The Meadow alive to the sound of music
The third in BletchFest’s series of Arts events, following a Comedy Night and Art Exhibition, took place on Grange Meadow, Bletchingley on Saturday 2nd July. All the events had their challenges but Music in the Meadow involving 4 solo artists and 3 bands, food outlets, a licensed bar, ticket booth, staging, lighting and sound crew with a small brigade of volunteer marshals was perhaps the more challenging. Fortunately the weather held up for us even if temperatures seemed to drop lower than expected as the sun set. By then the music was hot though and an enthusiastic audience were up on their feet dancing to the rhythms from the stage.
The mix of local musicians performing their own compositions and three great bands, an acoustic duo, Penny Drops, performing, in their own style, a mix of covers from bands such as Fleetwood Mac along with their own tunes, the exciting originality of Breathe Band’s indie-folk and compelling blues/reggae fusion of local guitar legend Tim Hain with his band Jamside Up, who had the audience on their feet continuing to dance into the night, all produced an evening of great music. Chris Lee, ukulele in hand, entertained and also emcee’d the event binding the performances together with great skill and personality. There was something for everyone. East Surrey really does have a great pool of very talented musicians.
We’re grateful to COGS Lions for providing a very professional hot food stall supplying burgers and hotdogs. They really do that very well indeed and we’re very pleased they were willing to take part. While the licensed bar in the Pavilion provided a variety of drink options a speciality coffee and donuts stall all complimented COG’s offer. We’re also grateful to the Chairman of Tandridge District Council, Jackie Wren and Caterham Town Crier Sonia Hunt for opening the event and showing such enthusiasm.
All three BletchFest events called for different levels of organisation and commitment but without the support and guidance of the community, marshalling volunteers, Parish Council, Village Hall association, New Music Nights group, the Yard at Reigate, Alfae Arts Hub and many others the ideas wouldn’t have developed as successfully as they did. But that’s the basis of BletchFest. It’s a community based festival of the arts for East Surrey. The desire is to make it an annual event that gets bigger and better each year embracing as many of the visual and performing arts as possible and including all parts of our community. To achieve this it’s important that the community comes forward to help realise this aim. We need those with an interest and expertise in any form of the arts, to join us in organising and putting events together to build East Surrey’s most exciting and diverse festival celebrating the many artistic talents of East Surrey. If you would like to get involved contact us via our website at bletchfest.org.
Building this festival, with the village of Bletchingley as its hub, has significant benefits, both socially and economically, for its host community. Promoting and encouraging participation in the arts is great for mental health and wellbeing. The success of BletchFest’s inaugural events, Comedy Night, Art Exhibition and Music Festival has shown that this is a project of substance. As a community we can now continue to build on this.
Pictures 8, 15 to 17, 22 to 27 & 34 by Alan McKay Instagram @allan_mainlygigpics