Welwyn Festival

New Website Launch for June 2015

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 14:35:00 +0000

Dear readers,

Thank you so much for following this blog, which will remain 'live' for historic content, but from June 2015, the new Welwyn Festival website will have its own on-site news and blog information.

We hope that you will join us at www.welwynfestival.org.uk and follow our social media accounts - and that you will continue to participate and enjoy all that the Welwyn Festival Week has to offer. Do give us your feedback to help improve information flow to Welwyn residents and visitors.

The Welwyn Festival committee.

What Excitement is in store at this year's Welwyn Festival?

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Tue, 19 May 2015 18:25:00 +0000

There's a FREE Family Barn Dance for all ages and abilities to enjoy.

There are two concerts at St Mary's Church plus the Festival concert. Band Night for teens is back, too.

There are free sports at Singlers Marsh, the bowls club in Ottway walk and other events.

There are free exhibitions of photography and art, Film shows and Talks, and more! You can even visit the Big Cats at the sanctuary this year.

Of course, we'll host the popular annual events: the Street Market, Family Fun Day and the Street Parade "Hollywood comes to Welwyn" plus Open Gardens and Cuckoo in the Nest competition for school children.

The printed programme and our brand new website should provide everything you need to know when the time comes. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates:

www.twitter.com/welwynfestival
www.facebook.com/WelwynFestivalWeek

Not long now!!!

2015 Welwyn Festival Charities

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Thu, 14 May 2015 15:20:00 +0000

Proceeds from the 41st Welwyn Festival Week will be divided between various good causes, locally, including: Jubilee House for physically and mentally disabled people, Isabel Hospice for the terminally ill, McMillan Nurses Cancer Centre in Lister Hospital, Herts Air Ambulance, Riding for the Disabled, Guide HQ Rebuilding Fund, Guessens Road WGC and Medical Dogs Canine Partners for stroke/disabled sufferers.

It is our expectation that we will donate £5,000 to these wonderful local and county charities that benefit the people of Welwyn, all run by devoted selfless people. Your generosity has enabled us to donate in excess of £50,000 in the past 16 years.

In addition, the 10k run profits will be donated by Garden City Runners to the 4 local primary schools: St. Mary’s, Oaklands, St. John’s Digswell and St. Michael’s Woolmer Green.

Stalls at the 2015 Welwyn Festival Street Market & Family Fun Day

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Sat, 25 Apr 2015 16:36:00 +0000

Please note that there are no more available stalls available for the Street Market and only about ten spaces available at Family Fun Day on 27th June. Let us know as soon as possible if you might be interested. Also, the printed programme is being finalised in the next few days so advertisers should send in any outstanding artwork on Monday and ensure that payment has been made. Our new website is progressing and should be launching in the near future, although it is expected to continually evolve as new ideas are embraced. Things are really hotting up now - we hope the weather will too!

Welwyn Festival 2015: 10K Run & 2K Fun Run

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 17:37:00 +0000

When: Sunday 28th June, 11 a.m.
Where: Singlers Marsh, Codicote Road/Fulling Mill Lane, Welwyn.

More Info: 10k entry strictly in advance, £14/£16 (Fun Run £2 on the day) more details on www.welwyn10k.org.uk

2015: A ‘Scratch’ Concert at St Mary’s Church Welwyn

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 15:44:00 +0000

Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’

A ‘Scratch’ Concert at St Mary’s Church Welwyn

Sunday 14th June at 6.30 pm

We had decided to give this ‘scratch concert’ format a rest this year after three very successful years, but after lobbying by a number of people Derek Harrison has agreed to conduct and direct another concert in Welwyn.

This year our chorus of over 100 singers along with soloists, and organist Peter Jaekel, will perform ‘Elijah’ following just one afternoon of rehearsals.

Tickets for singers and audience alike are £10 and are available from 1st May at Hills Violin Shop in Welwyn High Street. The concert takes place as a prelude to this year’s Welwyn Festival Week and funds raised will be split between the Festival Charities and St Mary’s Church.

