Hi all, Daffodil weekend this year is 18/19 March 2017

We apologise that this is a long e mail but it aims to give you all the information you need for the weekend. You may want to scan down to get to the bits that may be relevant to you. All of this information will also be displayed outside the village shop along with any updates.

As you are probably aware this event raises a lot of money for good causes both inside and outside of the village and is also a great way to meet new people, make friends and “give back” in general. It is one of the things that brings us together and makes Thriplow special

The event is a huge effort for the village - from people running the car parks, serving teas, tidying up through to the land owners letting us use their fields. As a result of all the effort on the weekend itself our small, beautiful village runs more retail outlets than Bluewater! So a huge thanks in advance.

External Charity
In 2017 The 49th Thriplow Daffodil Weekend will be supporting East Anglian Children’s Hospice (EACH). EACH cares for children and young people with life-threatening conditions across Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk. Their family-centred approach meets the individual needs of the child, young person and whole family. For future events it would be great if villagers were to nominate causes and charities that they would like the Daffodil Trust to consider. Ideally these should have a local connection. Application forms can be found in the “Charities” part of the website

Volunteers: Catering and teas

Tearoom Rotas – as per last year, the rotas are now in Thriplow Village Shop. Please do go and sign up for a tearoom session. We have times available for both Saturday and Sunday in the Village Hall and Sunday in the Cricket Pavilion.

If you would like to help at the school tearooms, please contact the school direct on 01763 208213 or office@PROTECTED.

Cakes – a little request for cakes to sell in the tearooms. Homemade cakes are very much part of Daffodil Weekend and many of our visitors enjoy and look forward to the variety of cakes that we offer. Please let us know as soon as possible, if you can provide a cake or two (or more) by emailing daffodilweekendcatering@PROTECTED or calling 01763 209180.

Volunteers: Team Sandwich
Making our own sandwiches has proved to be a big success. A huge amount of fun was had in making them. If you fancy being part of ‘team sandwich’ then give us a shout. An hour and a half at most is all you need to commit to on either the Friday or Saturday evening. Please contact Katie Hilton by email – wildwoodbss@PROTECTED if you would like to help make sandwiches.

Volunteers: Car parking, bus parking, transport For many visitors the first impression that they get of Thriplow is when they arrive at the car parks and coach parks. We are very grateful to all the people who take time out of their day and so enthusiastically help with parking and welcoming visitors to our village. If you are able to help, please contact melissa@PROTECTED as soon as possible. Volunteers are only needed for relatively short periods of time and it is a fun way to contribute to the weekend. The village is regularly praised on the warm welcome visitors receive. Note this year we are trialling a new traffic management system which we hope will reduce the queues – you may have seen the new gates on Farm Lane which are part of this.

Volunteers: Tidying the village before and after the event An important job that takes place at the end of the day is the village tidy up. This typically involves checking that the car parks are clear (of both people and rubbish) and clearing up any straw that has been used. If you are able to help with this please also email Neil Rowland-Hall neilrowlandhall@PROTECTED . The more helpers we have the quicker everyone can get to the pub! We are conscious that in the past the village has taken a while to recover after Daffodil Weekend so this year we looking into protecting delicate verges and entrances with matting It would also be great if in the weeks leading up to the weekend you could pick up any litter you may see

Volunteers: Village Ambassadors
One of the things our visitors really love about Daffodil Weekend is how friendly everyone is. We promote this through our “Ambassador” role. The ambassadors greet people, help with directions and provide local information – like the Olympic Games Makers only better! This means wearing a Daffodil Weekend Jacket and wandering the village or manning the information tent saying hello to people and being generally visible. Help on Friday during the day and on Saturday morning directing stall holders to the correct pitches will also be useful. If you are interested please contact admin@PROTECTED

Stalls “at home”

Daffodil Weekend offers individuals the opportunity to have a stall “at home” to raise money for particular charitable causes. These are a nice thing to do as they give the event a very strong “community” feel. If you do have a charity stall at home it would be useful if you could give us an indication of the amount you raise over the weekend so we can calculate a grand total of money raised for charity. Also as Daffodil Weekend provides the infrastructure and customers for these stalls we would still like you to volunteer to help in the car parks, tea rooms etc If you wish to run a commercial stall then please apply in a formal manner through the website – the stalls at home application form can be found in the “Charities” part of the website Stalls “at home” forms are also available from the village shop. Please leave your completed form in the Daffodil Weekend post box in the shop.

Open gardens and daffodil planting

Why not open your garden? This tradition dates back to the very first Daffodil Weekend and is very popular with the visitors. Your garden does not need to be a “show garden” our visitors are interested in seeing how other gardens are laid out etc. If you would like to open your garden please e mail admin@PROTECTED This year working with the Parish Council we have continued the planting programme with mass plantings of daffodils on Gravel Pit Hill as well as other plantings in Sheralds Croft, School Lane, Church Street, Heathfield etc. As a result we have over 70 different varieties of daffodils within the village so we are guaranteed that some will be in flower whatever the weather! Our very own daffodil variant “Thriplow Gold” has been planted around the village sign along with a display of crocuses under the trees on the Green.

Programmes for entry to the village. These will be distributed to the village approximately a week before the event. Please note these programmes are to allow residents and helpers free access to the village during the road closures. If you are a helper from outside the village then further programmes can be requested from the administrator at admin@PROTECTED . If you have friends or relatives visiting especially for the weekend we would be grateful if they made a contribution to the charity weekend by buying their programme as a normal visitor or by volunteering (they will enjoy being part of the team) and thus qualifying for a free entry programme

New for 2017

As well as measures we are taking to ensure the smooth running of the event (new traffic management and protection of village infrastructure) we are continuing our strategy of making Daffodil Weekend more family friendly by trying to promote the spirit of a warm and friendly historic English village. New attractions this year include “Country Thriplow” featuring a selection of rural pursuits and “Childrens Thriplow” featuring traditional attractions such as Punch and Judy and a coconut shy. The Sealed Knot will also be carrying out a re-enactment celebrating Thriplow's historic links with the civil war

Contacting Daffodil Weekend

We are keen to hear your views and suggestions about Daffodil Weekend. You can do this in a number of ways – you can e mail us on admin@PROTECTED , you can contact us through the website http://thriplowdaffodils.org.uk , you can leave a note for us in our Daffodil Post Box which is kept in the shop or you could speak directly to a member of the committee:

Attractions                                           Mary Lindgren
Catering                                               Gill McDonnell
Chairman                                             Paul Earnshaw
Childrens Thriplow                              Morag Clifford
Country Thriplow                                Anna Jermain
Finance                                               Lisa Maltpress
Health and Safety                               Brian Roberts
Infrastructure                                      Greg Hilton
Infrastructure                                      Clare Ansell
Publicity                                              Kerstin Rivett
Signs                                                  Jonny Griffin
Stalls                                                   Alastair Gray
Music                                                  Florence Walston
Transport                                            Melissa Tayabali
Transport                                            Imran Tayabali
Transport                                            Fergus Ramsay
Village Image                                     Neil Rowland Hall
Admin                                                 Gill McDonnell

Paul Earnshaw