GREEN DAYS 2004 REVIEW

The sunshine brought out the crowds at the Green Days fete - the opening event of the 38th annual Bedford Park Festival. Thousands of people enjoyed the "village green" atmosphere, watching the bands and the five-a-side football; going on the dodgems, skittles and coconut shy; buying books and plants; drinking beer and Pimms; eating strawberries and ice cream; and browsing in the Craft marquee.

"We thought last year's event would be hard to beat but everyone has said this year's was even better" said Father Kevin Morris of St Michael & All Angels Church, which organises the Festival. "The atmosphere was terrific, with people of all ages having fun in the sun."

The festival was opened by the artist Sir Peter Blake – recently described as "the godfather of British pop art" - who's lived in Chiswick for many years. His works feature prominently in a new retrospective of the 1960s at Tate Britain

Sir Peter posed for photographs with the children who took part in the annual Fancy Dress Parade, this year on the theme of Europe 2004. He also judged the costumes with Father Kevin. All those taking part were rewarded with ice cream vouchers from Fouberts in Chiswick High Road, and the prize winners received gifts from Snapdragon. The winners were:

Age 4 and under
1st Charlotte Timmons, Princess Europe 2004
2nd Oliver Simpkin, Euro Coin
3rd Rory Thompson, Euro flags

Age 5 - 7
1st Stella Wharmby, Princess EU
2nd Aylin Acuner and Amelia Williams, Disgruntled Turkish girls
3rd Grace Curtis, French artist

Age 8 +
1st Alex Timmons,  Euro Table-Football 2004
2nd Olivia Shotton, Britannia, and Alice Dunns, EU Map
3rd Maisie Preston, The Little European, and Gus Halford, Referee/ Red card/Yellow Card.
 
Prizes were then presented for the Turnham Green Terrace Treasure Hunt, also on the Europe 2004 theme, sponsored by the local estate agent, Fletchers, and supported by 25 of the Terrace traders. Children had to spot pictures of European flags in the shop windows and say which was their favourite country and why. More than 30 children found them all.

The winner of the first prize - a trip to the Children's BBC studios - was Grace Curtis (6) of Orchard House School. Her favourite country was Hungary "because I like food".

The runners-up were:

Leila Ashrafi (8) of Wendell Park Primary School (Italy – "Ice creams, Terrific, Adriatic beaches, Lovely clothes, Yummy food").
Matilda Curtis (10) from Orchard House School (Italy "because they have a lot of ice cream").
Amelia Rose Edwards (6) from Ravenscourt Park School (France – "because I like pains au chocolate – je m'appelle Amelie Rose".)
Cameron Gardner (9) from Glendower School (the UK because "I am from America and I like the monuments").
Olivia Shotton (9) from St Mary's RC Primary School (France – "because it makes my Dad go oh-la-la").
Charlotte Timmons (3) from Jordans Montessori Nursery School (Greece because "it was my first time going away on an aeroplane".)
Alex Timmons (8) from Ravenscourt Park Prep School (France because "they drink hot chocolate from bowls, dipping in croissants – yum!")
Harry Tritton (7) from Orchard House School (Italy because "I want to go up the leaning tower of Pisa".)
Stella Wharmby (6) from Orchard House School (Spain because "everybody has big families and helps each other".)

Another highlight was the 5-a-side Football Competition, sponsored by the estate agents Bushells. For the first time, there were three competitions – the under-13s on Saturday and the under-8s and under-10s on Sunday.

In the under-13s contest, the winners of the Bushells Cup were The Devils – James Ponusamy, Rupert Monroe, Emmett Morse, Michael Anderson, Ben Stanier and Toby Simmons. In the final, they beat The Dynamos 4-2. The third-placed team was Latymer United.

The winners of the under-10s Bushells Cup were John Betts for the second year, who beat Ealing Shamrock in the final. In third place was KPR – Kew Park Rangers. The under-8s cup was won by Red Falcons, with Fabulous Falcons as runners up.

On the Sunday, one of the stars of Green Days was local actor Ian Pirie, who played a James Bond villain in Die Another Day and has just completed a West End run in Les Miserables. On Sunday, he compered the annual Pop Idol talent competition for under-18s and then performed three songs - to great applause - while the judges were choosing the winners.

More than two dozen children took part in the Pop Idol contest – singing, dancing and even baton-twirling! It attracted the biggest crowd of the weekend in front of the Band Stand and four acts were chosen as winners:

Lewis Walker, aged 8, of Derwentwater Primary School, danced to Big Brovas, showing great confidence and movement. He was inspired to dance by seeing one of last year's winners, Daniel Pirie.

Eleanor Douglas of Lady Margaret School and Bella Broke of Frances Holland, both aged 13, sang and danced to The Wreckoning by Boomkat.

Ellen Millard, aged 11, of Southfields Primary School, sang Thank You by Dido. And Tom Biddle, aged 10, of Latymer Prep School, sang In The End.

Pop Idol was sponsored by SweatyBetty, the new sports shop for women in Turnham Green Terrace. All those who took part were given SweatyBetty water bottles, skipping ropes or wrist bands and the store manager, Karen Stewart, acted as one of the three judges.

There was live entertainment on the Band Stand throughout the two days. The swing band Bassett & the All Sorts performed on Saturday, followed by several of the highly talented teachers from the Guitar Institute and Bass Tech, based in Acton. Then came the young local rock band Switchgear, much enjoyed by its teenage fans, and then the ska band Freetown, which has a new single out, called Swimming the Atlantic.

On Sunday, Off-Beat Brass performed during and after the open air church service, which was attended by more than 200 people in bright sunshine. And following Pop Idol, No 1 Station, one of London's top ska-reggae bands, brought the two-day event to a great close.

The sound system was supplied and operated by Independent Audio (01895 468692). Power distribution was by Inglewood Electrical and Lighting (07966 294272).

Other highlights on the Sunday were the 'green' G-Wiz car, powered by electricity, and the Pink Elephant bouncy castle provided by the group that owns the Brentford Chiswick & Isleworth Times. On Saturday, children enjoyed a visit from Mr Happy, from the Happy Times Nursery, which sponsored the Children's Corner.

The beer tent, sponsored by Fletcher Estates in Turnham Green Terrace, did a roaring trade throughout the two days and so did the refreshment tent, sponsored by Andreas Georghiou, the greengrocers in the Terrace, who donated all the strawberries and cream. The Barbecue never stopped providing burgers and hotdogs from Macken Brothers in the Terrace. The craft tent was supported by Sainsburys and White Stuff in the Terrace, while 34 local restaurants donated free meals for two for the Win A Meal contest, which raised more than £1,000 for the Festival's causes: the Micro Loan Foundation in Chiswick; the Upper Room in Shepherd's Bush; and the repainting of St Michael & All Angels and its trust fund.