Something for Everyone at the 2015 Welwyn Festival

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 08:30:00 +0000

A few more snippets of what's to come...

Of course Open Gardens are back, with new ones to excite us, still time to get your garden in if you contact me soon.

The Bowls Club will be celebrating it's 40th anniversary with events in Welwyn Festival Week, and we are looking into staging a 5-side football tournament.

St Mary's Church have event plans under consideration, and Acorn Playgroup are restaging a Gilbert and Sullivan concert in the church, as they did a couple of years ago.

Roman Day will be back: Roman soldiers, trial digs for bones a other artefacts, Celts, face painting and much more to demonstrate what Welwyn might have looked like way back then.

Our new Festival website is "under construction" and we will be promoting our events on the site and via Facebook and Twitter to give you chance to find out what we are planning, well before our printed programme becomes availabel at the beginning of June. As usual, 4000 copies of the Programme will be available in shops and businesses around Welwyn village, Oaklands, Digswell and further afield, for you to highlight which of the 60-70 events you want to go to!!

We'll continue to bring you news of the events we are planning in later news posts...
Andy

Journeys into History and Space

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 10:00:00 +0000

Resident Welwyn Historian Tony Rook will be walking and talking, sometimes separately! Times and places will be in the Festival programme, as usual.

Also, three weeks before the Festival on May Bank Holiday weekend, he and the Museum Service will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Roman Baths opening, saved from destruction when Tony persuaded the builders to bury it in a vault under the central reservation of the A1M, virtually as the bull dozers came over the hill towards it!

There will be a talk about Welwyn's 1st World War men and woman who are named on the war memorial and were from the village in that historic and terrible time. The History Society has built an excellent website to show the experiences of living in Welwyn in that era.

Have you heard about the rocket to Pluto, that celestial body that used to be a planet? Yes, after hundreds of years, apparently it has been down-graded by the experts. Hear all about it from our local space scientist, who has a poem on that very rocket. The rocket passes Pluto around the time of Welwyn Week, then it and the poem will head out "to where no man or poem has gone before!"

Andy.

Everybody Smile! Photography features in the 2015 Welwyn Festival.

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Sun, 08 Mar 2015 10:00:00 +0000

There will be a weekend of international photographs on display in the Civic Centre with other supporting displays and international speakers, with photographs available to buy on the day.

We are planning a Village Photo, were you on the Millenium one, 15 years ago? Standing in the road, outside the church, Katie's and the charity shop!

This time we intend to make it safer, but more spectacular. We will be gathered in St Mary's church yard and the photographer will take his picture(s) from the top of the tower, with you all looking up at him!

We hope to get all 10,000 residents on the shot, which we will probably take during Street Market, so we can over flow into Codicote Road, if you do not all fit in the church yard. It could be spectacular!

The Millenium photo and the 2015 one will both be on sale to raise funds for our 8 charities to help towards our target to donate £5,000 this year, taking us to over £50,000 given out over the last 16 years, thanks to your generosity.

Andy.

The Street Market and Family Fun Day are saved!

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 18:21:00 +0000

The 41st consecutive annual Welwyn Festival will be held from 19th to 28th June 2015

Street Market and Family Fun Day

We are pleased to say that our two cornerstone events are saved!

Three new volunteers have come forward to run them, and we are very grateful to Wen Evans and Judy Tucker for co-ordinating the Street Market and Mark Caudle for taking on the Family Fun Day. What a relief!

Sports

In other news... Instead of a proposed sports event being held at Digswell Playing Fields, a multi sports event will run at Singlers Marsh on the last Sunday, 28th June, immediately after the 10km run and 2km kids' fun run. We are in active discussions with the Sports Partnership for Welwyn-Hatfield to stage a 10 sport event in a purpose built arena to be erected on the day. Four coaches will provide tuition in all kinds of sports, and money or equipment will be provided free of charge for participating clubs/groups. Could you benefit? Get in touch if you are interested, my details are below.

