Congratulations to Matilda Cowgill-Smith who was chosen in February to be the 2019 Goosnargh and Whittingham’s Festival Queen.

Matilda, who is a pupil at Garstang High School has lived in Goosnargh all her life, she was proud to be Head Girl at Goosnargh Oliverson’s School in 2017-2018 and one of the original babies of the newly formed Goosnargh Ducklings and continues to be an active member of the village community.

She has a puppy called Boudica, Boo for short, who is just one year old and enjoys taking her for walks around the village and training her to do tricks. Matilda enjoys all aspects of learning and is a keen mathematician but also loves doing lots of arts and crafts, singing and enjoys baking and cookery.

Tilda has lots of friends both from the village and her old primary school but also in her new secondary school where she has recently won an award for obtaining the most house points in her year group. She enjoys playing games with her friends and likes watching films with her family at home and at the cinema. She is so looking forward to her year as Festival Queen and has all sorts of ideas and plans.

Photograph by Philip Bamber.

A massive congratulations to Matilda Cowgill-Smith. Our festival queen for 2019!

Festival Day, June 2nd, is fast approaching and Festival Queen Niamh
invites you to enjoy an exciting extended programme of events as she
prepares to crown her successor, Romilly.
At 12 noon the Bells of St Mary’s will ring out and our Phoenix Pipe
Band will play at The Stags Head.
12.30pm sees the first set by Paul Rigby’s BWD Big Band on the corner of
The Green
At 1pm Kelly Amelia Circus takes over in front of The Grapes- prepare to
be amazed!
If you are arriving to assemble in Oliverson’s Playground you will be
entertained by the Eclipse Parade Band, with Maypole Dancing at 1.30pm
and Carol May’s Academy completing events outside The Grapes before the
procession lines up.
We are hoping for a fierce Decorated Float competition as always – now
is the time to Register your entry. Visitors can view the Floats and
preserved vehicles along Goosnargh Lane from 1.30pm, when judging by
Richard Lodge & Elaine Richardson gets underway.
Fancy Dress is enter-on-the-day. Come toFestival Day, June 2nd, is fast approaching and Festival Queen Niamh
invites you to enjoy an exciting extended programme of events as she
prepares to crown her successor, Romilly.

At 12 noon the Bells of St Mary’s will ring out and our Phoenix Pipe
Band will play at The Stags Head.

12.30pm sees the first set by Paul Rigby’s BWD Big Band on the corner of
The Green

At 1pm Kelly Amelia Circus takes over in front of The Grapes- prepare to
be amazed!

If you are arriving to assemble in Oliverson’s Playground you will be
entertained by the Eclipse Parade Band, with Maypole Dancing at 1.30pm
and Carol May’s Academy completing events outside The Grapes before the
procession lines up.

We are hoping for a fierce Decorated Float competition as always – now
is the time to Register your entry. Visitors can view the Floats and
preserved vehicles along Goosnargh Lane from 1.30pm, when judging by
Richard Lodge & Elaine Richardson gets underway.

Fancy Dress is enter-on-the-day. Come to Oliverson’s playground for
Registration & Judging by Pauline & Alan Wheatley at 1pm.

Our “White Doves” Festival this year marks the Centenary of the ending
of WW1 – look out for our Peace Children and St Francis’ Little White
Doves led by Miss Jennifer Birkett and follow them to The Square where
there will be a special presentation by Sue Brown & her “Doves of Life”
before the Crowning.

As always the Procession returns for the legendary Celebration Tea in
the Village Hall

Don’t forget the Road Closure from 1.00pm to 4.45pm – arrive early and
catch all the fun!

For many years now PC Chris Banks has led and guided the Police team and
advised our Marshals as well as supporting the Festival in many other
ways. Festival Day is his last day on “our patch” – he is to take up a
post in Garstang. Thank you Chris – you will be a hard act to follow!

