Get your dancing shoes on and join Macmillan’s August Dance Challenge this summer to help support people living with cancer!

Commit to dancing 20 minutes a day for Macmillan whether it be following along to a dance tutorial, joining an in person dance class of your choice or dancing to your favourite playlist while cooking!

We are extremely proud to see our very own Chula Bishop from “Beatnix Vintage” (unit 22) taking part in this fantastic fundraiser for Macmillan Cancer Support! Chula has been dancing every morning so far this month for at least 20 minutes whilst sporting her fabulous Macmillan T-Shirt (pictured below).

Like us you can help support Chula in her fundraising mission for this important cause by donating to her Facebook page: Dance For Macmillan

Macmillan are encouraging supporters to complete 20 minutes of dance-based exercise a day throughout the month of August. This can be split into intervals or can be done in one full 20-minute period depending on ability. A small warm up and cool down period before and after the 20-minute period. You can see more about this fundraiser on Macmillan’s Facebook page here: Macmillan’s August Dance Challenge

Chula has also recently expanded her retro empire to our newly acquired business, The Wallingford Arcade (The Lamb) along with some of our other dealers. Don’t forget to take a trip there and see what delights we have to offer for all!

This year as part of the “Hungerford Summer Festival”, a unique and prestigious competition for amateur artists was revealed to paint a portrait of Helen Simpson, the Mayor of Hungerford! A photo of the Mayor was provided for all the amateur artists to use for their portrait (see below). We are very pleased and proud to announce that this competition was successfully won by our very own Jane Elliman (unit 12) with her fantastic portrait on the left!

Jane has lived in the same location in the very northern tip of Hampshire all her life. Born to an artistic and creative family she was surrounded by two and three-dimensional craftspeople from an early age who were a massive inspiration. Jane attended Art College after leaving school and has spent much of time as a budding amateur artist who very much enjoys painting to please others.

Jane’s biggest inspiration is in the natural beauty of the changing seasons in the countryside that surround us and she enjoys creating exciting paintings in bright colours using either acrylic or oil.  As quoted by Jane:

“I love the amazing sunsets and cloud formations that seem to be a daily part of my life on the remote down land of north Hampshire and these are the things I try to capture in my paintings”. 

A wonderful picture taken at the Arcade of Jane receiving her winners trophy from Mayor Helen Simpson this week. Jane has kindly gifted the portrait to Helen after it has finished its public exhibition in Hungerford!

Once again a big congratulations from all of us here at the Arcade!

If you would like to see more of Janes artistic work please visit the below links:

Instagram @janeelliman

Facebook @janeellimanartist

Romance was blooming in the Arcade last month! We had a lovely American family visit us one day, unbeknownst to us, and to one member of their party, their was a big surprise planned!

Molly, her partner Alex, Molly’s parents and her sister popped in to visit while over here on a holiday celebrating Molly’s parents 40th wedding anniversary. They had visited us in the  past and wanted to come back to show Molly and Alex the beautiful jewellery selection we have here.

Molly had an idea that they were popping in to look at possible engagement rings and to maybe try a few on.

Little did she know that Alex was planning to propose there and then if they found a ring! While Molly was taken off to look at the rest of the Arcade with her parents and sister, Alex bought the perfect ring they had found.

As soon as Molly came back round, Alex was down on one knee and proposed, Molly was in complete shock, she accepted straight away and she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face! They are now hoping to marry next year, and we are all thrilled here at the arcade and wish them every happiness.

They bought their ring from AJB ( Antique Jewellery Boutique) a family run business established for over 40 years, and have been here at the Arcade for over 20 years, they sell stunning preowned jewellery for all budgets and tastes!

Website:  https://www.antiquejewelleryboutique.com/

Here at The Hungerford Arcade, we recently had the pleasure of meeting Dieter and his lovely inquisitive Son Aiden.  

Dieter mentioned that he was starting up a group called Kaleidoscope. This all came about since his Son Aiden was official diagnosed with Autism. Dieter tried to find local support groups for him and Aiden to attend but found none available in the Hungerford area so that is why Kaleidoscope was founded. 

