It’s not long till the 50th Bedford Park Festival, Chiswick’s biggest and best-loved community event, organised by St Michael & All Angels Church. Green Days weekend is on June 11th and 12th – also the Queen’s 90th birthday weekend – and it will be bigger and better than ever. As well as the live music, five-a-side football, refreshments, craft fair, children’s corner and stalls, we’ll be holding Chiswick’s biggest street party. ‘Queens and Kings’ is the theme for the children’s fancy dress parade on the Saturday morning. The Festival was launched in 1967 by the vicar and appeal committee of St Michael & All Angels, to foster community spirit, celebrate the arts and raise money for repairs to the church. It still does all that, as well as raising thousands of pounds for charities.
How can you help and take part?
– Put the dates in your diary – June 10th to 26th, including: Green Days weekend, June 11th and 12th; Bedford Park Summer Exhibition June 10th to 17th; Festival Mass (Puccini – Missa di Gloria); and Bedford Park Open Gardens Sunday June 26th.
– Grow some sunflowers! For 50 years, the symbol of the Bedford Park Festival has been the sunflower – as it is of Bedford Park, the world’s first garden suburb (right). To celebrate, we are reviving the Sunflower Growing Competition that ran in the 1990s. Whose will grow the tallest? There will be two categories – children and adults – watch out for more details. For the moment, all you need to do is buy some sunflower seeds and start growing! Click here for some ‘how to grow’ advice from the RHS. Please take photos of your sunflowers as they grow and share them on social media. Watch out for more details at the Bedford Park Festival website. #BPF50 #Sunflower
– Sing! Rehearsals for the Festival Mass Choir start on Tuesday May 10th at 9pm, and will be held every Tuesday. Please contact the director of music, Jonathan Dods.
– Bake, make marmalade and volunteer! We’ll soon be seeking entries for the Green Days Bake Off and the Marmalade-making competition. And we always need more helpers, singers, books for the second-hand books stall, bric-a-brac, toys and prizes for the High Roller tombola, as well as hats bags and scarves, cakes, plants, gardens for the Open Gardens, meals for Win-a-Meal and more sponsors. For details on how you can help and take part, click here.