The 10k run and 2k kids' fun run, which were held for the first time last year with over 400 runners, will be starting and finishing at Singler's Marsh, with the main run going along the High Street/London Road, up to the Ayots, and back along the Kimpton Road, the kids will run around the four fields on the Marsh.

More news soon... Andy Trotter, Welwyn Festival Group Chair - 0758 094 2319

Is Pluto A Planet?

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:48:00 +0000

At the 2015 Welwyn Festival, Jerry Stone will return with another highly visual, entertaining and informative presentation, "Is Pluto A Planet?"

"One item that will be in the news this year is Pluto, as the New Horizons spacecraft - which has my name on it - reaches our distant cousin in the outer reaches of the Solar System - but will it encounter a planet?

Just 7 months after New Horizons was launched back in January 2006, the International Astronomical Union voted to re-classify Pluto as a Dwarf Planet, resulting in uproar in the astronomical community and starting a controversy that still divides opinion among astronomers and the general public alike.

“Is Pluto A Planet?” covers the thorny question of the status of Pluto. It looks in detail at the IAU definition of a planet and some of its unexpected - and unintended - consequences. To give an example, I can show that Jupiter - the biggest object in the Solar System after the Sun - is actually a dwarf planet! I can also show that it isn’t a planet at all … So how many planets to we really have? Is it 8, 21 or maybe only 3? This is my most controversial presentation, and includes some things that one astronomer has told me I shouldn’t be saying!"

Date and time to be announced.

It's in the Mayor's Diary!

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 14:45:00 +0000

The Mayor Elect, Councillor Lynne Sparks has accepted our invitation to attend the Peoples Photographic Society 2015 Exhibition, and will be there on the 21st June 2015 at Welwyn Civic Centre. We'll bring you more details nearer the event.

Welwyn Christmas Lights

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 16:36:00 +0000

Many of the good citizens of Welwyn were concerned that the village was lacking its usual Christmassy feeling of jollity due to the non-appearance of cheery Christmas lights and a tree. The Welwyn Festival supported this view and helped to resolve the issue.

On 25th November, WFG Chair, Andy Trotter responded to questions posted on the Welwyn Festival Facebook page. "It is now looking much more likely lights will go up, with an official announcement next week. The Festival's offer to help financially may not now be needed. We are offering help to get lights up in the oak tree in the church yard. More on that soon too."

This was followed up two days later with: "UPDATE from WFG Chair: Welwyn Christmas lights. The Parish Council look to have secured a donor for a Christmas tree, and someone to erect it and put the lights on it, so we should hear definitely next week.
The Christmas lights that line High Street and Church Street should be going up next week, and we have inspected them and have a solution to repair the 15% of lights which are out The display should be as good as last year, and Jarrards the electricians have agreed to put them up and take them down.
We may have to do the repairs to the 15% early next year when spare lights can be secured More information to follow shortly, Andy."

We are now pleased to announce the following:

"The lights started to go up this week, Jarrards of WGC the electrical contractors, agreed to do it free of charge

Bill Parker and I checked them out last weekend, and only 15% were off, so they should look OK

Bill has got an estimate to repair the ones that are off, at considerably less than the Council were quoted, but the replacement lights may take 2 weeks to arrive, so repair will have to be in the New Year

It will cost around £1100/£1250 plus a day's labour so with the contributions from the Welwyn businesses, if the money comes in, we may only have to pay around £750 [from the Welwyn Festival pot]

The Christmas tree has been donated by Netherdown Developments, the firemen may put it up, and Bill Parker has offered to put the lights on from his large industrial standard ladder

Terrence Miller and I are going to hold it while he puts the lights on the tree!!!

So with luck we will be having Christmas lights and a tree, and our contribution should fix the lights ready for next year

The Council are considering setting some money aside for next year to supplement the lights/start a fund to replace them at some time in the future.

Andy."

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year from the Welwyn Festival Group.

See you in June!

