MAYTIME MADNESS AT THE CHANTRY The Chantry Centre, Andover came to life on Saturday, 22 May with traditional Spring entertainment and Maytime Madness. Between 11.00am and 4.00pm, visitors to the Centre enjoyed "That's the Way to Do It" fun with Mister Chris' Punch & Judy shows at 11.30am, 12.30pm, 2.00pm and 3.00pm while larger than life stiltwalking Morris Men bring the sights and sounds of rural Britain to Town with a clattering of sticks, jingling of bells and waving of handkerchiefs. For the youngsters, there were craft workshops where young shoots could 'make and take' Spring Flowers and to ensure the Centre had the feel of a traditional May Fair, there was also hoopla and even tug of war! "After the snows at the beginning of the year, we were all keen for Spring to arrive with the prospect of longer days and warm, lazy afternoons enjoying some of the activities associated with Spring," said Steve Cotney, Manager of The Chantry Centre. "What could be more traditional than Morris Men, but our stiltwalking folk dancers certainly bring a new twist to this traditional Maytime activity."

PEPPA PIG FANS FLOCK TO THE CHANTRY CENTRE
On Sunday, 29 November, the Chantry Shopping Centre in Andover enjoyed a celebrity visit from some VIPs - Very Important Pigs.  

Over 450 children turned up at the Centre to meet their cartoon favourites from the TV - Peppa and George - and for most of the day, the queue of fans stretched out of the Chantry Centre's doors and back down the street.

THE BIG KICK OFF AT THE CHANTRY CENTRE, ANDOVER

The World Cup started early at the Chantry Centre in Andover, with a chance for dads, lads and lassies to test their soccer skills and see how fast they could kick a football. They also had the opportunity to test their footie knowledge by taking part in a giant Spot the Ball competition as well as guessing the number of balls located in the goal .

The event kicked off on Saturday, 5 June and ran until Fathers Day, Sunday, 20 June.

Aiming to match light hearted fun with a more serious message, The Chantry Centre linked the event to the national Everyman Charity in an effort raise awareness of testicular cancer and collect money on behalf of the charity and a total sum of £187 was eventually raised.

All three competitions eventually produced winners and these were:

For the speed kick test - Kriss Machin, from Andover won with a very impressive speed of 67.1mph. Kriss won an Xbox World Cup game supplied by Game.

The 'Spot the Ball’ competition, based on a poster of an action shot from the classic England/Germany match, was won by Mrs Joy King, who will be giving her prize, of an Xbox 360 consol plus a World Cup game, to her 6 year old great, great grandson.

Last but not least, was the Maisie Franklin from Andover, winner of ‘How many footballs were in the net’ competition, with her guess of 192 being only one ball out from the correct number.

"We hope that all the footfall fans enjoyed our World Cup fun," says Steve Cotney, Manager of The Chantry Centre. "It gave us the opportunity to utilise our new promotion space, Chantry Court, and to highlight Father's Day. More importantly, however, it also gave us the opportunity to work with the Everyman Charity to raise awareness of testicular cancer and help raise much needed funds for research into this disease."

The Everyman Charity's mission is to stamp out testicular and prostate cancer and this can be achieved by everyone recognising the telltale signs, and understanding the importance of treating them. By increasing this awareness the charity also hopes to raise money to fund their life-saving research. For further information, please visit
www.everyman-campaign.org

"The Chantry Centre is all about families," says Steve Cotney, the Centre Manager.  "Alongside our popular Grotto, we wanted another event that would attract and entertain children in the area and after asking which characters kids most love, the answer Peppa Pig and George came back loud and clear. 

We anticipated that these characters would be a good draw and had a couple of clowns on standby to keep the queue amused while everyone attending had a photo taken of themselves and the pigs to go on our web page and received a pencil case."

View the gallery of images of the day by clicking here

That's Chantry Centretainment- Summer 2009!
Visit the 'Thats Centretainment' main page here

The winner, Jamie Walsh was featured at the Andover Carnival on Sunday 12 July 2009 and performed at Andover’s Big Festival at Vigo Road Park on Saturday 15 August and the Christmas Light Switch On!

Free Wi-Fi access at Boswells Cafe
All customers of Boswells in the Centre can enjoy free Wi-Fi access for their laptops and mobiles. Linger over coffee and browse the web and enjoy lunch while catching up with their emails!