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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