Local Groups and Organisations

AHSRA Events

UPCOMING EVENTS ARE POSTED HERE

Christmas Tree lighting – Friday December 5^th early evening – watch out for details on the Parish Calendar, Nextdoor, ‘Ashton Hayes Village, Cheshire’ Facebook page, the Pavilion noticeboard and posters.

The AHSRA Playing Field and Pavilion have hosted many community and fund raising events.

Below are just a few of the many events that have taken place over the years. There are more pictures on the gallery page.

	Village Fun Day 2025. It was HOT. The refreshments from the Bar, BBQ and PopUp Cafe went down a treat. There were some amazing raffle prizes and live music from ‘Can’t Remember’. Local charity Save the Family had a stall with a tombola and sold items made by their volunteers, raising funds to support their work. You could have a go at some golf putting with Cheshire West Golf Academy or have a go with some of the equipment on the Community First Responders for the North West Ambulance Service stand.
	Village Fun Day 2025 Fun Races. The day was so hot that the usual races were reduced and shortened. “There are rules – not many, but there are some” as we saw the usual creative techniques in the sack race and egg and spoon race – “the egg does need to somewhere near the spoon”. There was also the traditional fun tug of war. Instead, we had water sprinklers, including ‘crazy daisy’ on the field and children of all ages enjoyed getting soaked and creating water slides to keep cool.
	‘Granny’s Attic’ Fundraiser for The Golden Lion. Organised and run by AHSRA as a follow up to the Garage Sale in June, selling items donated it raised £334.70 on the day. The Golden Lion pub team also ran a ‘Guess how many Shareholders there are Competition’ and provided an update on the last few steps before an opening date can be announced.
	Scarecrow Trail July 2025. There was a mini trail around the playground (see gallery for pictures). Following in Dorothy’s footsteps you could search for where she found the ruby red slippers, met the Scarecrow, what she used to help the Tin Man and follow the tracks of the Cowardly Lion. In The Munchkin Land Pop-Up Cafe in the Pavilion refreshments included Yellow brick road cake, Ruby red cookies and Ice creams.
	Garage Sale June 14th 2025. Organised by AHSRA volunteers working with volunteers from the pub group all items were donated by the community. All funds raised were for the Golden Lion refurbishment, making £1977.33.
VEDay 80 May 8th 2025. The homemade cakes, sausage and bacon butties and drinks from the bar all went down well. The 2^nd Tarvin Guides entertained us with songs and shared how they have been learning about the role that the Guides played during the war. A beacon was lit as we joined thousands of beacon lighting events across the country all singing ‘I vow to Thee my Country’.
	Christmas Tree Lighting 2024. Before the tree was lit there was carol singing by Ashton Sings and St John’s choirs, a chance for a chat with Santa and a mini lights trail to follow. Despite storm Darragh the wind dropped and the rain stopped long enough for a great turnout to enjoy the food and drink on offer.

Picnic in the Park 2024. Despite the very British weather everyone seemed to be enjoying the fun (and sometimes quite competitive) races and having a go at a game of boules. There were fabulous home made cakes, raffle, tombola and some lovely side-stalls. The bar and BBQ did a steady trade, we were entertained by Ashton Folk and on the sideshow games (soggy) rats were splatted, buzzers challenged and coconuts took a battering.

	The Red Arrows flying overhead during the event was a highlight of the afternoon.
It was the first Dog Friendly Trial event, where well behaved dogs on leads were welcomed on to the event area of the Playing Field to join in the fun. One lucky dog even won a grooming session in the raffle !
	D-Day 80 Commemoration 2024. On Thursday 6th June at 9:15pm a beacon was lit following a tribute reading by members of our community in line with the national events taking place. The weather was very kind and the bar and BBQ did a roaring trade.
Christmas Tree Lighting 2023. Santa was there to do the countdown and there were lots of children following the lights trail and claiming their treat. There were a fair few very little ones enjoying the twinkly lights and lots of four legged friends – all wrapped up warm. The brazier was a hit and the volunteers running the café and bar did a great job.
	The Coronation Big Lunch May 2023 with Decorated Wheelbarrow Races. It was a lovely sunny afternoon for a picnic and the BBQ, Bar and Cafe did a roaring trade. We were entertained by ‘Ashton Folk’ and there were traditional sidestall games – coconut shy, buzzer and splat the rat – tug of war and a beacon lighting.
There was a Grand Parade of the amazingly decorated wheelbarrows before the ‘carriage’ racing, with different races for age groups, started. The sack, 3-legged and egg-and-spoon races were great fun. Great to see so many people there on the day, joining in with the racing and enjoying the playground and field.
	The Lighting of the Christmas Tree 2022 took place on a very cold and frosty evening under a clear moonlit sky Father Christmas switched on the lights and there was a free mini lights trail around the footpath for children, with fun questions to answer, and letters to collect and unscramble. There were hot drinks, mulled wine, mince pies and mini chocolate logs from the cafe and beer or wine from the bar.
It was lovely to have some carol singers under the tree and to see so many people braving the very icy pavements and bitter cold to support the event. With the awning on the patio and the chinese hat tents lit with fairy lights and christmas music playing it was very festive.
	The Lighting of the Beacon event to mark the start of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend of celebrations in June 2022. A great turnout on the night. The bar served Weetwood Ales and there were hot dogs while we watched the morris-dancing. The Cafe served hot and cold drinks and there was Jubilee tart to taste. As the sun went down the beacon was lit and we could see other beacons in the distance.
1950s side stalls at the Village Fete to mark the Platinum Jubilee in June 2022
It wouldn’t be a village event without a tug-of-war.
We brought back the ‘slow bicycle races’ that were previously a part of village fetes.

	June 2017 – 300 of us got together at the café and marquee for a ‘Big Tea Party’ in memory of Jo Cox MP, murdered in her constituency in 2016. We were among 9.3 million people across the country honouring Jo’s memory with over 110,000 ‘Great Get Together’ events. It was not run as a fundraiser but thanks to the generosity of local people raised £600, which was shared between the Jo Cox Foundation, Ash-worth Timebank and St John’s Church.
	October 2017 – Locals turned out in force for cuppas and cakes at the café in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support raising more than £550. Run by our sensational team of bakers and volunteers for a charity which does so much for so many.
	December 2017 – Fairy lights and a heated awning made the cafe a lovely venue for a Christmas party. More than 50 people enjoyed food and drink at the fundraising event. All profits went to AHSRA to help towards the maintenance and improvements of the Pavilion, Playing Field and Playground.
	In the run up to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June 2022 the cafe had a visit from the cardboard pop-up queen being used across our social media channels to advertise the many events taking place over the celebration weekend. She can be seen here checking out the cafe as the Queen Elizabeth II Playing Field was the venue for both the Lighting of the Beacon event on the Thursday evening and and the Village Fete event on the Sunday afternoon.
2016 Macmillan Fundraising	The 2023 Tree Lighting Poster
Big Tea Party Ticket 2017	Picnic in in the Park 2018
Flyer for the Coronation Big Lunch May 2023	Best wishes letter from our MP
Flyer for the Coronation Big Lunch May 2023	Rose Queen Picnic in the Park
Pavilion Cafe Afternoon Tea	D-Day 80 June 2024
2017 Macmillan Event	D-Day 80 certificate