Kaleidoscope has been designed as a safe space for any child with special needs so they can come and play and be themselves. It is also a support group for the parents where they can share stories and experiences. The first group session is on Saturday 10th September 2022 from 2.00pm-4.00pm

This month we had a visit from the lovely Francesca Milton pictured here with our Vanessa and her latest purchase. Francesca is an avid collector of bears, in particular the world famous Steiff brand! On her visit Francesca found a very special bear here at the Arcade called “Dylan” from our stall holder Brenda (unit 4). Dylan is a hansom limited edition Grizly Bear byJanet Reeves, No:18 of only 444!

As we got chatting away with Francesca, she told us about one of her very treasured bears “Old Ted” a 1904 Steiff pictured in these fabulous before and after photos. Old Ted was owned by Francesca’s godmother since new in 1904 right up to 1988 when he was left to Francesca. As you can see on the right, Francesca had the bear restored by non other than the famous “Amanda & Julie” from the well know TV program “The Repair Shop”. Amanda and Julie are known as the ‘Teddy Bear Ladies’ in The Repair Shop thanks to their expertise of repairing vintage bears and soft toys.

As well as appearing on the BBC programme, Amanda and Julie have been working together and running their own business, Bear It In Mind, since 2006. The pair often post their charming creations and restorations on their Instagram @theteddybearladies.

With all of us here at the Arcade being great fans of old

Teddy’s, we are always pleased when they go to a special home. We think Dylan has landed on his feet with Francesca and feel he will get the best care and attention an old bear can receive!

As you can see, Dylan has now clearly made him self quite at home with Old Ted and we wish them both many more happy days to come with Francesca!  

So, the Great British Summer is officially here! What better a way to spend it than eating Ice Cream! Cosy Coffee Shop here at the Hungerford Arcade has just expanded into the Ice Cream world delivering the most superb Ice Cream from a local supplier “Rowdey Cow” in Devizes. 

Rowdey Cows fresh Ice Cream is made on their farm from their own cows’ milk!  This delicious fresh ice cream is available in up to 16 different flavours! They are also “Taste Of The West Gold Award” winners for 8 years running!

You can see more from Rowdey Cow below:

rowdeycow.co.uk

@therowdeycowfarmcafe

@ RowdeyCow

Make sure not to miss out next time your here and take a visit to the garden dining area to enjoy not only the delicious Ice Cream but all that Cosy Coffee have to offer. After your exhilarating shopping experience with us at the Arcade, take a break and relax in the outdoor sunshine or upstairs in the beautiful eaves of our historic old building.

Last month we met long term customers Fiona and Sian, who have been visiting our Arcade since the 1980’s. They popped in again while on their barge holiday for a spot of shopping.

While chatting it was interesting to hear, that back in 2018, Fiona and her daughter Sian were contestants on Bargain Hunt, and that they actually won their episode!

This got me thinking, what would I pick with a limited budget / time frame?

So I bamboozled Brenda from Unit 4 to join me in a Junk Shop challenge, we named ourselves ‘Jubilee Queens’

I made up the rules on the spot and decided we had 15 minutes and a £10 budget each to find an item in our Junk Shop that we think would make a profit at our fictional auction. I obviously should have given ourselves more time from the get go, as we were feeling the pressure looking for our items, we gave up on tactics and just picked what we liked in the end.

Brenda picked a signed studio pottery owl money box for £4.50 and I picked a Victorian pressed glass pedestal trophy bowl with a horse racing theme for £6.50

We needed an experts opinion on our selections and the unlucky pair happened to be standing at the front desk as came back with our items, Francis from Unit 46 has a wealth of experience and knowledge and long time friend of the Arcade Susan kindly stepped in as fictional auctioneer. Slightly concerning when we showed our items to both Francis and Susan and asked what would a auctioneer think, Susan’s reply was, ‘They’d laugh’ We all laughed at that comment and Francis very kindly gave her opinion and auction estimate. Luckily it seems Brenda and myself made a small fictional profit on both of our items.

The pottery owl was valued at £10.00 and the Victorian trophy bowl was valued at £20.00.

A fun but stressful challenge!!