The Big Platinum Festival – Oh what a night!

Thursday 2 June – a fantastic stage was set up in our beautiful Greenwood Park for a very special event – celebrating 70 years of Her Majesty the Queen’s reign.

From 5:30pm, residents from the parish came in their throngs to join the relaxed community festival atmosphere.   An estimated 2,500 were in attendance! 

The music from the bands covered a great variety to please all.  The event was compered by Elvis Shmelvis who really brought the music together, singing his own classic songs whilst bands were setting up.

Bands on the night were Lady & The Tramp with fun singalong musical hits; The Brickets with classic 50s & 60s tunes; Starseedz with their indie guitar songs; and the night finished with The Beatroute playing party hits into the night with a full brass section.  People were up and dancing throughout!  A huge thanks to Elvis, his wife Sue and his team at Chiswell Studios who put on a fabulous show. 

Refreshment stalls were overrun as the event got busier, with some selling out before the end.  However, people were still in good spirits despite the queues as they could still hear and enjoy the music.  Big thanks to Gracey’s pizza, Westman Foods, Raj Kaur, The Overdraught pub, Lazy Llama, girl guides and Tipsy Bubbles who worked flat out to serve people.  

The focus of the evening moved to the national beacon lighting.  Everyone gathered to watch our postmistress and a community star of 34 years, Raj Kaur, light the beacon for all to see.  The amazing firework finale ensued with 7 minutes of wonder staring into the night sky to watch the brilliant display.   It was a mesmerising end to a special evening. 

Thank you to all who supported, helped, and attended.  You all contributed to an incredibly memorable evening.