Questions have been raised in the Tenby council chambers as to why a reception for the town’s St Matthew’s Charter Fair didn’t take place last month.

After successfully reviving the traditional charter fair for the town last year, the event moved last month to The Green car park with the Feast of St. Matthews Fair providing a wide selection of rides, games and stalls over the weekend.

Tenby’s previous charter fair was the fondly-remembered St Margaret’s Fair, which originally took place along the town walls before moving to the North Beach car park and then latterly the Salterns, from where it ceased some 20 years ago.

When discussing the town council’s financial accounts for the month at their meeting on Tuesday night, after it was pointed out that a buffet worth £150 had been accounted for towards a reception to welcome mayors from other towns and members of the Showmen’s Guild who organise the fair, Clr. Mrs. Sue Lane asked why the reception had been cancelled.

“I don’t understand why the reception to open the event didn’t happen - the weather was good up until 6 pm on the Thursday,” she queried.

“The civic reception is in place to welcome the ‘showmen’ to the town. It’s always been a historical traditional event for Tenby, and we’re lucky to have got them interested enough to revive the fair for the town. I just think it’s quite sad that we couldn’t welcome these people to the town.”

The town clerk, Andrew Davies, said the best person to ask would be the Mayor, Clr. Tony Brown, who was not at the meeting.

“The decision was taken two-and-a-half hours before the event to cancel the reception in light of the bar weather conditions forecast. All the mayors due to attend had cancelled.

“Some of the buffet which had already arrived went to the Craft Fair at the De Valence and the rest went in the bin!” added Mr. Davies.

Giving feedback on this year’s event, Clr. Mrs. Lane said that she didn’t think it was quite as good as last year’s, but as there had been a change of location, it was something the organisers could work on.