News & Society Events
Our Plan for 2026 includes engaging with the communities of Stansted, Fairseat and Vigo in various ways to keep our shared history alive. To achieve this, our main activities will be maintaining an active website, writing a monthly article for the Parish Notes, a quarterly newsletter for Supporters and organising public events during the year.
Newsletters
We aim to publish quarterly newsletters for our supporters, and online copies are available at the links below. If you would like to become a supporter, please send your email address and contact details to the Society Chair, Dick Hogbin. Email: hogbindick@gmail.com Tel: 07887 396918. Please select from the following:
Forthcoming Events
Fairseat Walk – Sunday, 16th August at 2 pm
Our next walk will start and finish in Fairseat Recreation Ground and should last about 2 hours (allowing time for a chat as we reach various bits of the village’s history). No charge and no need to book.
The walk will go from the village hall along Bumpy Lane to the site of the old medieval manor where we will stop for brief details of what the archaeologists found in the early 1960s; then on past the Hemsley Conservation Centre, the Telecommunications Mast (where John Deacon used to be Officer-in-Charge) to Tower Folly (now The Grange). From there we will walk past Sparepenny Lane, the old Vigo Inn, the old Tollgate House and down Hognore Lane as far as the old walled garden of Trosley Towers. From there we will walk back along Vigo Road to the Village Hall for some light refreshments. It is all on the level and should be fun!
Previous Events
In the first few years of the Society (1999-2023), we focused on digitising the archive and researching and writing relevant articles for the website. There was also a lot of background work going on, getting information recorded in a way that was robust and could be built upon in the future. Having largely completed that exercise, we then turned to community-based activities including walks, talks and visits. They have been very well supported by the villagers, and the following events have been organised over the past three years.
- 6 August 2026. Visit to Cobham Hall including cream tea
- 23 April 2026. Talk: ‘The Waterlows and Trosley Towers’
- 28 January 2026. Talk: ‘The History of Vigo Village’
- 20 November 2025. Talk: ‘Famous People of the Parish’
- 22 June 2025. Circular walk visiting the Old Malthouse and the Old Farmhouse.
- 27 March 2025. Talk: ‘Saints and Sinners – the history of St Mary’s church and the Black Horse’.
- 22 March 2024. Unveiling of the Colin Francis memorial
- 29 July 2023. Walk from Stansted to Fairseat, visiting Court House and Fairseat Manor.