Presenter to launch Chiswick's annual fortnight of arts and community events
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Radio and TV star Jeremy Vine is to open the 44th Bedford Park Festival, Chiswick's annual fortnight of arts and community events. The Radio 2 and Panorama presenter will be opening the Green Days Fete and Craft Fair at 11am on Saturday June 12th, opposite Turnham Green tube station.
Jeremy will also be judging the children's fancy dress contest, with Father Kevin Morris, vicar of St Michael & All Angels, Bedford Park, which runs the Festival. The theme this year is Heroes & Villains – and in the week leading up to Green Days weekend, children could win a Disney goody bag by spotting pairs of heroes and villains in the Turnham Green Terrace Treasure Hunt.
Green Days weekend will have the usual stalls, fairground attractions, football, and live music, including a preview of Romeo & Juliet - the Rock Opera, by performers from the Arts Educational Schools in Chiswick. Savills, the Festival's principal sponsor, will be supporting the Craft Fair, while Eco – the ‘green hub’ in Chiswick High Road – is hosting an Elephant Day and encouraging people to adopt an orphan elephant at its stall on the Green. Marmalade, the jeweller in Turnham Green Terrace, is running a marmalade-making competition.
During the Festival fortnight that follows, Olympic gold medallist James Cracknell will discuss his latest adventures, including new TV series for the Discovery Network, Chiswick's global TV company. Jazz singer Kate Dimbleby will premiere her new cabaret show, I'm A Woman, about the generation of women juggling and struggling to "have it all."
Other highlights include:
- a live performance by The Unexpected Items, the comedy team behind the hit YouTube video "GapYah!", filmed in Chiswick;
- writer and film-maker Polly Devlin, selecting her favourite poems in the Poetry of Gardens;
- Candida Lycett Green, author of Unwrecked England, who'll celebrate her father John Betjeman's love of Bedford Park, the world's first garden suburb;
- Rohan McCullough performing in My Darling Clemmie, the one-woman drama about the wife of Sir Winston Churchill.
- a cookery demonstration and tasting with Ian Leckie, head chef at Sam's Brasserie.
Musical events include:
- violinist David Juritz, leader of the London Mozart Players, performing in St Michael & All Angels, the beautiful Arts & Crafts church, with the celebrated accordionist Milos Milivojevic and other top musicians;
- international pianist Peter Bithell giving a recital in an elegant Bedford Park House, with champagne and canapes;
- Retorica, the young violinists Harriet Mackenzie and Philippa Mo, performing in a beautiful Bedford Park studio.
The 2010 Festival also includes all the regular events - the Bedford Park Summer Exhibition of work by local artists, which runs throughout the first week; the Bedford Park Walk and Open Gardens; the photographic competition - as well as other concerts, talks, and meals.
Profits from this year's Festival will go to St Michael & All Angels Church - which organises the Festival - and its chosen charities for 2010: the Upper Room, the LAMB Health Project in Bangladesh, and USPG - Anglicans in World Mission. Last year's Festival raised £43,000 for good causes, helped by generous sponsorship and other support from more than 150 local businesses. Their names are listed on the Festival website.
June 3, 2010