Our Spring Fair Competitions are back - with prizes up for grabs!

Our annual Spring Fair will take place on Saturday 4th March in the Main Hall at the Institute with doors opening at 1:00pm and closing at 4:00pm.

As usual we'll also have an array of lovely stalls staffed by local makers selling all kinds of lovely things for you to browse and buy - but it will be your competition entries that will take centre stage.

Here are the categories, details and rules of this year's competitions. 

Category 1 - Best Painted Egg(s)

Ages: 14 or under

What to do: You'll need one or more hard boiled egg and some paints and brushes to start with, but from there it's all up to your own imagination. Will your egg or eggs be farm animals, or cartoon characters, or someone in your family, perhaps a sporting hero or a character from a book - or maybe you just have an amazing pattern in mind. Whatever your imagination inspires, just paint it onto your egg carefully - and then decide the best way to present it. Will it just sit in an egg cup - or do you want to design a special box or stand? It's all up to you.

Then what: Carefully bring us your egg or eggs display between 11:30am and 12:30pm on the day and we'll put it on display for the judges to make their decision.

Then wait till the prize announcement ceremony begins at 3pm to see if you have won a prize - there may be more than one prize on offer.

Category 2 - Best Dyed Egg

Ages: Any age

What to do: Dyeing eggs is a really easy and fun traditional thing to do - and there are different techniques - but if you have never done it before then here are some YouTube videos that will give you inspiration.

This video - shows a natural technique

This video - shows a more modern technique using food colouring

However you choose to dye your egg it's all good stuff so you decide how you want to do it. You will also need to choose how you want to display your egg - in a box or eggcup or in another creative way you have devised. 

Then what: Carefully bring us your egg or eggs display between 11:30am and 12:30pm on the day and we'll put it on display for the judges to make their decision.

Then wait till the prize announcement ceremony begins at 3pm to see if you have won a prize - there may be more than one prize on offer.

Category 3 - Easter Colouring Competition

Ages: 14 or under

What to do: Colouring-in is a great way to express yourself and great fun. You can choose what you want to use to do the colouring in - it could be crayons, felt tipped pens, or my own favourite, coloured pencils, but whatever you choose it's okay by us as long as you do all your colouring in by hand. We've created a special design again this year to colour in - a landscape with flowers, easter eggs and spring lambs. Your family can get your colouring in sheet by popping in and asking our lovely staff, or if you have a printer at home you can download the design and colour it in at home. Don't forget to add your name and your age on the sheet before handing it in.

Here is the link to access and download or print this year's competition design at home. 

Then what: Either bring your completed coloured in sheet before 12:30pm on the day - OR - you can sit and colour in at our special colouring in table at the fair any time before 2:00pm - then we'll put it on display for the judges to make their decision.

Then wait till the prize announcement ceremony begins at 3pm to see if you have won a prize - there may be more than one prize on offer.

Category 4 - Best Easter Bonnet

Ages: Any Age

What to do: Easter Bonnets are lovely things, and people have been wearing special hats for Easter since the middle ages so it's really nice to see this tradition still going strong. To start with you need to make, find or buy a hat as a starting point. A large one with a brim is ideal as it gives you lots of area to decorate. From there, it's all about your decorating skills as you try to add the components that you think best sum up the spirit of spring and Easter - will you add chicks, or eggs, or spring flowers, or something else entirely different OR just everything. be bold, be bright and make it beautiful.

Then what: Bring along your special creation between 11:30am and 12:30pm on the day and we'll put it on display for the judges to make their decision.

Then wait till the prize announcement ceremony begins at 3pm to see if you have won a prize - there may be more than one prize on offer.

Category 5 - Best Victoria Sponge

Ages: Any Age

What to do: Who doesn't love a bake-off  or a delicious tasty cake for that matter? The Victoria Sponge, named after Queen Victoria who reputedly favoured them for afternoon tea is probably that most British of cakes, thought to have been first created after the invention of baking powder in the 1840s. All we need you to do, then, is show off your baking skills by producing the most perfect Victoria Sponge you can. There are many recipes available in books and online - or if you are lucky you may have an old family recipe passed down through the generations to fall back on. The rest is up to your own skill.

Then what: Bring along your wonderful cake, ideally covered or in a cake box, between 11:30am and 12:30pm on the day and we'll put it on display for the judges to make their decision.

You must be happy for the judge to cut a slice for tasting and examining and admiring its light and spongy brilliance.

Then wait till the prize announcement ceremony begins at 3pm to see if you have won a prize - there may be more than one prize on offer.

Category 6 - Best Spring Poem (NEW FOR 2026)

Ages: Any Age

What to do: Some people are clever with their hands and can make wonderful things - others are better with their minds and are good with how they use words to conjure up perfect images in the minds of the reader. If you are that type or person, or you just fancy finding out, then this is the competition category for you. All we are asking is that you create a poem that relates to the theme of 'Spring' - be it about the weather, about the regeneration within nature, about a moment in time, or a memory - feel free to define your inspiration. Funny or evocative, it's your call. You can use any poetic style or format, but our one challenge criteria to you is that you limit it to a maximum of 16 lines.

Then what: There are two ways you can enter this competition. You can submit your entry online using THIS WEB FORM - or you can bring your entry along to the Institute on an A4 piece of paper any time before noon on Saturday 4th APRIL (note extended deadline).

If you submit a paper entry please remember to add your name, your age and details of how we can contact you if we need to (NB the online entries will capture this information too).

Then wait till the prize announcement ceremony begins at 3pm on the day of the Fair to see if you have won a prize - there may be more than one prize on offer.

General Rules:

Entrants entering the Spring Competitions must be happy for us to show and share either photographs of their physical entries or (in the case of the poetry competition) their poems. We will credit the creator if we do share photographs of anyone's competition entries.