Easter bunnies, an Easter Egg Hunt and special Easter produce are set to make Surbiton’s April Farmers’ Market a big success!

Children’s farm Kidsrome will be joining the Maple Road market on Saturday April 16 for children to come along and learn about farm animals. The farm will be located opposite the market courtesy of St Andrew’s & St Mark’s Junior School and Maple Infants. Children can also enter a competition to design a new poster for the Farmers’ Market.

Yorda Adventures, a not-for-profit community organisation that works with families in and around the borough to support children and young people with disabilities, will be running an Easter Egg Hunt in nearby Claremont Gardens, from 11am to 2.30pm.

Among wonderful fresh seasonal produce and speciality foods at the Easter market, from 26 farmers and producers, will be chocolates from Lallapolosa Baking Company and locally sourced ice cream from Opera Ice Cream.

Conservation group Surrey Wildlife Trust and Surbiton High School’s Young Enterprise group will be among the stallholders, and 1st Surbiton Sea Scouts will again sell hot drinks to raise funds for their new scout hut.

Last month’s market was one of the most successful ever for fundraising, helping the local Japanese community raise money in aid of the Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal. Surbiton resident Yuki Hoashi organised a raffle and local Japanese families, some with friends and relatives affected, came along to help. The total from the raffle came to £1,400 and, along with support from Yuki’s employer Nokia and £2,213.32 from collection boxes, more than £5,000 was raised overall.

Rob Parkinson, who mobilised the Japanese community to attend, said: ‘I just wanted to thank everyone involved with the Farmers' Market and the businesses on Maple Road for their generosity and help – Surbiton has always been a wonderful place to live and the efforts of everyone on Saturday show why.’

Local charities also benefited from the March market. The Fircroft Trust raised £420 from the sale of plants grown at its Ditton Road nurseries, and the Sea Scouts made £65. Each will be matched by donations from surplus proceeds from the market. Funds will also be donated to the Tolworth branch of the Queen Elizabeth Foundation for Disabled People (QEF).

• The Farmers’ Market runs from 9am to 1pm on the third Saturday of the month. For details call Sarah Taylor on 020 8390 5673 or Geoffrey Doyle on 07949 155441, visit www.mapleroadsurbiton.co.uk or find us on Facebook.