Yesterday saw the second sunny market of 2013: two in a row, that hasn’t happened for a while! We’re hoping the sun will keep shining on us because we’re lining up some excellent stalls and entertainment for the coming months. Thanks to everyone who came along.

We’re really pleased that as we head toward our 3rd birthday the market is continuing to expand, our food offering is diversifying, and we’re able to feature new stalls each month, so there’s something different every time. Yesterday saw some great beers from London’s artisan breweries courtesy of Stirchley Wines, the return of Pip’s Hot Sauce, an ever-growing range of products from Cufuffle Chutneys, plants from Andrew’s Plants and Eat’s and Leaves, deli-delights, meat, and a barbecue from Squisito, homemade candles from Jo Hickling, photos from Digital Photo Art, the debut of Kuskus‘ excellent Middle Eastern inspired vegetarian mezze, and much, much more.

As ever, we’re massively grateful to all our amazing stallholders for making the market what it is. We also managed to set up and take down the stalls and gazebos in record time thanks to a brilliant team of volunteers. It takes quite a few man/woman hours to make the market work on-the-day and we are always touched that so many people helped us make light work of it.

We look forward to seeing you all next month.

Things you should put in your mouth

Things you should maybe not put in your mouth

Yesterday saw the first market of 2013, and we’re very glad that we waited past a dark, bitterly cold March to come back into life with a bright, sunny, slightly chilly April market. It was a fantastic turn-out, and we were really pleased to see the return of some old favourite stalls as well as the addition of some brilliant new ones. Thanks so much to all of you who came along and made it such a wonderful event.

Please do put the next date in your diary: Tuesday 7th May, 4pm to 8pm at the Stirchley United W.M.C., and spread the word about it to your friends and neighbours. There should be more of the same great stalls, arts, crafts, hot and cold food, and possibly some uniquely amplified entertainment: keep your eyes and ears peeled for that!

We’re always looking for volunteers to help with the market, and new and interesting ideas and stalls, so if you want to get in touch, please email us on stirchleycommunitymarket@yahoo.co.uk.

Thanks again, and see you next month,

Chris, Kerry, Tom and Nancy.

We have our usual goodies of both arts and crafts, and hot and cold food stallholders. See below for who is coming down Tuesday evening.

Non-food we have:

Joanne Hickling Candles, Sticky Beak Designs, Lucy Sobrero textiles, Twinkle jewellery, Back in the Day woodwork and gifts, Silhouettes and Shadow paintings, Cath and Jenny vintage and handmade items, Tim Gascoigne records, woodwork by Against the Grain and Stirchley Happenings.

Food:

Cakes by Paisley Immy, Pip’s Hot Sauce, Artisan Preserves, Cuffufle Chutneys, Five/Dime, Stirchley Wines, Martineau Gardens, Loaf, Curds and Whey cheeses, Karen Connely’s plants, Fruit and veg from Vegetropolis, Squisito Deli, hot food by Pop Up Dosa and hot drinks from Jo’s Coffee van.

As well as this, there are:

Stirchley Baths talking about the new community centre development on their stall, Bike Foundry on hand with free bike checks, and Green Revolutions telling us about eco transport hire for Stirchley on their stall.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

We still have a few roads left to do, if you’re able to do any of the roads listed below – bundles await your collection at Stirchley Stores.

The box is towards the back of the shop, next to where the chutneys and jams are, under a little table!

Obviously we’d love to flyer the wider Stirchley area, but with a limited marketing budget this isn’t possible…. So the best thing you can do is invite your friends, neighbours, families etc… and come along to the Stirchley Community Market next Tuesday.

Alexandra Road
Avebury Road
Beilby Road
Cartland Road (from Pineapple Road Junction up to KH – till you run out)
Fordhouse Lane (from Pershore Road Junction up to KH – till you run out)
Gristhorpe Road
Hazelwell Road
Hazelwell St
Hunts road
Lewis Road
Oakley Road
Plymouth Road
Regent Street
Ribblesdale Road
Sparrey Dr, Hawkes Close, Lea Yield Close
Umberslade Road
Warren Road & Norton Terrace

Your help is greatly appreciated!

We have left a box of flyers bundled into designated streets at Stirchley Stores. If you’re able to help, we’d be very grateful – we really could do with all the help we can get to spread the word about the market. (There are also some Loaf flyers there too!)

We only have had a certain number of flyers printed so if you do take some, please return any unused flyers so they can be placed elsewhere.

Currently putting 1000s of market flyers into little bundles, ready for distribution around Stirchley. We’ll be looking for help flyering – so if you would like to help – stay tuned for details of where you can sign up to help/pick up the bundles from.

You can like us on facebook, or follow us on twitter for updates too, if you wish!

Please add the dates to your diary – and we will see you in early April!

For more updates via social media, please follow us on twitter, and like our page on facebook. Tell your friends!

The market is run by four main volunteers, Chris, Nancy, Tom and Kerry. We make up the market ‘management’ committee. The set-up we have at the moment is great, however, we think if there were more key volunteers to help us, the market could be even better.

We’re looking for people in the local community who want to be involved in the market – could this be you? Get in touch!

The Christmas market is debuting a new Fruit and Veg stall (Vegetropolis), Selly Park Honey, and Five n’ Dime, an American Style bakery. We’re also very pleased to welcome back the Pop Up Dosa, which proved to be very popular last month; get to the market early to avoid disappointment! The Bike Foundry will be with us offering free bike health checks and advice, hurrah! Tim Gascoigne will also be spinning some Christmas tuuuuunes, with the occassional tellybox-soap-theme-remixes, which were a huge hit last month. As well as all of the above, and below, Stirchley Happenings will be selling tickets for their Christmas film screening of Scrooge, Sunday 16th December at Stirchley Community Church, AND Die Hard on the 3rd January, at Balti Cottage; where you can enjoy the film and a meal for £15 (includes poppadom, balti (veg and meat options), rice or naan and chai tea).

Indoors

• Food: Artisan Preserves - Five n’ Dime - Frost and Snow cupcakes - jACKrABBIT - Selly Park Honey
• Non-food: Martineau Gardens - Adrienne Oliver - Papier Trouvé and the Brum Reaper - Cath and Jenny - Stirchley Happenings - Spangle Dangle -Tamara jewellery - Emma Duggan - Cherry Star - The Rymills - Hope Projects - Bournville Lane Cafe Arts Group - Attique Chic - Gen and Tom

Outdoors

• Food: Pop Up Dosa - Capeling and Co - Loaf - Vegetropolis
• Non-food: Back in the Day - Bike Foundry - Jan Bow

For a taster of what to expect at the market, take a look at this fab video by Craig Bush.