2015: International Exhibition of Photography

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 15:27:00 +0000

The Peoples Photographic Society and the World Image Magazine are internet orientated and based in Welwyn in the UK. Both are non-profit and rely on a limited level of magazine advertising to maintain their web site, and sponsors for the competitions and events. Since their formation in 2013, the Society has constantly improved. This has been reflected in the interest shown in its magazine, with over 8500 visitors in the last year, and its growing international membership.

The Society is staging an International Exhibition and sale of Photography at the Welwyn Civic Centre on the 20th and 21st of June as a part of the festival, and will bring to Welwyn some of the best Pictures the Society has to offer from Nepal, Africa, Australia, Europe and the Americas. It is early days in the planning for the event, but we will have refreshments available during the weekend, and there are many other dining and drinking establishments in the village. We always ensure that the most important aspect of the event is catered for first.

Most of the pictures on display are available for purchase and may be ordered during the weekend. . Other pictures will be available for purchase on the day (as will the Welwyn Books).

We are working on the other aspects of the event, but these will need to be confirmed. Plans include a portrait studio set up with models, (or even using volunteers from the visitors), and stands from other clubs and societies. A series of talks on the work of the Society, its members interests and other associated / supported organisations.

We will keep you informed. Meantime, if you want to be involved at individual, club or business level please let us know.

gordon@photosociety.net

1st Welwyn Scout Group re-opens reburbished HQ

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 11:17:00 +0000

For full information regarding 1st Welwyn Scout Group's recent progress and activities from September, visit their news blog: 1stWelwyn.blogspot.co.uk

Welwyn: The Friendship Club

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Tue, 08 Jul 2014 15:46:00 +0000

The Chairman of The Friendship Club in Welwyn is now in his 90s, Mr Cubitt has decided to step down to make way for a younger leader.

The Club has been in existence for over 50 years and this voluntary post is best suited to someone who is retired and in their 50s or 60s. The Friendship Club meets weekly at the Civic Centre - for a chat over a cuppa plus whist, dominoes, bingo or other activities enjoyed by its members. Additionally, there may be two or three organised trips each year - perhaps to the coast, a river cruise or a place of interest such as Stratford on Avon.

If you're approaching your 60s and live in the Welwyn Parish area .....

you were a baby (or a twinkle!) when The Friendship Club began;
you might be thinking about joining Welwyn's Friendship club for the over-60s;
you might be thinking that you're too young to join but you're the ideal person to run it.

If you'd like to know more, contact Welwyn 712933.

40th Welwyn Festival Week: Parade and Family Fun Day

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 14:29:00 +0000

If you can support the 10k run and 2k fun run from Ottway Walk on Saturday morning, that would be brilliant! They take place around 11 am which given you just anough time for a spot of lunch in one of the 'W' pubs before lining the High Street and Codicote Road in time to watch the Parade, starting at the Civic Centre around 1pm. This year's theme is Welwyn Through The Ages, featuring many Romans and more recent citizens. Follow the parade to Singler's Marsh where judging takes place and the Family Fun Day commences!

To entertain you this year, we have... a Roman encampment, coconut shy, china-smash, racing ferrets and boules, plus... a marching band, a bouncy slide, a clown, Punch + Judy, a carousel and pony rides. Plus... kids races, tug-o-war, beer tent, tea tent, hog roast and several food vendors and... many more stalls offering games, toys, jewellery, face-painting, bric-a-brac and more, including local organisations and charities. Don't forget the games area, arena events, our annual Scruffs dog show, Grand raffle and Duck race (tickets available throughout the day). Phew!!

Have you remembered to enter the Photography competition. It's not too late!

There's so much Great Stuff for us all! Other events this weekend include:
Saturday
'PUBSTOCK 2014' at the White Horse, Open Gardens, First World War illustrated talk, Roman Banquet & Toga Party at the White Hart, Festival Club Night at the Sports & Social Club and Youth Band Night at the Civic Centre;
Sunday
Art exhibition, Welwyn Tennis Club Open Day, Welwyn Roman Day, Artskool creative family fun day, Open Gardens and the Quiz evening at WSSC.

Enjoy!

