Lots of young families turned out for Fun in the Park which ran from 11 – 3 today.
The main feature that struck me, comparing this to previous Fun in The Parks, was all the activities for younger family members … crafts activities, and play tents, and
sports. Not just the Abbey Gardens, but also the carpark had play buses and a fire engine, and then people could go to the riverside park area for more free entertainment. Even the Open Air Pool was free.
A family could spend their time at Fun in the Parks without spending money. Only balloons and food and drinks cost money.
Everybody was cleared out at three from Fun in the Park in order for preparations for Music in the Park which opened at 5:30.
Nearly 3000 people were there – many partying and picnicking in family / friendship groups. The entertainment included the likes of Green Onions (UK Blues Brothers Tribute Band), Bruno Mars (Michael Buble tribute act) and Elkie (covering popular songs from the last four decades).
The Mayor gave a big thank you to the staff, helpers, and volunteers who had worked so hard to make these two events possible. Then Abingdon Town Band performed the Proms,
where the Deputy Mayor sang Rule Britannia,
and at about 10pm Spyrotechnics did a brilliant firework display.
After the excellent ‘Fun in the Parks’ my wife & I took the two grandsons to cool off in the water park next to the outdoor pool – this extract is from the Town Council web site –
Families love the Abbey Meadow Water Park which provides a safe environment for youngsters to enjoy water fun on a hot day. Parents can relax at the side and watch the screaming and the giggling as the kids run around the spray fountains. With the Outdoor Pool, the Crazy Golf and the play area all…
The only thing missing from all of this was ….water !!!
unbelievable !
Yes, when it is working and, when it is not, it takes time to fix!
Both the fun in the parks and music events were excellent. Congratulations to all involved in the planning and the running of the events.
Even the sun shone!
A truly awesome event well Abingdon TC and I loved the finale a great end to a great day.
looks like it was a bit drier than last year when I was there!
how ironic that the Michael buble impersonator should have a pop star name to start with – Bruno mars.
Everyone seemed to be having a great time! From our perspective the event was very well organised and we look forward to enjoying the sun in 2014 🙂
We certainly had a good time performing. Was a good event.
The organisation & entertainment were absolutely fantastic – we had a wonderful time meeting up with friends and enjoying the lovely sunny evening. The fireworks were a spectacular end to a great night out.
Great event – and nice to finally have some good weather to enjoy too.
I particularly enjoyed Prisoners of Katrina.
Oh good, Neil, I’ll pass that on to my son who was playing in the band. It was a great day, lots of happy people.
Fantastic day out….still feeling a little worn out today….my only complaint would be that the actual music was far too quiet…i too enjoyed prisoners of katrina but we could hardly hear them from about 150 yards away…
My son says they did a sound check and got their equipment all set up for pefect balance but it was moved out of the way by the band that played before them and there was no chance to re-do it all.
I didn’t any chance to do a sound check for my Rule Britannia solo bits eitther and I’m not usd to singing into a mike so wasn’t sure how close to get. My apologies if it wasn’t very balanced with the band.
At least the audience were well audible and enjpying themselves.
I think it’s incorrect to accuse us of ruining PoK sound, they set up with no consideration for space for our amps (I did recommend to the sound engineer they might want to set up further back) and all their levels were preset on different outputs.
The reason for lack of volume was that in hindsight a second set of satellite speakers were needed for the size of crowd.
I think everyone performed extremely well and it proved a highly successful event.
Bruno Mars / Micheal Buble act was Albie J Smith who I thought was exceptional.
James – If it was a ‘festival crowd’ I’d probably agree with you, but I suspect a lot of the people further back were happy with the lower volume. A lot of them had come for the Town Band and may not have been into loud rock music. I just went to the front for chunks of your and the PoK sets. (Maybe worth getting the TC to ask for feedback about this.)
James, sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. I meant it at as statement of fact not criticsim. I don’ty know how all you bands manage where you are all following one another and going straight into your acts, but you all did and were all great.
I understand there was one complaint of the noise which isn’t bad, I hope this continues and that we get more and more modern and traditional culture happening in Abingdon.
We really need an active guildhall that can operate as an entertainment hub for Abingdon, people should be able to see a live band 2-4 times a week in Abingdon and the council miss a trick by not being able to provide this.
