Chiswick Bedford Park Festival 2003
Record Crowds at Bedford Park's Green Days Fete
"Two Day party on the Green" gets festival off to a flying start
Thousands
of people revelled in the sunshine last weekend at the 37th annual Green
Days fete in Bedford Park - 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 Waterstones 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:-
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.
The money raised from this year's Bedford Park Festival is going to St
Mary's Convent & Nursing Home Appeal.
For more details and a full Festival programme, contact the parish office of St Michael & All Angels Church on 020 8994 1380, or visit the Festival Website
June 14, 2003
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Hogwarts in Turnham Green Terrace
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