Rotary launches a fourth car boot season

The monthly Sunday-morning Car Boot Sales began in 2022 when Alderford, on Tilstock Road, generously loaned the use of a field on the first Sunday of each month from April through to October – except July when the same field is in use for the major Alderfest live music festival.

Since then sellers and buyers have paid fees that have raised nearly £12,300 to help meet the cost of Rotary’s programme of community projects - ranging from the annual prostate cancer testing sessions to the hot meals that they deliver to elderly and disabled people on Christmas Day - as well as covering donations to the town’s various charity groups, deserving causes and people in need. 

And buyers have grown used to finding that ‘little something different’ – which, in the past, has ranged from an antique agricultural hand scythe to an Australian didgeridoo.

“The car boot sales have raised so much to fund our work that it would be difficult to imagine our projects surviving at the same level without it,” says Whitchurch Rotary president David Ryder. “Regular sellers and buyers are happy to pay the entrance fees because they know how much we need to raise in order to continue. And together we have built a series of car boot sales with a wide reputation as quality events.”