Welwyn Roman Day MMXIV

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 16:33:00 +0000

Probably the largest Roman re-enactment event in the UK this year.

Sunday 29 June from 10.30pm until 4.30pm

Experience a day in the life of Welwyn nearly 2,000 years ago.

Take the opportunity to experience how people lived in the four hundred years in the Roman province of Britannia. Learn about military and local life, from the Iron Age to the fifth century, in Hertfordshire and the area around the important settlement at Welwyn.

A display by leading re-enactment groups representing military and local life, discover how the Roman Army changed in dress and equipment over time while the local population simply got on with living and working in much the same way as they had always done. Visit the Celtic encampment to learn archery, use a quern to grind flour for bread and other basic skills for living.

Engage with the re-enactors, watch displays of military drill and the use of weaponry from hand to hand fighting to the mighty Onager siege buster and everything in between.

Talk to a Gladiator or a Gladiatrix. See the range of weapons they use and how they defended themselves. Try them for yourself if you feel fit and able.

Join the Legion for your 25 year service to earn the right to Citizenship of Rome, learn the drill and some battle tactics. See daily activities from drop spindle thread making and weaving cloth through to cooking, learn about cosmetics and perfumes and a range of practical craft skills.

Watch, if you dare, the Roman Surgeon at work on wounded legionary.

Organised by Welwyn Roman Baths and Welwyn Hatfield Museum Service, the Welwyn Festival Roman day will take place at Sherrardswood School. Pedestrian access and “Blue Badge parking” will be at the Roman Baths entrance. The main entrance will be at Sherrardswood School with free parking in the grounds. Other parking will be in Welwyn Village with a free park-and-ride shuttle bus service from Fulling Mill Lane to the Baths entrance.

Tickets on the gate will be priced at £8 (children £4) or £20 for a Family ticket (up to 2 adults and 3 children aged 5-16 years old). Children under 5 and those in period costume will be admitted Free.

What's happening in Welwyn this week?

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 09:00:00 +0000

Reminders of what's on - please refer to the Free printed programme (available throughout Welwyn area) for details.

Monday 23rd June
Open Gardens at Briary Wood Lane; Open evening at Digswell Lake (free); Jerry Stone "Let's Go To Mars" 7.30pm; Tony Rook's Tour 7.30pm; Dr Aubrey's "The Last Supper" 8pm; Badger Watch, Tewin 9pm; White Hart offering 2-for-1 burgers.

Tuesday 24th June
Community Café, Church house, all morning; Open Gardens, Hangman's Lane, all afternoon; White Hart Tapas Tuesday; White Horse England vs Costa Rica KO 5pm; Talks 8pm: "A History of Funerals" & "100 Great Thinkers"; Welwyn Film Record Society 8pm showing films from the years 1975, 1984 & 1994.

Wednesday 25th June
Open Gardens at 2 locations; Tony Rook's Tour; Talk "Steamy Stories from the Footplate"; Films from 1999, 2005 & 2010; Badger Watch; £5 cocktails at the White Hart.

Thursday 26th June
Family Barn Dance 6pm Civic Centre (free); Open Gardens from 6pm School Lane; Bingo Night at WSSC; Country Dancing 8pm; Tony Rook's "The Heritage Trail" 8pm; Live Music at the White Horse & Pop Music Quiz at the White Hart.

Friday 27th June
Open Gardens Mill Lane; The Welwyn Festival Variety Concert, Civic Centre (£12).

Have fun and don't forget the all-week events: Photo competition & Cuckoo in the nest!

More to come at the weekend, including Band Night!

Planning Your Weekend at The Welwyn Festival

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 10:34:00 +0000

SATURDAY 21st JUNE ~ all morning: The Street Market and events at St. Marys' Church (including refreshments, tower tours, choirs and band). ART & Crafts in the village: Amy Pettigill at the Parish Centre; Anneli Boon; Jewellery Workshop at Gothic House. Other events include: Family Fun Day at The White Horse, Tree Walk around the village (2pm) and a Youth Theatre performance at the Civic Centre (2.30pm).

