding food and photography featured strongly.

The auction evening was well attended, bringing in an astonishing £860.  This included £450 for a signed Manchester City shirt, £100 for a City tour for a family and £95 for a child’s bike.

• Manchester Royal Children’s Hospital benefited from another fundraiser in Whaley Bridge, a Jubilee weekend sale of home made cakes by staff at Gascoigne’s estate agency. Over £200 will go to help the care of children, with a total of £3,000 from similar sales in Gascoigne’s chain of estate agents.