THE Sixpenny Handley Waistcoat Festival commemorating the most dramatic event in the village’s history will be held on May 21 from 12.30pm to 9pm.

And organisers are looking for traders and craft demonstrators to take pitches.

On May 20, 1892 the entire village burned to the ground after a fire started by a single spark from a wheelwright's shed in the High Street.

While there was no loss of life, 186 villagers were made homeless and lost everything.

Jen Gordon, of the Waistcoat Festival, said: “So many clothes were donated by kind-hearted people from neighbouring villages that the saying went that you could tell a Handley man because he wore at least two waistcoats.

“So, when the members of the Sixpenny Handley Community Fund entertainments team were looking for a theme for their biennial fundraising event, we decided to hold a waistcoat festival."

“The team raises funds throughout the year by holding live music events – Sixpenny Sessions - but the Waistcoat Festival is our most ambitious endeavour.”

“Different groups in the village, from pre-school children to adults, will be working on heritage projects in the months leading up to the festival so that the stories behind the Great Fire are kept alive and passed down through the generations.”

This year the theme is centred around the story of a little boy who buried his bread and cheese lunch in the front garden so that it would escape the fire.

Projects will involve children making bread and cheese with local artisans from Chalke Valley Cheese and Orchard Bay Bakery, and will culminate in a large community fondue at Church Farm campsite in the evening on May 21.

Activities on the day will include a water bucket challenge, best waistcoat competition, live music in collaboration with the Larmer Tree Festival and the lighting of the Sixpenny Handley beacon. There will also be traditional craft and produce stalls, rural craft demonstrations plus food, including a barbecue vegetarian street food and cream teas.

n Around 1,000 people attended the first Waistcoat Festival in 2014 and organisers are planning to expand this year’s event.

Anyone interested in having a stall (food, crafts, vintage clothing, etc.) or demonstrate a rural craft (blacksmithing, woodturning, sculpture, pottery, stonework, ceramics, saddlery, charcoal burning, glass flame working, etc.) at the festival can visit sixpennyhandley.com or email sixpennysessions@gmail.com.