News from the Community
The Blue Flamingo
Farmers' Market
The third Saturday of each month is market day in Ashton on Ribble. For the last 20 years regular farmers’ markets have been held at St Michael’s church in Tulketh Road.
The markets, which are held in the church hall car park, have become a major event in the local community, offering something for everyone. They provide a really welcome opportunity for people to shop in an environmentally conscious way, buying fresh food from local producers and minimising food miles. The church was a pioneer supporter of FairTrade, and was the first in the whole of Blackburn diocese to be given the coveted ‘Eco-Congregation’ status. The markets extend that commitment, by providing practical support for Lancashire farmers and offering them an opportunity to showcase their produce.
There are fresh vegetables, free-range eggs from local suppliers, fish from Fleetwood, delicious beef and lamb reared on the Cartmel fells, local bread, pies and cakes hand-made in the time-honoured traditional way, and of course plenty of the best cheese in the world – proper Lancashire cheese made just outside Preston in the shadow of Beacon Fell.
It’s a lively and welcoming market which has become quite a social event as well. Even with COVID shoppers are able to meet, socially distanced, with their friends, and chat happily while choosing their fish or vegetables. Going to the supermarket can be a real strain, but the farmers’ markets are just that bit different – friendly, plenty of chance to have a word with the stallholders, and an opportunity to sample a taste of the produce before you buy.
Said market organiser, Jacquie Crosby, ‘We thought of this idea some years ago because we wanted to make a lot more of our church. The building is a historic gem in the middle of the community, but we realised that it was under-used and that we could be imaginative in making it a really useful asset to Ashton and to Preston. So we experimented with holding a market, and we’re very pleased with how it has worked’. She added that customers are glad to have the chance to buy such quality produce on their own doorstep, and that supporting local producers is a real plus, especially in these difficult economic times. ‘For a lot of people in the Ashton area it’s now an event to put on the calendar’, she said, ‘but the more the merrier – we warmly welcome new shoppers. There’s plenty of parking and it’s easy to find at the junction of Tulketh Road and Egerton Road’.
Markets are held on the third Saturday of each month from 9.00am-12.30pm!
We're having plant stalls in April and May and would welcome plant donations in the week before the market
