Crafty Craft races in Newbury - a look back through the years of the annual event
As we all enjoy another May bank holiday we take a look through our archives at one of Newbury’s favourite ways to spend a May day.
For nearly 50 years the first Bank Holiday Monday in May heralded the return of the Crafty Craft race.
The West Berkshire charity event was started in 1974 and was run by the Round Table for 44 years, before organisation was taken over by the Newbury Business Improvement District (BID).
Every year dozens of homemade crafts took to the water and travelled the six miles from the Dundas Arms in Kintbury to Victoria Park in Newbury.
They were cheers along the route by hundreds of happy revellers - come rain or shine lining the banks.
And at the finish, they were met by a cacophony of music and family fun. And all of it was in the name of charity.
In its 47-year history more than £300,000 was raised for local good causes.
But Covid sadly was the death knell for this much-loved local event.
The last Crafty Craft race to be held was in 2021, when coronavirus restrictions made it impossible for the BID to organise the event in person.
More than 70 entries - all adhering to that year’s theme of ‘NHS Heroes’ - raced crafts they’d created at home in their bath tubs, as the event went online for the first time in its history.
It raised essential funds for the West Berkshire Community Hospital League of Friends.
So as we haven’t been able to enjoy the annual event in recent years we thought we’d take a look in our archives at Crafty Craft’s gone by.
Enjoy our little trip down memory lane.