WI Market

It’s one minute to ten, and the tension is mounting. There’s a queue outside the St Thomas Church Hall, and everyone’s eager to get in the door. The Lewes Country Market (sometimes still known by its old name, the WI Market) is about to open its doors. The vendors are waiting behind their wares: cakes, potted plants, flowers, eggs, jams, pies, cookies, marmalades and other sundries, laid out on trestle tables. I’ve heard that it’s a bit of a scrum, when the doors are opened at ten. That you have to be quick. That it’s all over, in effect, by 10.15. I’m in the privileged position of already being inside the building, and have earmarked a few items to buy.

I’ve been shown round the place by Brenda Gough, a veteran marketeer, and made a cup of tea. The Lewes WI Market, I learn, started up in 1919, and was originally a vital way for WW1 veterans to sell the vegetables they had started growing in their gardens during the food crisis after the war. It was an immediate success, and has been going virtually ever since, originally in the passageway next to the Crown, more recently in its current spot. At ten on the dot the doors open, the customers charge in. The eggs go in seconds. Everyone knows exactly what they want - they’re straight to the right table. I start making my purchases: a potted plant, a woollen finger puppet, four sausage rolls and a jar of tomato and marrow chutney. All for £4. I’m hooked. AL