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Festival Review 2003 by Nigel Wynne In summary, the 2003 festival was a great success! A big thanks to everyone who came along and all the people who took part. Through everyone’s efforts we are proud to announce that the festival has raised £1018.72 for our nominated local charity, Music Alive. Boozer at the Vale of the White Horse Club The VWH club opened the festival with a great night of rocking music! The club was packed with an enthusiastic audience to hear the Swindon based group “Boozer” play an exciting set of rock music from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. The Club really entered into the spirit of the festival with a series of fund raising activities that resulted in a generous donation for our nominated charity Music Alive. A big thank you to the committee at the Club and to everyone who came along and kindly supported the event. Let’s do it again next year! Ding us a Dong with Music Alive at the Bell in Purton Stoke As you are all hopefully aware, the aim of the festival was to raise money for Music Alive. It seemed only right that they should be hosting one of the opening events. It started in the afternoon with a lighthearted session of music and song especially aimed at families. It was nice to see so many people there enjoying themselves in the sunshine. The evening was a great mix of Appalachian Clog dancing (where else can you get to see that?!) and some free for all folk music that went on until closing time. The pub was packed and as far as we can tell, everyone had a great time. Prior Park School concert A packed United Church saw another brilliant performance by the pupils of Prior Park Preparatory School. The children performed a fascinating programme of songs with either religious, folk or spiritual themes as well as numbers from popular musicals. Of note were the fine solo performances by vocalists and musicians, accompanied on the piano by Prior Park's music teacher Mr. Chant. One memorable song was the enlightening 'muck spreading song', which was performed complete with hand movements and great deal of panache by one pupil and made the audience laugh! Overall the evening was very enjoyable and it was evident that the pupils had worked hard to put together such a fun event. The audience really appreciated their efforts and went away smiling. Congratulations to everyone involved. Belly Dancing with Hazel Kayes The Belly Dancing display was one of the most interesting events of the 2003 festival. The instructor, Hazel Kayes, provided a unique insight into the lives of the Bedouin people and managed to convey some of their cultural diversity. Sixteen lucky people came along to watch Hazel as she provided a very interesting background to the Egyptian dance that she specialises in. We all learned about the costumes, culture and the dance of these people and then watched a fascinating display of the dance itself. The Tudor Singers This year's event was well attended by people from the local community and also visitors to the area. The choir were pleased to be back in Cricklade and performed a varied and interesting programme of religious, classical, folk or spiritual madrigals. In fact the programme had a very international theme with songs performed in Italian, Welsh and Portuguese as well as English. The quality of the singing was excellent and enhanced by the lovely surroundings of the church, and of course the great acoustics such a building provides. Not on the programme, but nonetheless entertaining was the appearance of Blackie, the St Sampson's Church cat, which came in during the performance and then caught a mouse! She had also attended rehearsals earlier in the day and meowed along whilst the choir sang. Musical pets ... could this be a future festival event in the making?! Our thanks to the Tudor Singers for putting on such a fine performance once again. We hope they will come back in the future. Classic Motorcycle Rally This was the first year that we had hosted the Classic Motorcycle Rally – and what a success it was! We were thrilled with the turnout not only from the bikers, but also from the visitors who came along to see what was going on. During the day, we had almost 200 bikes of all types stop off at the Town Hall. It was nice to see such a variety of motorcycles (and riders!) that all helped the day be such a success. The weather was perfect, the food was perfectly cooked, and the music provided by the local band “Depart” just fitted the bill. All in all we managed raise several hundred pounds towards our nominated charity, Music Alive. Many thanks to all those who contributed.We certainly plan to repeat the event next year and will be planning the dates soon. Watch this space! Many thanks to Hammonds Motorcycles of Cirencester for their support for this event. The Kite Festival Did anyone manage to count the kites? We reckon we had over 300 kites displayed in the Town Hall. It was such fun watching people trying to find their handiwork. The kites were all made by the pupils of St Sampsons Infants and Junior schools, Meadowpark Preparatory school and the Thames and Cricklade pre-school playgroups. Well done to ALL those who entered – we were all so impressed. We managed to select a few winners and runners up. They are: Winners: Runners Up: It was a shame that there was no wind to see how many of the kites could fly, but at least it wasn’t raining. The White Horse Kite Flyers also put on a fantastic Teddy Bear Drop on Waylands. We never thought we’d see Pooh Bear plummeting 50 feet – but it actually happened! Many thanks to Neil Harvey of the White Horse Kite Flyers for putting in so much effort into the staging of this event – it would not have happened without his support. Clown by St Sampson’s Infant School Theatre Group The Theatre Group at St Sampson’s Infant School put on a wonderful show for us all. There was some fantastic singing, dancing and acting by all the cast. Everyone looked great in their circus costumes (just look at the picture!) – well done to everybody involved. We all hope that we can look forward to another superb show next year! Girls Uncovered