Details
Congleton Food and Drink Festival 2011 - thanks

Once again the sun shone gloriously for the Congleton Food and Drink Festival now in its third year and bigger, better and more packed with visitors than ever before.

Congleton Community Projects are responsible for the event and start organising it a year in advance when the fantastic Festival Team begin their work to make the day as good as it can be. First thanks must go to all the local people who came down to enjoy the event and all the visitors that came from all over the region with an estimated throughput of 10,000 people!

There are no thanks big enough for the core volunteer workers especially Sarah Faulkner and Linda Ward for their commitment to the planning of the event, the art work and research for the programme, leaflets, website and just about everything else. John Hughes and Mark spend the year visiting local farmers’ markets and food festivals to liase with and recruit local producers and other stall holders and promote the Festival all over the region. Tim Muston is IT troubleshooter and provider of chocolate to keep the energy going. Other team members, Annette Kanarous of Illuccini’s, Desne Ward of Top Nosh, and Liz and Leslie of Delaceys attend meetings provide ideas and support for the event and scrummy food for meetings. Albert Ward is a constant support at meetings and a hard worker on the day. Becky Wilson is our official photographer and joining us this year on general admin and website updating, our new volunteer Kristin Davies.

But it’s also the activities that go on behind the scenes that make the Festival work and ensure it is a safe environment for the community. So a big thank you to the local Police Community Support Officers, Rhys Davey, Carol Holmes and Julia Short and to all our committed marshals and the Cheshire Marshals especially Rick Callander. A huge thanks to John Lilley and Chris Booth for sorting out the electricity and to B&M, DV8 and Congleton Town Council who kindly provide electricity for the stalls and the PA system from their premises.

The Food Festival is not just a glorious food and drink event it is also very grounded in community activity and is based on a healthy eating ethic especially for children. Stalls must produce food from products sourced locally wherever possible, ideally organically and sell Fairtrade products where possible. This year the team had the idea of a Tasty Traveller passport for children and Linda ward developed the project which was a great success on the day. Food stalls were asked to take part and offer free tasters to children who had a passport, they had to try all different types of food and some food they had never tasted before to get their stamp and prize. Thanks to the stall holders who took part and who gave very positive feedback and enjoyed encouraging children to try new things. Thanks must also go to Desne Ward from Top Nosh for providing the gingerbear prizes.

Sustainability is a key word for the Festival and the Community Garden was once again dedicated to stalls and activities organised by the Congleton Sustainability group and Abundance project who are ever busy developing the growth of local produce from Congleton. The group now has the seed of an idea to open a local shop dedicated to such produce. Check the press and our website for further information on the project.

Thanks also to our Town Mayor, Councillor David Martin and our inimitable Town Crier, Councillor Douglas Parker for opening the event with the start of the Pedalling Picnic ride organised by the Congleton Cycling Campaign and to our local MP Fiona Bruce for spending so much of her time visiting the stalls and enjoying the entertainment. Thanks to the Trustees of Congleton Community Projects who were all there on the day to help out as was Jackie MacArthur our Town Centre Manager and volunteer Sue Trow, And last but not least thanks to our funders without whom we could not put the event on. So thanks to our main funder, the local William Dean Trust and the Congleton Town Council for all their support in kind particularly from Chris Banks and Mark Worthington for the endless running around for us.

Our local schools are always very supportive of the Festival and this year Congleton Community Projects organised the Tremendous Trees Art Project, holding workshops in all the local schools for the children to learn about, sketch and design their tree as well as make the fruit to decorate it. A handful of children then had a second workshop at the Victoria Mill Arts Centre where artists Mike Von Nixon and Petra Lea helped them paint the 8ft 3D trees that Mike had made. Great fun was had all round and the children were delighted to be shown round the artist studios in the Mill and meet some of the artists.

The Tremendous Trees art project was funded by The Inclosure Trust, Town Trust and schools CeCP funding.

Funding is always uncertain and we have no guarantee of funding for next year to ensure we have not just food stalls at the event but a real community atmosphere with entertainment and activities for the children which all has to be paid for as well as the unnoticeable costs of barriers, chairs, road signage, banners, advertising and marketing.

We are always looking for funders, sponsors, volunteers, ideas and entertainers for the event so if you would like to support this wonderful community Festival in any way please get in touch with us on 01260 291156 or email jo@congletoncommunityprojects.org and visit the website www.foodanddrinkfestival.net

Team Congleton
Community Projects is part of Team Congleton which is busy organising the programme for Congleton's celebrations for the Olympics 2012. The aim of the group is to "Bring Congleton people together to have fun and create new opportunities through championing sport.

Olympic It's a Knock Out took place on Sunday June 10th in the Park.

The Polyathlon
A multi sport event running through the summer in which teams compete in events staged by Congleton Sports Clubs starting in February with the Swimathon and going on till August

Tomorrow's Sporting Heroes
Team Congleton is establishing a fund to sponsor a limited number of Congleton Juniors to help them move to the next level of their sport - look out for talent spotting opportunities at schools and clubs.

Celebration Evening
Winners of the Sports Awards, Tomorrow's sporting heroes and Polyathlon will be announced and presented with their awards at a celebratory evening in September 2012

Congleton's first Jazz and Blues Festival was organised by local Pub owners and supported by Congleton Community Projects and the Town Council and was so successful that it will be put on again in 2011. It will take place on the bank holiday once more - 28^th & 29^th August. Once again there will be Jazzy and Bluesy music events in bars and restaurants throughout the town. As seen on a fan's t-shirt last year -