goosnargh & whittingham

Whitsuntide Festival Celebration Ball

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Supporters and friends of the Festival gathered in force at Wyrebank on Saturday 24th September to enjoy the second Annual Festival Ball.

The theme for the evening was “Celebration”, in honour of Her Majesty the Queen who celebrated her 90th birthday this year and, on a local level, our four Special Guests who were welcomed and toasted in style by our wonderful MC, Harry Landless following an Introduction by Festival Chairman David Butters.

SPECIAL GUESTS
Dedicated festival supporters, Be Thiele and Louise Chadwick had both chosen to celebrate their birthdays with us and Newlyweds Tim and Sophie Butters were attending their first event as husband and wife, having returned from their honeymoon on Capri just the day before. Tim designed and manages the Festival Website and Sophie was an Official Photographer on Festival Day.

ABSENT FRIENDS
Harry also raised a toast to “Absent Friends”, thinking in particular of Reg Johnson to whose memory all this year’s Festival Events are dedicated and welcoming members of his family, as always giving their support to a Community event. Wyrebank reflected the Celebration theme, being bedecked with huge cerise and silver pom poms. Tables continued the theme in cerise and green with “candy cane” favours and the atmosphere of friendliness provided by the guests, ranging in age from 18 to 93, made for a superb evening.

The Wyrebank Chef ensured all guests were more than happy with his “Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pud” based Menu and we thank the wonderful Wyrebank staff, who attended immediately to all requests (for refills mostly!)

Entertainment began with a very moving sequence of songs performed by Grace Chadwick and then DJ Rob Harris presided over a vibrant dance floor. The focus was more on “Fun” than “Fund Raising”, but of course we were there for a purpose. All profits from the Ball are dedicated to renewing the Festival’s stock of outdoor seating, purchased well over 20 years ago from the former Whittingham Hospital, and now sadly rusting.

During the course of the evening Auction items, very kindly donated by George Banks, Jewellers; Haighton Manor; The Chadwick and Landless families and Wyrebank were skilfully despatched by Harry and Caroline Landless and the Auction, together with profit from ticket sales and the Raffle etc raised a fabulous total of £1841!

Huge thanks to everyone who supported this event whether as Guests, Prize Donors, behind the scenes helpers or Wyrebank Team Members; the Community of Goosnargh & Whittingham can now look forward to a more comfortable Festival Day 2017 which, by the way, takes place on Saturday 3rd June 2017.

Melissa Crawley -2015/16 Festival Queen

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Hi, I’m Melissa and my reign as Queen 2015/16 has just taken me and my family to the Palace of Westminster!

I was invited by Ben Wallace MP and we all had tea and biscuits with Ben and his Guests
plus a guided tour. I’m in the photo with Ben and that’s the River Thames behind us.
My sister Chloe did the same when she was Queen in 2012/13.

We all went to Nova Scotia too, for the Twinning. You can find out more about that on the Twinning pages.

Roisín’s First Post

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Roisin

So I’ve finally got around to writing this blog and I can’t believe how the time has flown since I was chosen to be Goosnargh Festival queen! It is now only a month away and there is still lots to do; everything should be ready by festival day though!

The first job was to choose my festival attendants. I am very lucky to have lots of friends and family that want to share my big day. I have got my younger sister Niamh, her best friend Ella, close family friend Cerys, little cousins Imogen and Elise, my gym buddy Elsea, best friends Daisy and Erin and Daisy’s little sister Fern. Unfortunately we haven’t found a little boy to carry the crown but if all else fails my big brother Toby will step in!

The next big job was to get a dress. For any girl choosing a dress is a difficult task but when I was shopping for my festival queen dress it seemed a million times harder. We went to bridal shops, we went to every clothes store in sight, we went online where we finally found the perfect dress, or so we thought. When the dress arrived over two weeks later it looked nothing like it did on the picture! Luckily we have now discovered a dressmaker who will make the dress exactly how we want it…phew! It should arrive in a few weeks. On the plus side, choosing the attendants dresses was much easier and everyone is happy with them – they will all look beautiful.

I have recently injured my knee in a gymnastics accident so I am hoping to be better by the big day, although it would be fun to be the first festival queen on crutches! My family and friends have been great at helping me out while I have been hobbling around.

I feel very privileged to have been chosen as festival queen and be representing Goosnargh.

That’s all for now

Roisín xox

Preparations Underway for our 2016 Festival!

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Masses of help, superb quality donations and delicious refreshments added up to a very successful Spring Jumble Sale – see our jumble sale page for more details.

Great news also of a £1000 donation from Taylor Wimpey to spend on fresh new bunting etc.

Look out for the Festival Raffle Tickets, kindly sponsored once more by Longridge & North Preston Rotarians.
The line up of prizes is impressive, including a stunning Bracelet donated by George Banks Jewellers, the Festival’s £150 cash prize and a Service for your Car at CRC Garage plus many more. Buy your tickets early if you can as it eases pressure on the day and if you would like to join the Ticket Selling Team Andy Thiele would love to hear from you.

Have you seen the appeal for Marshals on our festival website? Please get in touch with PCSO Dave Reid, Alex Johnson, Simon Taylor, Nik Birkby, or PC Chris Banks to sign on. All the details are on the website.

Not too soon to be planning your Decorated Float and Shops & Houses Competition entries. We have the children of St Francis Hill Chapel already registered with “Star Wars” and their group “St Francis’ Little Blossoms” will be our Apple Blossom Children. Pop in and see Jill and Shirley in Goosnargh Chippy for tips and ideas and also look at our Decorated Floats Competition page, as well as our Photo Galleries (especially useful if you are new to all this!).

As you know, the Festival this year is dedicated to the memory of Reg Johnson – let’s do him and all the family proud!