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Blisworth Festival 2011 Following the same lines as the successful 2010 Festival, the organisers managed to attract and accommodate many more stalls and activities for villagers and visitors. The weather was not so kind at first and attendance until mid-afternoon on Saturday seemed rather down on last year because of this. Sunday was good though not entirely without some rain. Most stall-holders thought the attendance made things worthwhile. To the fore in organisation was again the splendid efforts of Jan and Alan Andrews (ie. the Canal Partnership) with much appreciated help from Bob and Marilyn Daniel (for the use of their driveway and garden), the cooperation of the Baptist Chapel and the Church and the kindness of Duncan Wakelin in providing a field for overspill parking. There is a long list at the foot of this article of others who helped considerably. A significant improvement on 2010 was the presence of participation events for youngsters. In the Eastfield play area there was a model boat pool and a combat zone for "troups" with laser-guns. On the Royal Oak car park was inserted a "Scary House" and a small rides wheel - a miniature fairground no less! As before, the run up to the Festival was covered by the dedicated website, http://www.blisworthfestival.co.uk/. The event spanned a Friday evening and a whole weekend, August 5th to 7th. On Friday there was 1960s music played in the Chapel Lecture Room and this gave an opportunity for dance steps that some of the older villagers had not practiced in decades - the evening was a great success. The village again coped well with the traffic thanks to extra car parking opened up on the Gayton Road to accommodate visitors. There were boat outings to the tunnel mouth and to Blisworth Arm and there was an evening boat trip organised to Rothersthorpe Top Lock.
There were almost countless stalls scattered through the village, on the towpath, at the Wharf, at the Royal Oak "green", in the Village Hall, the Chapel Lecture Room and even in the barn at the Royal Oak. The garden and drive area of Blisworth House also contained stalls, including a splendid coffee stall, and even one or two "visibility triangles" of grass were occupied - one by a fine motor cruiser from Milton Keynes Marina but it was not offered in a Dutch action as hoped for by some. The Blisworth blacksmith, (hitherto from JBJ park but moving to Stoke Bruerne) was set up to make small ornaments using a gas powered furnace and his anvil. If there is one complaint that might be made it is that, for such an extensive show that was so spread out, better and more detailed signing was needed - yes, the signing was better than 2010 but there was, this time, a greater likelihood that little groups would get overlooked (eg. Eastfield, Blisworth House garden and the boats to the south of Mill Bridge).
The church was a pleasant cool and quiet sanctuary for a cup of tea and cake. Those interested in family trees could consult an expert while those wondering what bell-ringing might be like could have a go on a scaled down cluster of bells in the Churchyard. Helpers who must be mentioned are: Ben & Nicky Scarcliffe, Alex Maddisons (a newcomer to the village who worked really hard over the weekend and masterminded the pub grounds), David Clarke (a boater who e-mailed me to see if he could moor and help and found himself given an endless supply of jobs, all of which he did with a smile on his face), Ian and Alison Clipstone (again boaters who managed the Canal Partnership stand). There was a small band of happy people who must be thanked for helping all weekend at the wharf - not to forget those keeping up with events at the church and the chapel and the Village Hall with their display of Art. In so doing, all these contributed so much to the festival. The entertainers Woadworks, the Morris group, were absolutely brilliant, led by Mike O'Connor. Finally the owners of the ten "Open Gardens" are owed thanks. This long list of helpers and participants was furnished by Jan who feels she might have forgotten somebody and hopes for forgiveness if she has. Below, for the record, there are extracts from the excellent programme distributed for the benefit of villagers and visitors. |
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Two talks were given in the Chapel on
Saturday. One was similar to last year's talk by Dr Bull, covering
the early start made by the National Health Service and the story of
Sister Mary at Stoke Bruerne. Andy Newbery, shown in the inset,
gave a spirited talk on the railways of Blisworth. He gave an
account of the horse drawn railway over Blisworth Hill that was required,
temporarily, to join the two halves of the Grand Junction Canal together in the early
1800s. At that time Blisworth was a major inland port with a busy
wharf where the large mill building now stands. He then described
the coming of the railway; the building of the embankment and the sturdy
archway over the Northampton road, the cutting of the way through rocks
near Roade and the development of first one then a second station in
Blisworth which was placed to serve Northampton. After the main
railway that linked London and Birmingham there were further lines that
connected Blisworth to Towcester and Banbury and to Northampton.
The use of lighter railways to move quarried ironstone and limestone to
various dispatch
points was also a major feature of Blisworth from 1860 to 1914 with
horses and from 1945 to 1968 with steam engines. Finally, Andy played a recording of George
Freeston's covering the Beeching cut that closed Blisworth Station in
January 1960 after
over 100 years of service. Andy explained his
devotion to the railways springing from about three years of his boyhood when
he could train-spot right down by the railway - something now guarded
against by high steel fencing. 
