Popular community event celebrates another successful year
Eddie Marsan (image by Tom Doran) with Torin Douglas on left and Lyn Goleby
of the forthcoming new cinema on right
The Bedford Park Festival has just finished another successful year, and has raised over £55,000 in funding for its nominated charities.
Profits go to St Michael & All Angels Church, which runs the festival for the community, and its three 2018 charities: The Upper Room, helping the needy in Shepherd’s Bush; The Amber Trust, helping blind children to fulfil their musical potential; and Water Harvest, bring water to remote villages in India.
This year Green Days was opened by the award-winning actor Eddie Marsan, home in Chiswick between numerous filming commitments in the United States. ”
Eddie opened the 52nd Bedford Park Festival which was held in bright sunshine at the Green Days fete and craft fair, on Acton Green opposite Turnham Green tube station. The event began with the children’s fancy dress parade – on the theme Peter Rabbit & Friends – and the weekend continued with live music, children’s five-a-side football, funfair, food and drink, children’s corner and an array of stalls.
Trustees of the Hogarth were busy raising the profile of the Hogarth Community Centre at Sunday’s Bedford Park Festival. Showcasing the centre’s new branding (see photo), brochures were distributed highlighting the centre’s community role and offering for local children. A Wheel of Fortune encouraged members of the public to donate to the centre. Prizes were most generously provided by Friends of the Hogarth. The centre is st risk of closure following the council’s decision to withdraw all financial support later this year. Donations to the centre may now also be made directly online at www.hogarthtrust.org.uk.
Highlights of this year's Festival included a talk by the chef and food writer Rowley Leigh in conversation with broadcaster Susannah Simons. 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.
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Anne-Marie Fyfe and Cahal Dalat
From the opening party to the Dvorak Festival Mass and Open Gardens on Sunday 24 June, there was a stimulating array of concerts, talks, walks and drama. Music included jazz, opera, ballet, the golden age of the musical, and organ and piano recitals.
You can also read about the Bedford Park Festival on Twitter.
Fancy Dress
The multi-award-winning Cory Band from Treorchy in the Rhondda Valley was also a highlight, and another popular event was writer and commentator Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, the special guest in Poems & People on the annual poetry evening led by Chiswick poets Anne-Marie Fyfe and Cahal Dallat.
Fancy Dress at Green Days
The XV Theatre Company led by Christina Balmer played in the Tabard Theatre, with more than a dozen performances of Perfect Pitch, John Godber’s hilarious comedy set on a caravan site.
Milly Forrest opera singer
Open Gardens
Reading Dante's Divine Comedy
Lyn Goleby of the new cinema
June 30, 2018
