Kite Festival and Classic Car Display September 13th 2014

You can read a full report of the event in issue number 43 (November 2014) of our Skylarks Newsletter - see the link to the 'On Line Archive' to the left. Here on this page, we have presented a 'Story' of the day'.

The weather was bright and breezy and so were all the volunteers who gathered in the Pavilion to prepare for The Kite Festival 2014. Some were new to the event and were clearly a little anxious about their role. But Colin from the Essex Kite Group (who is an amazing 94 years old) soon put them at their ease as he showed them all the clever knots and techniques for making the kites. We were soon busy with hordes of children eager to make, decorate, and fly their kites. Mini competitions for the best decorated and best flyer took place every hour and prizes were freely given.

For the children who wanted to be even more creative there was plenty of glue, pens, paper and materials for making glorious collages.

Outside, Craig had arrived with friends and cars from the South Eastern Vintage and Classic Vehicle Club. The polished paint work and sparkling chrome was a sight to see. Then looking into the sky was the amazing spectacle of so many big kites. Galloping horses, seahorses, footballers and even Batman hovered over the Park.

Tea and coffee was flowing, Mike had the busy car park under control so what could go wrong? Well nothing for a long time.......but then disaster struck when one of the big kites plummeted into the lake. It actually landed on one of the islands and had to be rescued by canoe. Quite an exciting diversion! But then a more serious issue raised its head, we were running out of kite making material! Excited families continued to arrive eager to take part in this free event. Anxious not to disappoint anyone, Richard rushed off on a mercy mission to get more kites and save the reputation of the FOWCP! A cheer went up as he rushed back with his purchases and the production line opened again. We reckon about 160 kites were made during the day. Forty kites were kindly donated by the Kite Club and the rest were provided by the FOWCP from our funds. After the event it was wonderful to see on Facebook , Streetlife and by e-mail how much everyone had enjoyed the event - it made it all so worthwhile.

Jackie wrote: "I just want to say that this was the first time we had visited the Park. It was brilliant seeing all the amazing kites and classic cars. It was really good fun for the children to make their own. It was a very friendly atmosphere and you can tell everyone had worked very hard to make it a good day. So thank you to everyone involved."