Bamford Celebrations

Bamford Celebrations 2021 – It’s a wrap!

What a great week we had! Despite the pandemic and extended coronavirus restrictions scaling down the programme, Bamford’s Community Spirit shone through with a range of ‘Covid-safe’ activities from 10th – 18th July.

• This year’s scarecrows didn’t disappoint with fantastic ‘Super Hero’ interpretations throughout the village from Main Road all the way to Yorkshire Bridge, including NHS workers, scientists, volunteer mountain rescue, incredible Spider Man scenes, banana man, batman, The Queen and some amazing Super Hero buzzing bees! Thank you to both the May’s and Platt’s Farms for the generous donations of hay/straw.

• Bamford’s budding artists had their own gallery of ‘Super Heroes’ displayed in Bamford Dental Practice. Again, great interpretations of the themes including firefighters, families and, of course, dentists!

• The History Society’s exhibition was, as always, very informative and interesting. If anyone would still like to engage with some ‘living history’ the History Society would welcome your participation in a record-making exercise to capture Bamford’s residents’ views on 2020/Covid. Please email any contributions to: bamford.history@gmail.com

• St John’s walking treasure hunt was a huge hit, with questions at all levels to decipher so all the family and friends could get involved. Many groups could be seen on Sunday afternoon exploring Bamford for answers to well written cryptic clues!

• Despite the rain on Monday evening there was a good and enthusiastic turn out for the tennis session, with regular and new players enjoying a friendly knock-up and/or introduction to Cardio Tennis (fitness through tennis). Players were welcomed by the club’s committee members and delicious refreshments from ‘Bean on the Edge’ added to the social scene, as well as raising funds for Bamford Pre-school.

• Tuesday saw a full house for the Anglers’ Rest Quiz in memory of Richard Vale. It was a closely fought competition of general knowledge which also raised £100 for carnival funds.

• Wednesday there was a full day of activities at the Recreation Ground – in the morning a ‘Teddy Bears Picnic’ was enjoyed by Bamford’s Baby and Toddler Group; in the afternoon, a fantastic range of nature themed activities for primary school-aged children was organised by the Methodist Church (who knew spiders have blue blood and a garden snail 14,000 teeth!) and in the evening the return of Bamford’s iconic fell race with 300 signed up for the event (the maximum number of runners allowed). The event ran very smoothly, enjoyed by all runners, with Edale Mountain Rescue having a very quiet evening. The organising team had to work especially hard this year to ensure extra coronavirus requirements were in place for everyone’s safety. The event raised significant funds for Bamford Primary School, Bamford Pre-school, Edale Mountain Rescue and future Bamford Carnivals. Photos of the event can be found at: www.bamfordvillage.co.uk/fell-race

• On Thursday, an outdoor musical gig by ‘Without a Paddle’ was enjoyed at the Yorkshire Bridge – especially as live music has been much missed over the past 18 months.

• Bamford’s Fun Dog Show returned on Saturday with 20 entries across 8 categories classes. The competition was fierce with comedian Rob Rouse (sporting a fantastic red glittery waistcoat) with the unenviable tasks of judging the classes. Thanks to Bradwell Co-op everyone was a winner with all the entries receiving a goody bag. Other event winners included Bamford Primary School’s PTFA which raised £188 from the event and everyone who bought some delicious cakes and bakes made by the Belles of St Henry’s. Yum!

• In the afternoon, many joined in with the ‘Neighbours Afternoon Tea’ – an invitation to everyone to celebrate Bamford’s good old neighbourhood spirit.

• The week ended with a beautiful well dressing displayed by the Quaker Community around the theme of ‘Peace’.

All of the above was only possible by numerous volunteers, village groups and organisations helping to plan behind the scenes, organise specific events, put up bunting etc. And the village community getting involved by creating scarecrows, putting up DIY bunting, supporting and attending the various events. Plus the many local businesses and individuals who supported the week, either financially or in kind, including:

The Anglers’ Rest, Bamford Dental Practice, Bradwell Co-op, EBP, Riverside Garage, Yorkshire Bridge Inn, Hope Valley Vineyard, Shuker Guitars and Sunshine Pizza Oven. Thank you all very much for supporting this village initiative.

So, what next for 2022?

Given the positive feedback from this year’s events, it would be fantastic to build on this momentum and, Covid restrictions allowing, have a Carnival Week next year. However, this could only happen with more volunteers and a formal Carnival Committee in place. To try and get this started, there will be a meeting in September. Anyone interested in getting involved, in any capacity, would be very welcome or if you have ideas for events (both new activities and/or activities that have happened at previous carnivals) we’d love to hear from you. It’s a great way to get to know other people, learn more about all the wonderful activities within the village and raise funds for local good causes.

The meeting will be on Sunday 26th September 7pm in The Anglers.

Knowledge/involvement from people involved in previous carnivals would be invaluable, as would help and ideas from new volunteers. It maybe you’d like to join the committee, have a particular skill/business that could help, would like to organise an event or happy to be ‘an extra pair of hands’ – all help is much appreciated and is the only way something can happen!

If you can’t make the meeting but would still like to get involved or have ideas, please email: carnivalbamford@gmail.com and these will all help with future plans. Thank you.