Fifty Years Of The Bedford Park Festival

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Relive memories of Chiswick and come to W4's biggest ever street party

Fancy Dress line up in 1980 - were you there?

Bedford Park Festival celebrates 50 years of Green Days fun this year. And to mark the occasion, hundreds of photographs documenting five decades of fun are to be published in the next few weeks, to celebrate 50 years of Chiswick’s biggest community event.

Festival-goers will be invited to share their pictures and memories of the annual Green Days weekend, which opens the Festival in June each year. If you recognise people in the photos do let us know by emailing editor@ChiswickW4.com

The organisers say that next month’s 50th Green Days fete will be a joyful trip down memory lane, as well as a chance to enjoy the Queen’s 90th birthday weekend at Chiswick’s biggest street party. It takes place on June 11th and 12th on Acton Green, opposite Turnham Green tube station.

Sir George Young, who opened the Festival for many years as MP for Ealing Acton, is coming back for the official opening and invitations are going out to many other local celebrities who have opened the Festival over the years.

Fr Kevin Morris, vicar of St Michael & All Angels Bedford Park, which organises the Festival, said: “My predecessor Fr Jack Jenner launched the Bedford Park Festival 50 years ago, to foster a spirit of community, celebrate the arts and raise money to repair the church. In those days, Bedford Park was a very run-down area and the Festival has brought it back to life, as well as raising thousands of pounds for charities.”

The Green Days fete attracts thousands of people each year with its mix of live music, children’s events, stalls, sideshows, refreshments, craft fair, cycle zone and funfair. There are competitions for all ages, including children’s fancy dress and five-a-side football, marmalade-making, the Green Days Bake-Off and, in this 50th year, a tallest sunflower contest, reviving an event that last took place in the 1990s.

Green Days is supported by dozens of local businesses and volunteers, who help run stalls and donate cakes, jams, marmalade, plants, bric-a-brac, books, toys and tombola prizes to raise money for charities and the church.

This photo from 2003 shows BBC's John Humphries in front row, who opened the Festival

The organisers are always seeking more helpers for the beer tent, barbecue and other stalls. This year they are also looking for people to run next year’s skittles, cycle zone and bandstand lineup (and shadow those this year).

Around 40 restaurants each year donate a free meal for two to the Win A Meal competition. And this year, for the first time, Leiths School of Food & Wine will be demonstrating its chefs’ skills on Sunday in ‘Leiths Live: The Chefs’ Challenge’.

Sophie Ellis Bextor with Fr Kevin when she opened the Festival

More than 150 photographs, from the first Festival in 1967 to the present day, can be seen on a new “Green Days Moments” website, hosted by KatchUp, a Chiswick-based photo-sharing company. You can see them and add your own .

Green Days weekend opens a fortnight of community and arts events in aid of charities and St Michael & All Angels. This year’s 25 Festival events will include films, opera, dance, drama, concerts, poetry, exhibitions, talks, food, church services and open gardens. The programme will be published shortly at www.bedfordparkfestival.org.

Father Jack Jenner in 1969 with the Bonny Baby winner- picture Acton Gazette

The Bedford Park Festival has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charities and the church over the years. The 2016 Festival will raise money for: Msaada, which helps restore dignity to the forgotten victims of the Rwandan genocide; The Upper Room, who feed and support the community in need in West London; The Mulberry Centre in Isleworth, which provides advice and support to all those affected by cancer; and St Michael and All Angels.

These pictures are from the 2015 Festival

Pics of fancy dress by Snappy Snaps

Pic Ian Wylie

Having fun at the fete - Picture: Ian Wylie

St Michael & All Angels

May 6, 2016