Family activities help bring 40th Woolpit Festival to a rousing crescendo
A wealth of family activities helped bring the 40th anniversay of the Woolpit Festival to a close over the weekend.
The Festival Day on Saturday catered for all ages with events around the village which were launched with a full quarter peal of bells at St Mary’s Church and included a treasure hunt, face-painting, fun stalls and a magician.
There was the rare chance to climb the tower of St Mary’s Church for a panoramic view, a talk by archaeologist Angus Wainwright about a site of medieval pilgrimage known as Lady’s Well and Elizabeth Cockayne spoke about the history of Woolpit. It was part of the culmination of the festival, which has attracted hundreds of people in the last two weeks with a mix of opera, classical music, brass, poetry, and jazz.
Nick Foster, chairman of the Woolpit Festival Society, said: “We didn’t have huge names this year - we wanted to go back to the roots of the festival which was basically promoting local talent. The quality of the acts has been as good as any year we’ve ever had because there are some superb musicians locally.”
Funds raised go towards next year’s programme and will also benefit the church, village hall and Institute. Mr Foster added that the festival was started by Eileen Jones, who has been a ‘fantastic music teacher and entrepreneur’ and attended some of this year’s events.
