Westbury Park Festival 2009 : a recap
29th June - 5th July
Another festival is over, and what a packed festival week we had. The theme was "Summer" and this echoed through a number of events. The school kicked us off with a concert, and you can see some of the other results of their festival week below. For the slightly older, there were tours around the university Botannical Gardens and on Durdam Downs, both full if not overflowing. On Saturday, Jackie Wright once more gave a taster in Tai Chi.
More pictures are available on our postcard wall.
Events
Downs tree tour
Keeping up with Tony Titchen is not for the feint-hearted but, despite threats of rain, thirty of us ended up doing just that (up from the expected six). The almost 2-hour tour covered everything from White Tree shelter to the Pseudo Acacia at the other end, including who planted what, when and where from (mostly, it seems, from the nurseries of the late Garroways). Those present now know which Lime they should park under, and how to identify half a dozen species of horse chestnut. How many realised the "ash path" across to Westbury Road was the only safe path across an open-cast mine?
Kevin Chidgely took over as quizmaster for this Friday night event and it proved as popular - and tricky - as ever.
One a lovely Summer afternoon, the crowds gathered to eat, bounce or - for some young ones - to join a parade down the street in their fancy dress. Stalls came from all sides of the local area to entice and enthrall, while the Punch & Judy, tea dancing, the police and the fire service all were on hand to entertain. Music was provided by Nigel on the church organ and by the Bristol Training Wind Band.
Not to be outdone, local choirs and spectators gathered in St Alban's Church for the inaugural Only Choirs Aloud. The church choir welcomed everyone before hearing Westbury Park School choir and St Alban's junior choir. The competition kicked off with two songs each from Redland Green Community Chorus, WP Community Choir, Gospel Generation Community Choir, each to rousing applause. Redland Green won, astonishing the audience - and themselves - by singing Rhythm of Life without their music or words. Congratulations to all the choirs.
The festival committee would like to thank everyone who put so much time into making these events happen, and to everyone who turned up to support them. We would like to give a big thank you to all the stall holders, stewards and choir leaders.
Despite the rain showers, there were large numbers of visitors prepared to walk around Westbury Park to admire all the fantastic gardens on display. Flowers, trees and shrubs were complemented by ponds, treehouses and chickens (to name but a few) to demonstrate the staggering range of achievement in our small gardens. Among this year's new gardens was Westbury Park School's own allotment on Redland Green.
Poetry
Locals were invited to submit poems on the theme of Summer to the festival's own poet, Sylvia Barry, which she then judged. The poems were published, sold and displayed at the street party and the winners collected their book tokens. Sylvia also visited Westbury Park School earlier in the month to inspire and help with pupils' poetry.
Rewards
Why did we do this? The festival committee is dedicated to making a community event that brings together as many people of all types from the local area. As a bonus, we raise money for charity. We are pleased to announce the following donations by the festival organisers and participants:
- £400 to Jonathan House, our friends on Bayswater Avenue.
- £400 to Children's Hospice South West.
- £400 to Smile Train.
- £100 to the Julian Trust night shelter.
- £60 to Maya School in Orchaa, India.
- £50 to Amaudo UK
- £59 to Temwa sustainable community development in Malawi.
- £120 to the Parkinson Association.
- £32 to Heart Rescue
In addition, we know that the many local organisations who ran stalls all received both increased recognition and income for their work. Some of these, like the school gardening club, receive no other funding.