All set for another great year of Hitchin’s Walsworth Festival
The Companies of the Silver Arrow at the Walsworth Festival. Picture: Alan Millard - Credit: Archant
Hitchin’s Walsworth Festival is back this month for its 44th year of family fun and fundraising for good causes.
The annual celebration on Walsworth Common, billed as the biggest free family festival in North Herts is has helped raised many thousands of pounds for charity since its inception in 1974.
It is organised each May by volunteers with the aid of many local groups, and blends good old-fashioned fun with modern attractions.
This year’s festival will be on Sunday, May 20, from 11am to 4pm – with St Faith’s Church at the corner of Woolgrove Road also opening its doors from 1pm.
The arena events this year include the Companie of the Silver Arrow, the Herts-based living history group dedicated to recreating 15th-century life.
There will also be Ladder 87 with their beloved fire engine Dennis, the Stotfold Twirlers, the Hitchin School of Russian Ballet, Vickie Lesnick’s School of Ballet and the Letchworth Morris Men.
Other attractions will include fairground rides, Punch and Judy, the Hitchin Youth Brass Band, the Scout Train, Wrayfield Dog Agility and Hitchin Belles footballers.
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A festival spokesman said: “The whole event is organised by a small band of volunteers who believe that this very worthy and popular event, well established on the Walsworth calendar, must continue.
“The support of the public is very important, so put May 20 in your diary and have a enjoyable day out supporting this unique local charity event.”
As well as all the entertainment there will be charity stalls with items like books, bric-a-brac, cakes, raffles, tombolas and sweets – as well as all types of refreshments, including a bar.
At St Faith’s, there will be refreshments from 1pm, as well as displays and concerts finishing with Songs of Praise at 4pm.
It had been feared 2017’s festival might be the last after a lack of volunteers made the need for new people urgent.
But after the Comet got behind a recruitment drive initiated by festival chairman Oonagh Sherlock in December, a troop of new volunteers rallied to give their time.
This year’s festival will be the first to benefit from the new £121,000 bridge linking Walsworth Common to Woolgrove Road, which will allow much more heavy equipment to be brought over.
If you’d like to find out more about the festival and how you can volunteer, call 07401 810921 or email wfchair@gmx.co.uk.