Oliverson’s playground for
Registration & Judging by Pauline & Alan Wheatley at 1pm.
Our “White Doves” Festival this year marks the Centenary of the ending
of WW1 – look out for our Peace Children and St Francis’ Little White
Doves led by Miss Jennifer Birkett and follow them to The Square where
there will be a special presentation by Sue Brown & her “Doves of Life”
before the Crowning.
As always the Procession returns for the legendary Celebration Tea in
the Village Hall
Don’t forget the Road Closure from 1.00pm to 4.45pm – arrive early and
catch all the fun!
For many years now PC Chris Banks has led and guided the Police team and
advised our Marshals as well as supporting the Festival in many other
ways. Festival Day is his last day on “our patch” – he is to take up a
post in Garstang. Thank you Chris – you will be a hard act to follow!

Bring your young revellers to Goosnargh Village Hall from 5.30pm on Friday 27th October for a special Hallowe’en treat. Prepare to be amazed!

Fancy Dress entries will be judged around 6.15pm and adults please bring along your own spooktacular alcoholic beverages as the Hall no longer has its own bar!

Disco, refreshments, fun and good company until 8pm.

Autumn Jumble Sale

The Good as New Jumble Sale on Saturday 14th October is your opportunity to have a grand clear out and help us boost funds for next year’s Festival.

Jumble may be brought to the Village Hall PR3 2BH on Friday 13th from lunchtime to 7.30pm or on Saturday up to 10am. The Sale opens at 11am and we welcome offers of help to sort the jumble, man the stalls and help with the clearing.

Gifts of baking for our refreshments stall will be gratefully received.

There will be a door to door collection in the core of the village on Friday afternoon. Please ensure goods left for collection are clearly labelled.

Alex’s Famous Hallowe’en Spooktacular Fancy Dress Party

Bring your young revellers to Goosnargh Village Hall from 5.30pm on Friday 27th October for a special Hallowe’en treat. Prepare to be amazed!

Fancy Dress entries will be judged around 6.15pm and adults please bring along your own spooktacular alcoholic beverages as the Hall no longer has its own bar!

Disco, refreshments, fun and good company until 8pm

CONCERT for the SELECTION OF THE FESTIVAL QUEEN 2018

We now have outline details, and importantly, the DATE for Selection of our next Festival Queen

Please put Sunday 4th February, Goosnargh Village Hall PR3 2BH in your diaries. The concert will commence at around 1pm.

Names for selection will be registered between 12.30 and 1.00pm.

Once more we are delighted to be welcoming pupils from our Primary Schools together with the talented Musical Theatre Students from Preston’s College.

The Festival Team would like to thank you for your support over this Festival Year and wish you a very happy and relaxing Summer break – however short!

We are already well in gear for next year’s Festival and we have pleasure in inviting you to our FLOWER POWER Festival Ball, a major fund raising event on September 30th.

More information is available here. This is by no means a couples only event and places may be booked in small or large groups with seating off the dance floor on circular tables of 10 or 12 guests.

Carrying on the theme in tribute to Tom Kirby, you are welcome to come in “1967 Summer of Love” flower power gear if you wish!

A traditional roast beef dinner will be served and Wyrebank, our venue, has a separate lounge bar and canal side promenade. DJ Andy Richardson will ensure those who love to dance “have a ball!”

Call in at Goosnargh Chippy to reserve your tickets now.

If you enjoyed Festival Day this year – and we think everyone did! Please help us to make
next year’s event even better.

Our next major fundraiser is the Flower Power Festival Ball at Wyrebank, Garstang on
Saturday, 30th September.

Tickets £32 each to include a delicious 4 course Roast Beef Dinner
Dress Optional, Flower Power Fun fancy dress welcome

Dig out those flares! Dust off that white DJ! And help us make it a night to remember.

Tables will be for 10 or 12. To reserve individual or group places please hand in a list of
names and contact details, together with £12 per person deposit to:
Jill Piner, Treasurer, at Goosnargh Chippy; alternatively please post to 15, The Square,
Whittingham PR3 2AQ.

Last year’s proceeds bought the comfy new chairs – we hope you noticed the difference!

This year funds raised will allow us to sort out bunting, banners and Advance Warning of Road Closure signs.

Take a look at the fabulous 2017 photo gallery; all images available for you to download now. Special thanks to Sophie Butters, Max & Eryl Fryer, whose photo’s also appeared in the Longridge News

At yesterday’s Festival Review meeting Treasurer Jill Piner presented a fabulous set of financial success stories.

Thank you if you bought an ice cream on The Square. Ice cream is kindly donated by Crystal Hall and Sue Brown’s team raised £380 on a perfect day.

