ECCLES PRECINCT HOSTS CHRISTMAS FAIR

Christmas Hats doffed today as Pam Pickard hosted and arranged an early Christmas event in Eccles Precinct, which lets be honest has had a quite a bit of stick of late.

Santa's Grotto was open complete with his not so little helpers, and each child who visited was given a free gift by a cheery looking Santa, he was honestly!

Live music was provided by talented young musicians from The Music Shed who helped lift the spirits on what was a fairly cold day with both solo and group spots, I liked them.

Spirits were considerably lifted with the free mulled wine and mince pies made by Pam which were gratefully received, a slight misunderstanding occurred when I was given a tray of mince pies and told to hand them out to passers-by, how they ended up in my shopping bag is still a mystery.

Yvonne from The Eccles Coffee Stall got into the swing of things and provide free corned beef hotpot, just the job on mornings like these.

There were various other outdoor stalls including a lady who made knitted quilts and jumpers for charity, the craft shop was open with free activities for the children, and Eccles Community Art Gallery was open a oasis of culture on the precinct.

The ladies from the Barton Theatre Company dressed in full costume were promoting their forthcoming production. Musketeers The Panto, which will be performed at The Lowry Theatre Friday 6th January -Sunday 8th January.

The afternoon was rounded of by the singing of traditional Christmas songs by The Monton Voices Choir and it has to be said they were very good, and they asked me to say that they will doing a free show on Sunday 4th December at 2pm at the Gilda Brook Social Club, Wellington Road.

So, a big round of applause for everybody who volunteered and helped out today, we all know the Precinct needs some help and is a shadow of it's former self but small things like today show helps put back a smile on people's face. well it did on mine!