From chef Rowley Leigh, to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and the Rhondda Valley's Cory Band

Chef Rowley Leigh, the award-winning Cory Band and writer Yasmin Alibhai-Brown head this year’s Bedford Park Festival line-up.

The acclaimed chef and food writer Rowley Leigh will be speaking about his recipes and love of food. He’ll be in conversation with broadcaster Susannah Simons at 8pm on Monday 11 June.

Leigh’s iconic restaurants Kensington Place and Le Cafe Anglais have served great food for 30 years, and his columns in the Financial Times have established him as one of our best food writers.

His new book "A Great and Messy Business" is arranged by the months, to help celebrate the seasonal nature of cooking.

This is just one of the highlights of this year’s two-week Festival of arts and community events. It runs from 8 to 24 June , based in and around St Michael & All Angels, Bedford Park.

The multi-award-winning Cory Band from Treorchy in the Rhondda Valley will be performing in the church on Saturday 16 June. Founded as a colliery brass band in 1884, it now includes musicians of both sexes performing a widely varied repertoire of “blockbusting and beautiful” music.

Writer and commentator Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is the special guest in Poems & People on Wednesday 20 June - the annual poetry evening led by Chiswick poets Anne-Marie Fyfe and Cahal Dallat. And the XV Theatre Company led by Christina Balmer returns to the Tabard Theatre, with more than a dozen performances of Perfect Pitch, John Godber’s comedy set on a caravan site.

From the opening party at St Michael & All Angels on Friday 8 June - previewing the Bedford Park Summer Exhibition and the Photographic Competition - to the Dvorak Festival Mass and Open Gardens on Sunday 24 June, there is an array of concerts, talks, walks and drama.

Music includes jazz, opera, ballet, the golden age of the musical, and organ and piano recitals. There’s something for everyone, whatever their age or taste, in aid of charities and the church.

The Festival fortnight kicks off on 9 and 10 June with the Green Days fete and Craft Fair opposite Turnham Green tube station - including five-a-side football, live music, funfair, food and drink, children’s corner and an array of stalls.

Read the full Festival programme and book tickets

May 17, 2018