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Thousands
of people revelled in the sunshine at the 37th annual Green Days
fete in Bedford Park, Chiswick - the opening event of the two-week
Bedford Park Festival.
"It was like a two-day party
on the Green" said Father Kevin Morris of St Michael &
All Angels Church, which organises the Festival. "We had
record crowds and everyone said it was the most enjoyable event
for years."
Despite ominous forecasts of
rain, the weather held fair for almost all the two days. Radio
4's John Humphrys claimed the credit for that, as he opened the
Festival on Saturday morning. He joked that he'd asked Tony Blair
to make sure the weather was good because he could do everything
else - "but he said he'd need 45 minutes warning."
Humphrys posed for photographs
with dozens of children who'd dressed up as Harry Potter characters
for the Fancy Dress Parade. They were led onto the Green by Gus
Halford, dressed as the Hogwarts Express, who won one of the first
prizes. Harry Potter was the most popular character, but there
were plenty of Hermiones, as well as a Draco Malfoy, a Ron Weasley,
a Nearly Headless Nick and a Moaning Myrtle.
The competition was judged by
Father Kevin and by Sister Jennifer of St Mary's Convent &
Nursing Home, which will receive the money raised from it this
year. "There were some fantastic costumes and it was really
hard to choose the winners" said Sister Jennifer. The competition
was sponsored by Waterstone's Chiswick, which is giving copies
of the new Harry Potter book, Harry Potter & the Order of
the Phoenix, to the winners of the two older categories, and other
books and tokens to the runners up. The prize winners were:-
Age
5 and under
1st Phoebe Rigden - Unicorn
2nd Charlotte Timmons - Professor
McGonagle
3rd George Parsons - Harry
Potter
Age 6 to 9
1st Gus Halford - Hogwarts
Express
2nd Amelia Williams - Golden
Snitch
3rd Alex Timmons - Professor
Quirrel
3rd Adam Kenton-Harris - Dementor
Age 10 & over
1st Joe Halford - Basilisk
Prizes were also presented for
the Turnham Green Terrace Treasure Hunt, also on the Harry Potter
theme, sponsored by the local estate agent, Fletchers, and supported
by 22 of the Terrace traders. Children had to spot pictures of
Potter characters in the shop windows and say which was their
favourite and why. More than 30 children found them all. The winner
of the first prize - a trip to the Children's BBC studios - was
Emma Tritton (8) of Orchard
House school. Her favourite character was Mrs Norris, the sinister
cat, "because she snoops around with bat ears, just like
me". The runners-up were:
Oliver Cooper (9) from Ravenscourt
Park prep school (Professor Snape - because he has great magic
powers to turn people into monsters.)
Grace Curtis (5) from Orchard
House school (Hagrid - because he has a pink umbrella, like me).
Alice Duns (7) from St Mary's
RC primary school (Norbert - because he was mischievous and loved
having fun - dragons are cool!)
Freddie Garrard (8) from Our
Lady & St Johns, Brentford (Ron Weasley - because he's funny,
fussy, wimpy, he panics and loves Hermione Granger.)
Alex Rogerson (7) from Jacques
Prevert school, Brook Green (Dobby - because he irons his fingers
pancake flat when he is cross).
Olivia Shotton (8) from St
Mary's RC primary school (Professor Trelawney, because she makes
wacky predictions and she's crazy).
Rufus Stirling (9) from Durston
House, Ealing (Ron Weasley - because he always seems to have interesting
things in his pockets.)
Alex Timmons (7) from Ravenscourt
Park prep school (Fred & George Weasley - because they keep
setting off filibuster fireworks and dungbombs.)
Patrick Wolton (6) from Orchard
House school (Harry Potter, because he can do magic at Hogwarts,
and I can't.)
Another highlight was the 5-a-side
Football Competition, sponsored by the estate agents Bushells.
For the first time, there were two competitions - the under-13s
on Saturday and the under-10s on Sunday.
In the under-13s contest, the
winners of the Bushells Cup were Hive,
whose players go to five local schools - including Southfield,
Ravenscourt Park and Chiswick Community School. In the final,
they beat Lat-mer, from Latymer Upper School, which also provided
the third-placed team - Black & Blue United.
The winners of the under-10s
Bushells Cup were John Betts Juniors,
who beat Kew Park Rangers in the final. In third place was Bedford
Park United.
There was live entertainment on the Band Stand throughout the
two Green Days, and a highlight was the surprise appearance of
Millie and Pearl, the two Jamaican singers seen recently on TV,
in promotions for the BBC Talent scheme.
They performed on Saturday afternoon
with the local ska-reggae band Freetown, who also feature in the
BBC film. Freetown's next single will be out soon and they are
also planning a Christmas album with Millie and Pearl. Other music
was provided by the swing band Bassett & the All Sorts, Off-Beat
Brass, a young local band called The Young Offenders formed by
James and Jo Scott, and No 1 Station, one of London's top ska-reggae
bands, who brought the two-day event to a great close in bright
sunshine. There were also several dance demonstrations and classes
- including swing dancing, salsa and Scottish Country Dancing.
But the biggest crowd was attracted
by the Pop Idol children's talent contest on Sunday afternoon.
Almost two dozen children sang or danced on the Bandstand. Some
others had to be turned away as time ran out.
The two joint winners were 8-year-old
Daniel Pirie, who danced to Michael Jackson's Thriller, and 8-year-old
Milly Forrest, who sang The Lonely Goatherd from The Sound of
Music. Both showed remarkable talent and confidence for ones so
young. In third place was 11-year-old Alice Kent, who was dressed
and made up as Kelly Osbourne, and sang Shut Up.
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