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Blisworth Canal Festival 2013 August 10th and 11th It is a pleasure to report that "Festival 2013" was a success. The weather was kind and we suspect that the attendance was rather more than last year - this judged mainly by how far up the free parking field the cars extended. The main organisers were again Jan and Alan Andrews who had steadily worked on the details throughout the preceding year. Of course there was help from members of the Canal partnership committee but despite some calls for help from other villagers there was not a great deal of response - so the success of the weekend is all the more commendable. The scope of the festival was modelled on the successes of previous years with some significant addition of features put on in the "Festival Field" - that was the field with access just over Candle bridge. From a reporter's point of view there was much in common with the previous year. For those wishing to have a relaxing time there was, as always, the Royal Oak pub and there were walks put on by the Blisworth Heritage Society and the Rambler's Association. On the Sunday there were nine gardens included in the "Open Gardens" event in which one could browse and talk 'plants'. There were pony rides for the youngsters at the lawn behind Blisworth House and there was the usual array of different boats trips on offer on the canal. For those with adapted coordination there was the mobile bell tower once again in front of Blisworth Parish Church in the High Street and this year there were occasional tunes emanating from it! There was no lecture in the Baptists chapel this year but Peter Bowtell, a water-colourist, showed his excellent work in the Lecture hall. He had moved to the Milton Keynes area in 1969 and since then he has made numerous studies of North Bucks and the surrounding counties in water-colour, pastel, acrylic colour and pen and ink. His work has been exhibited in many public and private galleries in the Midlands including Olney. In fact there were many art and/or craft displays throughout the main areas for stalls, ie. in the pub field, on the towpath, at Blisworth House gardens, in numerous little nooks and even along the High Street. One notable display was that of the Blisworth Tapestry Group who have launched this year a charity endeavour called "Stitchery-Do" which aims in two or three years to raise funds for a Blisworth "old folks & shopping" bus (pictures are in the montage panel below).
Musical entertainment in the evening down by the Wharf, where there was a full bar, was provided by "Coalition" with "David" on Saturday and by "Rapscallion" on Sunday as was the case for the 2012 Festival. At the Wharf, the Royal Oak, the Village Hall, the Chapel and the Church there was food laid on - also there were at least three mobile fast-food sales stalls including the ice-cream van that never seemed to move from Candle Bridge - much the same as for 2012. Out of the thousands who came over
the weekend only a minority would have discovered The Montage Panel below is headed up with the new sign that the Blisworth Tunnel Narrowboat Company is displaying. It was painted by Alan Baillie, the same guy who has arranged with the Parish Council to create the new village sign at Elm Tree Corner.
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The "Festival Field" was prepared early on
in June when a good crop of hay was taken off. The turf was then given a
mowing. As one can see from the montage of photographs below, there were a considerable number of new items included
carousels and a bouncy castle. Army folk organised by the Tommy Atkins
Society were
there to put on a WWII re-enactment. On Saturday they could make no bangs
on account of a dog show being held nearby but on Sunday there were mortars etc. (fake ones
, of course - see below).
