A new company has been set up to help generate local events and boost business for traders. Oxfordshire Events was founded by sisters-in-law Kelly and Amy Peach who had exhibited at craft fairs and had become concerned that they were not reaching the right audience.

As a result, they though they could do better themselves using their years of experience in sales and marketing — Kelly (pictured, left) had been a fundraising manager for Guide Dogs for the Blind, while Amy remains a marketing manager for AEA Technology at Harwell.

Kelly said: “We did a lot of research, attending events as visitors and realised there was a need for them to be better organised.

“There are a lot of poorly attended craft shows where the organisers don’t have the time to dedicate to key areas such as publicity.”

The first step for the new company was to set up a fully operational website with a booking system for traders to arrange and pay for their pitch, which is far more modern than traditional paper booking forms and cheques in the post.

Amy had also previously arranged several craft and had a data base of stallholders who were then contacted. Then it was time to start organising the events which range from ladies’ pamper evenings to family days.

Kelly added: “The last event we organised was a pamper evening. People had to buy a ticket which meant they were coming for a reason and it was absolutely packed.”

A family day was also held last weekend at Steventon Village Hall.

“We tried to create a bit of a village fete atmosphere. Our idea is to get people to come along and for the stall holders to increase their revenues and we are attracting local craftsmen who have not been to an event for years.

“We also feel we are doing something for the community and we like to have one charity at each event.”

In that respect, Kelly is looking for nominations for good causes including local schools.

Businesses can also benefit as the company offers free advertising space on the website to one randomly selected stallholder for a month.

While Oxfordshire Events has so far been concentrated on the south Oxfordshire area — Kelly is from Abingdon and Amy is from Rowstock — the Peaches have had a lot of inquiries from further north and are looking to expand even beyond the county in the longer term.

Kelly said: “It is still early days — we love doing it and it is a viable business ultimately. We are focusing on steady growth and we don’t want to overcharge people.

“The only drawback is that we don’t have time to run our own stalls any longer!”

o Contact: Oxfordshire Events, 0844 585 8101.

Web: www.oxfordshirevents.co.uk