A week of wonderful 2009 Summer Festival events across Letchworth reached its grand finale on Saturday and Sunday August 1 and 2 with our 50s and 60s Festival in Broadway Gardens and on Broadway Walk.
Crowds flocked to enjoy the Walk of Industrial History on the Saturday, the charity displays on the Sunday, and the range of great music and other events on both days. Broadway Gardens were filled with people browsing stalls, watching the Marmet pram parade, and enjoying a wide range of food and drink. You could choose to be served by Nippies in Plinston Hall's re-creation of a Lyons Corner House, enjoy Caribbean specialities in the outdoors, or top up with cakes and sandwiches from the Arts Centre Guideposts Café stand in the charities display.
There were classic cars, motorbikes and scooters, a Heritage Museum marquee thronged with visitors, dance displays, drama and music performances by local young people, and a vast range of stalls selling anything from vintage clothing to books and records to scale models to home-made cakes.
A 50s Fashion Show -- including participants brave enough to model Letchworth-made Spirella corsets -- was a massive crowd pleaser.
Meanwhile, local Air Cadets did a great job selling programmes, keeping the site tidy and generally being helpful.
Sixties icon Mike Berry and his band the Outlaws were the headline music act on the Saturday, with brilliant Stevenage band The New Town Centres headlining on the Sunday. DJ and MC Strollin' Steve kept the entertainment going superbly on both days between the live performances.
Local MP Oliver Heald (pictured, second from right, at the Stoddard stand on the Walk of Industrial History with John Stoddard, left, Michael Stoddard, and William Armitage, right) said the display was "marvellous" and he "really enjoyed" his visit.
Our thanks go to the scores of volunteers and helpers who worked so terrifically hard to make the event -- and all the events of the preceding week -- such a resounding success.
Our thanks also go to the artists who came forward during the festival to help create the two wonderful murals, shown below, to mark the industrial heritage theme.
Click on the thumbnails below for full-size Festival pics. The second set of thumbnails brings you the Fashion Show, and the link at the end takes you to more photos.
The Fashion Show