SUNDAY 22nd JUNE: outdoors events ~ 10am, Welwyn Wizards disability cricket training + free refreshments at the Playing Fields; 2pm, Sherrardspark Wood guided walk (£3 donation); from mid-day, Open Gardens, Mill Lane. Art exhibition from noon in Mill Lane (Ronald Maddox, Bryan Parkes, Anneli Boon, Dilys and Russell Manoy). Music 6.30pm at the Church "From Requiem to Gloria" (tickets £10).

THIS FRIDAY Events for 20th June 2014

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 11:00:00 +0000

4pm - 7pm Contemporary Art by Anneli Boon (Mimram Place)
7pm - 8.30pm A Stunt Woman's Life and Career (Civic Centre)

Youth Band Night in Welwyn

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Thu, 12 Jun 2014 10:30:00 +0000

Saturday 28th June, 8pm till 11pm at the Civic Centre

A LINE UP OF LOCAL YOUTH BANDS PLAYING FOR TEENS TO TWENTIES.

Tickets £8 on the door. Support local talent and have a great evening!

Scratch Concert 'From Requiem to Gloria' at St Mary's Church

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 10:15:00 +0000

There are currently over 100 singers signed up for the 2014 Scratch Concert and now it's time to generate an audience to hear them!

This shouldn't be difficult if last year's concert is anything to go by - it was totally sold out.

Mozart, Vivaldi and a few songs borrowed from the last night of the proms will be in this year's programme. Tickets cost £10 and are available from Hill's Violin Shop in the High Street. Proceeds will be shared between the St Mary's Fabric Fund and this year's Welwyn Festival Charities: Herts Air Ambulance, Isobel Hospice, the Friendship Club, Home Start, Oaklands and St John's Schools, Friends of the Mimram, Herts Action for the Disabled, SERV (bloodrunners), 1st Welwyn Scouts, Gombards home for the disabled, QVM/Danesbury Hospital, McMillan Cancer, Canine Partners for Stroke Victims, Medical Detection Dogs plus a donation towards repairs to St Mary's Church walls via Welwyn Parish Council.

Further information is available by contacting 01438 712510 / events@welwyn.org.uk.

Opening Events of the 40th Festival

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 09:00:00 +0000

Friday 20th June

Anneli Boon, contemporary artist, will hold an exhibition of her work at 16 Mimram Place, between 4pm and 7pm. You can go directly from there to the Civic Centre where Belinda McGinley will be in the small hall, giving an insight into her life as a stunt woman. Sounds exciting! After that, at 8.30pm, wander along to one of Welwyn's excellent public houses and plan the rest of your Welwyn Festival Week.

Saturday 21st June

At 8.45, bell-ringing will begin at St Mary's Church, heralding the start of the always popular Street Market, alongside the church, in Codicote Road, which will be closed to traffic for the morning. There will be several events held in the church during the day. Other things to do and see include Art exhibitions: Amy Pettigrew at the Parish Centre, 10-4 & Anneli Boon, Mimram Place, 11-5; Jewellery workshop at Gothic House, Mill Lane, 11.30-3; The White Horse Family Fun Day, Mill Lane, 12-6; 'Tree Walk' around the village, starting at the Civic Centre car park, 2-3.30; a short Youth Theatre performance in the Civic Centre small hall, 2.30-3.

Programmes, including map (as shown above) are available from various shops in Welwyn, Oaklands and Digswell.

Photo Competition and other Welwyn Festival Events

noreply@blogger.com (The BPc) — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 10:16:00 +0000

All Week Events...

Cuckoo in the Nest
Grand Raffle 'Big Prize Draw'
Open Gardens
Photo Competition

Other popular annual events include bring your dog to Scruffs at the Family Fun Day, Singlers Marsh, Saturday 28th June - only £1 per entry. And don't forget to buy your ticket for the Duck Race along the Mimram later that afternoon.

<<< Look for these posters. Full details of events are in the Free Programme, out now in various stores in the Welwyn area.

Click here for Roman Day info & discounts