Billingshurst & District Lions Club (August 2025)
Lions Ever Popular Car Boot Sales
Billingshurst & District Lions Club
are pleased to announce that the next Car Boot Sale
will be held on August Bank Holiday Monday, 25th August, 9am - 12noon,
in the Six Bells Car Park (off the Library Car Park).
For full details and to book a space,
please contact - Sandy Duck - E-mail, sandyduck@btinternet.com,
Mobile: 07717 822 804 or Tel: 01403 786 146.
But, where and how did Car Booting begin, and why are they so popular?
According to our friendly Google, Father Harry Clarke,
a Catholic Priest from Stockport,
allegedly introduced car boot sales to the UK in 1976, as a Charity Fundraiser,
after visiting a similar event on holiday in Canada.
This may well have been Denio’s Roseville Farmers' Market and Swap Meet in Ontario, founded in the late 1940s by Jim and Marilee Denio - still active today.
The first commercial car boot sale is said to have been at Nepicar Farm in Kent,
in September 1980, with approximately two hundred stalls
and attended by more than two thousand people.
Car Boot Sales in various forms are now popular
across Europe and throughout the world.
Car Boots are often referred to as “Flea Markets”,
a term thought to be a literal translation from the French “Marché aux Puces”,
due to infected furniture arriving for sale.
The Germans call them “Flohmarkt", the Dutch “vlooienmarkt",
in Sweden "loppmarknad" and in Finland, “kirpputori”.
The Spanish use “piojito" in some areas, meaning "little louse”.
In Australia they call them “trash and treasure markets”,
whilst Americans and Canadians refer to “trunk” sales,
their name for car boots, but “trunk” sales can also mean items sold from a suitcase!
It has been suggested that Car Boots are a practical,
efficient way of recycling, whilst others suggest their popularity stems
from people having a yearning to “trade and barter”,
enjoying the social interaction and revelling in the thrill of hunting,
(and possibly finding) that elusive bargain!
Whatever your motivation,
Billingshurst Lions look forward to welcoming you to the Six Bells Car Park
(just off the Library Car Park)
on Bank Holiday Monday - 26th August.
Harvey Holmes, Press Officer, harveyholmes596@btinternet.com.
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