It would indeed be great if Abingdon had a venue for up and coming bands able to hold an audience of around 200 people (standing). None of the local pubs are configured for this, and though the Unicorn is a splendid building (and is used nicely for folk music events) that doesn’t really fit the bill. Look at what Cornerstone at Didcot is doing (in the way of free bar gigs and in the main auditorium) and try to bring similar to the new Guildhall.
Greasy Lake the sad fact is the guild hall leaks sound and the neighbours like to complain. So whilst the guild hall is there its rendered useless as the council has to and seems to like to let these complaints influence things.
Personally I’d have expected people to take consideration when buying a house a)close to the guild hall and b) in the town centre.
I’m assuming that if there is money to be spent on the Guildhall redevelopment then a chunk of it would be able to be spent on soundproofing the building to enable its use as a venue for live music.
Greasy lake, that would be sensible, or so people who want to hire it can have a reasonable party there.
They were trying to hold tribute nights there but you can’t use the main room due to sound, which is why it no doubt is a cost rather than an asset to the town.
Fabulous day!! My one request though is can the stage please, please be sturdy – it might be ok to stand or sit on it, but you try dancing on it – dangerous!! Gaffa tape is not sufficient enough to keep the staging blocks from moving and lifting, trapping tootsies or twisting ankles. With many pounding feet, spins and leaps – you’re asking for an accident to happen.
I found that theoxonian, it could also do with being a foot higher.
Yes good idea, it could be higher too James, as some members of the audience could struggle to see … though there may be more safety issues with children on the stage vs structure height. There’s a good Event Safety Guide page 57 re Structure. Stages need to be considered from a performers viewpoint – risk assessment ie flooring non slip, splinter free, solid and not able to move, no speakers and mikes to collide with, access onto stage, cabling and overhead equipment another consideration too etc.
Guide here:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/safety-reps/sr_webpages/safety_downloads/event_safety_guide.pdf
rudi – last years Fun in the Park was dry and basking in glorious sunshine. You’re thinking of the Jubilee Celebrations when it poured with rain :-). Both completely different events.
James – I agree with you that it will be great if the improvements to the Guildhall can go ahead and provide a much better venue in the town, as well as a cinema. Obviously there’s still a lot of work to be done on how to finance it, but if it can go ahead that would be brilliant.
However I think you’re being a bit harsh on the people who live nearby. It’s fair enough to say that if someone moves in next door to a busy pub they should expect to hear some noise, but what’s being proposed here is a major change in the Guildhall’s use. When the neighbours moved in it wasn’t hosting regular live gigs, so it’s quite right that the council takes account of their complaints.
So you are saying Neil that the guild hall when it was built was never intended to host live music and events???? I think the stage etc is a bit of a give away. The idea is for people to hold weddings etc in there, which involves loud music on most occasions.
I’m sure the guild hall would be less of a project if recent councillors had not allowed it to become surplus to requirement by helping it run at a profit rather than massive cost to the tax payer.
The Guildhall stage, together with dressing rooms, was built to accomodate the Abingdon Operatic Society.
It was never invisaged that it would would be host to gigs with the loudspeaker power that is now common-place, so the sound-proofing isn’t up to containing the decibel levels that now cause such grief to the neigbours.
I believe that adequate sound-proofing will be included as part of the refurbishment.
James – no, I’m saying that they type and frequency of the events it was built for are very different to what is being proposed now. In general the nature of live music venues has changed enormously over the years, as has technology, and as has people’s expectations of events like wedding parties. Events are generally a lot louder and go on a lot later than they used to.
I think it is therefore reasonable that someone who moved to a relatively quite and historic part of Abingdon 40 years ago might feel that the impact on them of a change like this ought to be taken into account.
And I say that as someone who is at his happiest standing at the front barrier at a Maiden or Metallica gig 😉
I remember in my giging days we used to run 2500w sound systems in that hall regularly and didn’t receive complaint’s so if any of those complaining now Neil moved in 40 years ago in glad their hearing has improved with age but its a bit off only complaining now or is it new residents getting their knickers in a twist after moving into such a high end property only to realise having a pub and a public hall over the back wall isn’t to their liking i wonder?
You can definitely see your expertise within the article you write.
The sector hopes for more passionate writers such as you who aren’t afraid to mention how they believe. Always follow your heart.
The Strawberry Fayre Majorettes are always buzzing when performing at Abingdon Fun in the Parks, so very well organised and love the stage to show off their unique skills.
Most of all the sun always comes out to help make the day.