FUN Fair supremo Ann Rogers pinned her faith on future generations and divine intervention this week, to help keep the October Fair at the centre of local life.

Her prayers worked, because although the Monday turn-out was relatively low, because the Heavens opened with a deluge, not a drop of rain fell the following evening, and this brought crowds estimated as over 2000 strong to the town centre.

Mrs Rogers said: "We lost the Monday, really, because of the weather; but we have absolutely no control over the weather. On Tuesday I went to St Michael and All Angels Church and prayed for better weather, - and it didn't rain that evening.

"I think the fair now is as popular as ever. People stop me in the street and thank us for coming again; and as long as the town has that Royal Charter, we shall have an October Fair."

The fair was established by a charter from Queen Elizabeth I, in the seventeenth century.

The event annually raises around £2,000 - money which goes to the town council and which is then distributed as grants to worthy local good causes and organisations.

Mrs Rogers is keen on the history of the fair and, last week, she went into Ledbury Primary to help with the school's special project about the annual event, which traditionally signalled the end of the harvest period and the start of autumn proper.

Mrs Rogers, of the Malvern-based Rogers Family Funfair, visited the school on Thursday, October 9, to get across the message that the fair belongs to the town and future generations of the town, because of the Royal Charter.

She said: "I told them, it doesn't belong to us, the Rogers Family, it was granted to Ledbury. They had a history lesson off me, and I said, when you see me on the street, when the fair is on, come and say hello, - and they did.

"I would like to give a talk to the school children every year, if they will allow me to."

Mrs Rogers also had praise for the good behaviour of the Ledbury crowd.

She said: "We didn't see a single police officer, and we didn't need one. Everybody behaved themselves, and we are grateful for that."