The Bedford Park Festival: June 13th-28th 2009
Green Days Fête and Craft Fair - Review
Saturday 13 June & Sunday 14 June
Once again the crowds packed onto the Green opposite St Michael & All Angels Church for 'Green Days' weekend in Chiswick - the opening event of the 43rd annual Bedford Park Festival.
Thousands of people enjoyed the traditional "village green" atmosphere, watching the bands and the five-a-side football; going on the dodgems, skittles and coconut shy; buying cakes, bric a brac and plants; drinking beer and Pimms; eating strawberries and ice cream; and browsing in the Craft marquee and the High Roller Tombola stall.
The Festival was opened on Saturday morning by the violinist David Juritz, whose global WorldBusk event - in aid of the charity Musequality - reached its climax on the Green the following day.
With Father Kevin Morris, the vicar of St Michael & All Angels, David judged the fancy dress costumes, on the theme of Wild West Four. The winners were:
Age 3 and under
1st Gabriella Timmons, Calamity Jane
2nd Wilfred Morris, Chief of the W4 Tribe
3rd Bibi Barmwell, Pocahontas
Age 4-6
1st Ruby Foster, a cactus
2nd Clementine Buchanan, Cowgirl
3rd Sam Hickley, Cowboy
The winners of the Turnham Green Terrace Treasure Hunt, sponsored by Disney and Trotters, were: Sadie Edmondson, Matthew Marshall, Amari Orr Deas, Oliver Peters, Charlie Quinn, Oliver Simkin, Charlotte Timmons, Daisy Weedon and Emily Weedon.
Another highlight was the 5-a-side Football Competition, sponsored by the estate agents Bushells. The winners of the U-9 to U-11 tournament were Chiswick Park, who beat Devonshire Devils in the final 3-0. The team members were: Nicky Osborne, Charlie Cook, Ryan Gunter, Katherine Turner and Seb Walsh, pictured here with the runners-up.
There were more prizes on the Sunday in the annual Bedford Park's Got Talent competition for under-17s.
Other young performers on the Band Stand across the two days included the Twyford Gospel Choir from Twyford Church of England High School, this year's BBC's Songs of Praise School Choir of the Year; 
dancers from the Arts Educational School (right) and bands from Latymer Upper School, which all attracted big crowds of young followers. Other live entertainment included the BJO, Jessie Grace and the Barnets
The event was supported by around 150 local firms, including the estate agents Savills which sponsored the Craft Fair.
Green Days forms part of the Love London environmental campaign, and there were several 'green' sponsors, including Eco, the shop and consultancy set up by actor Colin Firth and his family, who were there on their stand. Greentomatocars sponsored the Plant Stall and Zipcar also took a stand.
All waste on the Green was sorted for recycling as part of the Keep Green Days Green campaign, with a team of volunteers showing people which bin to put their rubbish in. "We've managed to achieve Zero Waste for the past four years, with the help of Grundon Waste Management" said Festival co-ordinator Torin Douglas. "It's a huge amount of work but very worthwhile and everyone entered into the spirit of it."
Photos by David Beresford and Torin Douglas