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This year's Festival started as it went
on, with a great party. The preview of the Summer Exhibition in
St Michael's Church saw several hundred people jostling to view
and buy the paintings, spilling over into the Hall for refreshments
and enjoying the live music. The art was of as high a standard
as ever and with a third of the proceeds going to Festival funds,
a record sum was raised.
Over the following fortnight, the Church and Hall - splendidly
decked in Festival banners - played host to a kaleidoscope of
artistic events.
On the first Sunday evening in the Church, the West London Bach
Consort and Players under Sandy Burnett presented their latest
Bach Cantatas - an oasis of calm after the hectic Green Days weekend.
Two days later, in the Hall, 'Myths and Heroes in Words and Music'
featured performances ranging from Handel and Shakespeare to Purcell
and Virgil. And two days after that, in the same venue, the actor
John Rowe gave a superb reading of Wordsworth as part of the Poetry
Evening, which this year took the theme of Childhood. Many of
the audience read poems, as did local poets Anne-Marie Fyfe and
Cahal Dallat, who also distributed his now traditional - and very
entertaining - literary quiz.
The first week in the Hall came to a close with Sue Ouseley's
mouthwatering Indian Feast. Around 80 people enjoyed food from
various Indian regions and entertaining presentations about the
ingredients, the cooking and the areas they came from, while in
the Church the Cercle Dramatique was celebrating the bicentenary
of Victor Hugo in words and music - in French!
Away from St Michael's, there were other Festival entertainments.
Louise and Patrick Grattan hosted a House Concert, including an
unpublished song by Elgar, written by Elgar for the grandmother
of the soloist, Alice Grattan. The House of Arts Drama Circle
put on a midsummer miscellany, Love in Bloom, and, in My Guardian
Angel, Kenneth Woollam talked about his international career as
a performer and teacher, followed by a recital by some of his
accomplished students.
One of the highlights of the Festival is always the children's
musical performed during the middle weekend in the Church. This
year St Michael's Junior Choir excelled themselves - under the
baton of Phoebe Woollam and the directorship of Abigail Rokison
- with a vibrant production of Oliver! To meet the high demand
for tickets, there were two performances - a Sunday matinee as
well as the Saturday evening show - and more than 300 people attended.
Against a background of St Paul's and the London skyline, Harriet
Preston as Nancy and Thomas Rogers as the Artful Dodger showed
touches of real professionalism, Joe Halford was a very appealing
Oliver and Charlie Mitchell as Bill Sykes proved a true villain.
Felix Barber, in the key role of Fagin, held the production together,
backed by his gang of more than a dozen work-experience pickpockets
(who'd earlier doubled up as equally spirited workhouse children,
demanding food, glorious food).
The Festival's second week presented an array of highly polished
musical events. On the Monday David Juritz's Summer Serenade in
the Church, followed by supper in the Hall, provided a real treat
for more than a hundred people. The following night in the Hall,
Geoff Callister and Tessa Wayne - the duo Grace Notes - teamed
up with a young chamber choir Chantage for a delightful evening
of Songs of Summer, ranging from Monteverdi to Britney Spears!
Wednesday night was Jazz Night at St Michael's, with a superb
performance from the Sandy Burnett Quartet, featuring Martin Hathaway,
Peter Churchill and - for the first time - the US drummer Rod
Youngs.
Friday night saw an innovation. The annual Photographic Exhibition
and Competition, which used to follow the art exhibition in the
Church, took over the Michael Room in the Hall, turning it into
"the Michael Gallery" with the photographs beautifully
displayed on large white boards hanging from the beams. Ruth Joseph
and her team had worked hard to make the most of the new venue
and it proved a real success, providing a focus for the final
festive weekend and showing the work of 40 local photographers
to their best effect. Winners in this year’s Exhibition,
sponsored again by Snappy Snaps were:
YOUNG ENTRY AGE 4-11: Joe Scott
YOUNG ENTRY AGE 12-16: James Scott
ESSENTIALLY BEDFORD PARK: Tony Preston
PORTRAITS AND PEOPLE: Jonathon Hibberd
ANIMALS: Tony Preston
LONDON: Jonathon Hibberd
PLACES (RURAL OR URBAN): Jonathon Hibberd
PLANTS, TREES, FLOWERS: Sheena Napier
SMILES: Sally Phipps Hornby
MISCELLANEOUS: Annie Barclay.
Although Jonathon Hibberd won in three of the categories, it was
his photograph in PLACES (RURAL OR URBAN) which was also chosen
as BEST OF SHOW.
Prizes are determined by the votes of visitors to the exhibition,
with one exception. One prize, THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S CHOICE, is awarded
by a professional photographer, and this year that prize was awarded
to Clive Robinson.
On Saturday night the versatility of the Michael Room was shown
once again when it was turned into a cinema for the Bedford Park
Film Festival. More than a hundred people packed in to enjoy scenes
shot in Bedford Park by amateur and professional film-makers,
including a recently unearthed film of the 1969 Village Green
Day and the 1975 film marking the centenary of Bedford Park. Carlton
Television sponsored the evening, helping pay for the large screen
which will now form a permanent feature of the Hall. During the
intermission, hotdogs, tacos, popcorn and ice-cream were served,
before the show reached its climax with extracts from 'Nuns on
the Run' and the recent ITV drama 'Plain Jane'. The evening proved
so popular that there's to be another showing in October!
On Sunday morning, the Festival Mass provided the religious climax
to the fortnight's events, with the Bedford Park Festival Orchestra
and Chorus under Phoebe Woollam performing Mozart's Missa Brevis.
In the afternoon, the Open Gardens proved as popular and varied
as ever, and John Scott led the annual Bedford Park Walk. And
in the evening, Chiswick Baroque brought the Festival to a close
in the church with gems from the 16th 21st Centuries and a premiere
by their director Celia Harper.
This year's Festival was one of the most successful ever, attracting
thousands of people and raising thousands of pounds towards the
completion of the £500,000 St Michael's Parish Hall Appeal.
It was also generously supported by more than 60 local businesses,
including Snappy Snaps, Faron Sutaria, Bushells, Fletcher Estates,
Macken Brothers, Changing Gardens of Chiswick, M&C Greengrocers,
the Park Club, Sainsburys Local, Letts Educational and Carlton
TV (who all sponsored stalls or events); dozens of restaurants
(who gave free meals for the Square Meals Tombola); and traders
in Turnham Green Terrace, who took part in the Jubilee Treasure
Hunt.
More importantly, it brought real enjoyment and a feeling of community
to Bedford Park, and that - as the Festival's founder Father Jack
Jenner said in the Centenary film - was one of its main purposes
when it was set up 35 years ago.
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