Unfortunately, Girls Uncovered had to cancel their show at the last minute. This was a great shame as they have such a great reputation. However, the show must go on….. Instead we were treated to a fine performance from two great local performers who really got everyone going with a selection of really rocking tracks that everyone knew. The Cricklade Cycle Race A maximum permitted field of sixty cyclists took part in the 55km Cricklade Festival Road Race promoted by Swindon RC on Saturday morning. The Town Crier formally announced the start of the race in the High Street and the riders set off for eleven laps of a 5km circuit in perfect weather. With the climb of Common Hill to contend with each lap the racing, like the weather, was soon hotting up. The first rider to break clear was Swindon RC`s Dean Barrett who led for most of the fifth lap until he was caught on the run in to Cricklade. Each lap took its toll with a few riders dropping off the pace over the hill when a lone attack by a Chippenham Wheelers rider started to look promising. The Swindon club’s Australian rider, Rob Merrison, reacted swiftly to bridge the gap and the two riders combined their efforts to open up a sizeable gap over the main bunch. As they ascended Common Hill it was clear Merrison was the stronger of the two as the Chippenham rider was unable to maintain the pace with Merrison extending his gap on the descent through Chelworth. Realising the danger a serious chase was now on in the pack and a very fast lap had Merrison back in sight and eventually reeled back in. The most attacking part of the course were the undulations through Chelworth which saw a number of solo attacks in the latter stages of the race, none of which had any real impact and with one lap to go it all looked likely for a sprint finish. As the riders swung left into Cricklade for the last time the dash for the finish line just before the Leisure Centre roundabout was full on with Bristol based rider Giles Hembrough, from the www.bikeshop.uk team, taking the win with just enough left to acknowledge victory. In second was Stuart Hopkins of Maestro/Fircroft and in a very close third was Julian Frankland of Cheltenham and County CC. Best placed Swindon RC riders were Rob Merrison and Dean Barrett who placed fourth and fifth making up for their earlier unsuccessful efforts. With such a closely contested finish next years race may be longer in distance with the finish at the top of Common Hill which should make life easier for the judges. Prizes were announced at the Cricklade Leisure Centre, again assisted by the Town Crier, with proceeds of the event going towards local charity Music Alive Abbalike It was hot, but what a night! We sold out, and it seemed as though everyone was on the dance floor at the same time. The evening was started by Charisma, who played a great set and got the crowd warmed up for the main act. And then it was Abbalike! They played all the songs we expected them to, and they looked great too. A few “willing” volunteers were dragged up onto the stage to joint the band – and whilst they may well have enjoyed the experience, I am not sure that their singing talents actually enhanced the evening!
Cycle Treasure Hunt Blessed with a gloriously sunny day, cyclists from around Cricklade and the surrounding villages turned up on their two-wheeled steeds to take part in this year's Old Bear Inn cycle treasure hunt. We had a brilliant number of participants which resulted in 15 teams leaving The Old Bear at 11am on the Sunday morning on a circuit that included the Foresters Arms in Leigh, The White Hart in Ashton Keynes and The Crown in Cerney Wick. And welcome stops they were on such a hot day! Teams were made up of friends, families and drinking buddies, and even included a couple on a tandem that never made it back to Cricklade but were last seen getting direction to Swindon! Rumour had it they were kidnapped in Ashton Keynes - perhaps the exotic bike attracted too much attention! There were lots of clues along the way, some of which caused a bit of controversy and doubtless people are still arguing over it, but all ended well with some exceptionally good scores. The outright winner though was Wrennie's Team - Mick Ryman, Tony Wren, Ken Charlesworth and Richard Gee - so congratulations gents and we hope you enjoyed your prize of drinks tokens for The Old Bear! At the end of a hard day's cycling everyone came back to the pub for a great hog roast and yet more beer, and very well deserved it was after a circuit of just over 10 miles! We hear there were a few sore bottoms the next day, not to mention sunburned shoulders (or was it sore shoulders and sunburned bottoms??....) Very many thanks to everyone who took part or helped with the hog roast afterwards, and to Steve & Lindsay Robbins and John Palmer for organising the event and the circuit/clues. Here's to next year - any volunteers to help with the organising please contact the festival committee... Harp Recital I think we can safely see that those of you who did not come to this event genuinely missed one of the finest classical performances of the year. The publicised performer, Helen Cole, was joined at the last minute by the flautist Robert Manasse. Between them they played a fascinating combination of classical and avant garde pieces. The combination of harp, flute and the wonderful surroundings of St Marys church made for a sublime evening that, judging from the feedback we have received, was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Caldicot Male Voice Choir This was the choir’s second visit to Cricklade as part of the Town Festival. They are one of the UK’s finest male voice choirs and put on a wonderful performance along with our very own Cricklade Band. Many of the audience were also treated to a further impromptu show at the Red Lion Inn where the choir was “gathering strength” prior to their long journey home. We are really very fortunate to have a choir of this caliber willing to travel all the way from South Wales and hope we can secure them again for future year’s festivals. Images (Click For Full Size)
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