COMMUNITY & CHARITY

One of the things that makes the Alresford Watercress Festival so special is that every visit helps support our local community. We are absolutely delighted to announce that over £15,000 has been donated to local charities, clubs, schools and community organisations following this year's  (2026) festival – including more than £8,000 for Abby's Heroes. 💜 

This incredible achievement is only possible because of the support we receive from our visitors, traders, sponsors and everyone who chooses to park in one of our festival car parks. Income generated from parking, trader pitch fees and sponsorship is reinvested back into making the festival happen and, most importantly, into supporting the organisations that make our community such a wonderful place to live. To be able to return over £15,000 to local causes is a phenomenal achievement for a not-for-profit community festival, and it simply wouldn't be possible without you.

To everyone who visited, volunteered, traded, sponsored or supported the festival in any way – thank you. Every pitch booked and every parking space used has helped make a real difference. Together, we're not just celebrating watercress – we're investing in our community.

LOCAL DONATIONS

Further donations in 2026 were made to the following local groups: 

Alresford Pigs AssociationAlresford Town Youth FC Alresford Town FC SeniorsAlresford Chamber of Commerce 
Alresford Young Farmers
Alresford Rugby Club
Alresford Badminton ClubBusy Bees
Cheriton Scouts 
Friend of Sunhill Infants
Friends of Sunhill Juniors
Sunhill Infants School
 St Johns Church
 The Watercress LineThe Mens Shed
NATT 
NATC 
Perins School  Perins Educational Foundation


OUR RELATIONSIP WITH OUR CHOSEN CHARITY

Up until 2019 The Joe Glover Trust was our festival charity, however, when they closed their doors and handed the funds over to ABBY’S HEROES, the Watercress Festival Committee were delighted to continue supporting them. 

Sadly this amazing charity missed out on the chance to "shake the bucket" in 2020 and 2021, and was pretty much rained off in 2022 so we were delighted to see the team in force in over the last few years.  They will be back with their purple tops and bags of watercress again this year. Please come along and donate to them. 

Abby’s Heroes, a local Hampshire based children’s cancer charity, exists because when a child is diagnosed with cancer, it has a massive financial impact as often parents need to give up work or take unpaid leave to care for their sick child. To assist, Abby’s Heroes supports families by providing grants to help relieve the financial crisis parents find themselves facing as a result of their child’s diagnosis. These grants can be for a host of reasons such as rent or mortgage payments, household bills and other everyday living costs while the child is in hospital, additional travel costs to hospital or sadly to help towards funeral costs.

You will be helping us help a child, or their family as day to day life doesn’t stop with a cancer diagnosis. Sadly, in the UK, one child in 500 will develop some form of cancer by the age of 14 years and treatment can be required for months, and more often years. For further information, please go to www.abbysheroes.org