Bradley Stoke Community Festival 2022
The Community Festival is a well-established annual event popular with the local residents and community.
Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was not possible to hold the event in either 2020 or 2021, so to have been able to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee alongside the return of our much-loved event was a wonderful opportunity for the community to gather to celebrate.
In 2022, the Festival took place on the Platinum Jubilee weekend to enable the festival to fully encompass the celebrations of this historic event. We encompassed the Platinum Jubilee theme across the entire four days. Our publicity/posters/flyers and banners reflected the Platinum Jubilee theme and logo. Our Beacon Lighting and Community Festival events were registered officially on the Platinum Jubilee celebrations government website.
Whilst, the main event day for the festival was Saturday 4th June 2022, there were various activities taking place throughout the town across the four days of celebrations.
Thursday 2nd June 2022 daytime - Van Buren's magic/theatre show
This was a free-to-enter family event on the Jubilee Green with shows throughout the day – all shows were fully booked prior to the day
Thursday 2nd June 2022 evening – Platinum Beacon lighting event
A local bugler and singer were found and were welcome additions to the event with commemorative song sheets being were handed out to those attending. We were amazed at the numbers attending this historical milestone event and many people lingered after the Beacon was lit, taking photos and selfies in front of the beacon. We anticipated around 50 people attending, but there were between 550-600 people present. Unfortunately, this did lead to some sound problems on the night and, in hindsight, in future, we will ensure that we provide a small sound system for such events.
Friday 3rd June 2022 – Picnic in the Park
The Picnic in the Park was a free to attend event on the Jubilee Green for families with the Van Buren magic/theatre show being a focal point - once again, all sessions were fully booked prior to the day. The free to use bouncy castle and face-painting proved very popular with optional donations to the Mayor's Charities (Great Western Air Ambulance Charity and St Peter's Hospice). Refreshments and music were provided by a local community group (Heartful Dodgers) and they were well supported, selling out of cakes and biscuits. This was the largest attendance by families at the Jubilee Green since the event has been staged.
Saturday 4th June 2022 – Main Festival day at the Jubilee Centre.
The weather was drizzly first thing in the morning, but an early decision being made to go with the “dry” programme proved correct, with the sun coming out in the afternoon, although the wind was a little gusty at times, but within safety limits for the inflatables.
The Town Council Mayor, Councillor Tony Griffiths welcomed everyone and officially opened the Festival. The music started with the Bradley Stoke Community School Choir who were in fine voice along with Our Way (the husband-and-wife duo, who also ran one of the coffee stalls). Other local bands included Limited Edition, Beacon Rise, Mosaic and Longshots. Unfortunately, the group, Uncle Buck, had to pull out 10 days before the festival and couldn't be replaced. The dance groups taking part were Arabella Belly Dancers, Baby Ballet, Burlesque Chair Dance Group, South Gloucestershire Chinese Association, Danceworks and Ghana Community Dance Bristol.
The Town Council provide an Arts and Craft marquee for the local craft and sewing groups. This marquee hosted the Sew and So's group, a tarot card reader and cake stall, plus other arts and crafts. Bradley Stoke Radio played an active role in hosting the events on the Jubilee Green side. Van Buren provided two more free-to-attend shows which were very well attended.
On the Jubilee Green side of the Festival was the Community Zone where there were 3 large inflatable rides (Rodeo Bull, a Wrecking Ball inflatable and a Surf machine) which were free-to-use for local residents and children. Parents had the opportunity to donate to the Bradley Stoke Mayor's chosen charities when using the Community Zone rides, but there was no obligation to do so.
On the top football pitch at the Jubilee Centre, Bradley Stoke Youth Football Club ran three youth football festivals involving many young people across a range of ages. They held a Year 1 children festival with six teams, followed by the U10 Girls festival with three teams and then finally the Reception childrens festival with three teams. All children participating received trophies and goody bags, commemorating the Platinum Jubilee. In total, 117 children took part in the three football festivals.
The Town Council provided a large Climbing Wall operated by qualified staff with volunteer support from the local 1st Bradley Stoke Scout group which encouraged children to climb the wall in full safety harnessing and ropes as well as offering the opportunity for locals to find out about the world of scouting. The climbing wall was decked out with Jubilee bunting and a Union Jack flag on the top to encourage participants to reach the top. The climbing wall was also free-to-use. The scout group also offered the safe opportunity to have a go at axe throwing and other activities.
Bradley Stoke Town Council's Youth Work team once again provided the very popular combination of fee 'have a go' graffiti workshops (with professional artists) and a large portable skatepark half-pipe; provided by King Ramps. There were regular pro rider demos interspersed with 'have a go' sessions and music and a display of Town Council Youth Work project information. As always, the supervised graffiti workshops proved very popular with many families queueing for the opportunity to spray paint their names on a take-home graffiti board. Those involved in this were provided with all-encompassing PPE to protect themselves and their clothes. The Mayor's Charities collection buckets in the youth work area generated almost half of the collection bucket total.
There were 40 stalls in total throughout the Jubilee Green and Football pitch sites, which is lower than previous festivals, but expected with the number of events going on in the Bristol area involving the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations and being a Bank Holiday weekend. Many stall holders had decorated their stalls with a Platinum Jubilee theme.
Sunday 5th June 2022 – 10K Run + Skatepark Competition + Bowls Club Roll-up Demonstration
The ever-popular Sole Sisters 10K run started and finished at the Jubilee Centre. Infrastructure for the run was provided by the Town Council (toilets and fencing). 650 competitors had signed up for the run and enjoyed ideal conditions with a very quick time of just over 33 minutes being achieved by the winner.
A skatepark competition, organised by the town council youth work team and young volunteers took place at the Bradley Stoke skatepark during the afternoon. The skate-park ramp set-up was relocated to the skatepark for the afternoon to enhance the competition and demonstrations were provided by pro-riders and gave an extra area for young people to have-a-go. The Bradley Stoke Skatepark competition was a race against the expected rain, but the event went well with all competitions completed and 30 competitors across all the categories taking part. A good crowd stayed throughout the afternoon and enjoyed the demonstrations by the pro-riders.
In addition to these two events, Bradley Stoke Bowls Club roll-up sessions took place in the afternoon at Baileys Court Activity Centre which gave the opportunity for residents and potential new members to have-a-go at Bowls.
Overall
The extended four-day Community Festival was truly an event to celebrate all that is good about our town and was doubly so this year, combining it with the Platinum Jubilee celebrations and the Beacon Lighting event. The weather remained fine throughout the four days and much positive feedback was received both in person and through local social media.
A provisional total raised for the Mayor's Charities over the Friday and Saturday is £4,119.74 (£3,555 from stall fees, rides and food outlets plus £564.74 in the bucket donations linked to the free-to-use activities). We are still awaiting the donation from the football club bar stalls.
