Cholesbury-cum-St Leonards - Recreation and Culture - Social Activity

Social Activity

The villages hold annual fêtes at St Leonards and on Hawridge and Cholesbury Commons. There are two community Halls, Cholesbury Village Hall, built in 1895 and St Leonards Parish Hall which opened in 1935, which host many of the parish-wide social activities such as; the Horticultural Society, Local History Group and Women's Institute.

Parishioners have a long-standing tradition of commemorating important anniversaries and participate in national celebrations by organising events such as parish race days; exhibitions, parish walks, and other cultural activities. The most recent of these took place in April 2009 when in the parish celebrated the parish's 75th Anniversary through a series of events comprising, in April a talk and exhibition entitled 'The first 75 years of Cholesbury-cum-St Leonards Parish'. In May, an inter-village 6-a-side cricket competition was held. In June, a Beating the Bounds ceremony took place when the was a perambulation of the original (1934), fourteen-mile parish boundary, which in contrast to similar events in other counties was conducted in the traditional clockwise direction. In July, there was a celebratory 'Flower Show' at St Marys Church and later that month a parish 'Families Fun Sports Day', including events such as children's and adult races and a Tug of War which had been a feature of several earlier celebrations in the parish relating to parish anniversaries and coronations. In August the Horticultural Show had classes celebrating the anniversary. In October there was a Civil Service led by the local priest. The year of commemoration concluded in February with a pantomime (Humpty-Dumpty).