If you bought some of our Raffle tickets either before or on the day, you helped Andy Thiele’s Raffle Team raise a magnificent £1360.

If you put a few coins in the Scouts’ Collecting boxes you helped just 4 enthusiastic young scouters raise £62.22.

Finally, Dot Cross raised £276 from sales of Celebration Teas @ £3 each.

Around 300 children, Band Members & invited Guests who had taken part in the Procession enjoyed a free Tea along with all our Marshals and the wonderful police team. Thank you Dot and Paul Cross and all who helped prepare, bake and serve the feast.

Thank you all!

 

This report must begin with a tribute to our new and retiring Festival Queens, sisters Niamh and Roisin Quigg. On Saturday Roisin opened her speech with a request for all present to observe a 1 minute silence in support of those affected by the Manchester bombing and, less than 24 hours later, Niamh found herself reading prayers for those affected by the attacks in London. Both girls showed remarkable maturity in these difficult times and we are all very proud to have them as ambassadors for our community in the coming year.

On a day bathed in warm sunshine villagers gathered in huge numbers to watch events begin outside The Grapes Inn. Earlier in the day judges Rebecca Birkby and Jackie Cockayne had been out and about awarding prizes in the Shops Houses & Wheelbarrows competition. The many colourful entries made the task far from easy and we thank everyone who took part. As the Procession took shape the crowds were entertained by Hannah & Grace Chadwick with a skilful and artistic Aerial Hoop display, by the Maypole dancing team in the traditional fashion and by the Carol May Academy dancers with a vibrant routine from The Great Gatsby.

This year’s Festival Theme “Flower Power” was chosen as a tribute to the late Tom Kirby who supported the Festival and his community in many ways. We were delighted to welcome Guy and Carol Topping representing Barton Grange, who judged the Festival Float competition and went on to present a new award to the Festival Queen, The Tom Kirby Rosebowl, given as a mark of the esteem in which Tom was held. We were especially pleased to welcome Eddie Topping and Tom’s daughter Helen Roberts who, with her husband Alan, judged the Fancy Dress competition and then joined Guy in Presenting the delightful rose bowl, which is inscribed with Tom’s name.

Our other Special Guests this year were Councillor & Mrs Brian & Trisha Rollo, Mayor & Mayoress of the City of Preston, chairmen of the Parish councils, clergy representatives and, representing Longridge & North Preston Rotary, Mr & Mrs Andrew & Kirsty Wallbank. Andrew presented a most welcome donation of £500 to Festival Funds, given in memory of Tom.

We thank the community for their huge enthusiasm for this year’s event. We were inundated with donations of delicious baking, a fabulous array of raffle prizes, and ample help on the day in so many different ways to affirm this highlight of the village year.

Special mention must be made of Paul Cross, who baked trays and trays of mouth watering pastries before taking his place on the fabulous Goosnargh’s Most Wanted Float, of Eryl Fryer who transformed from crack of dawn butty maker to Judges’ Escort to Celebration Tea server and was still with us at 8pm loading rubbish into the bins, and of Alex Johnson who single handedly decorated the Village Hall and was out on the road before 8am on Festival morning setting up and had also arranged for his fellow students from Preston’s College to come along and entertain the crowds. Just a few of the army of dedicated committee members and volunteers who make up the Festival Day team. Thank you all!

Just days before the Festival, Maypole dancing trainer Sheila Birkby was badly injured in a fall. In true “Sheila Fashion” she insisted on being with her team on the day and we all wish her a very speedy recovery.

The Longridge Band, we are told, took part this year for the 40th year! They already have June 2nd 2018 in their diaries.

Festival Queen Niamh made history in succeeding her sister Roisin, who has now joined her retinue in a reversal of roles. They both look forward to representing Goosnargh & Whittingham throughout the coming year. Both began their busy schedule of duties at the Founders Day Celebrations at Bushell House where Niamh was presented with a memento of her reign.

Finally special mention must be made of our MC Mike Barnes who is taking a “Gap Year” beginning very soon. Mike will be sharing his teaching and IT skills with communities in Malawi. Chairman David Butters thanked him for setting just the right atmosphere in the arena for no less than 18 years.