Wimborne Folk Festival June 7th and 8th 2025
Despite a rainy start to the Festival, we had a wonderful time at Wimborne Methodist Church over the whole weekend. People flocked in, out of the rain, not only to sample our cakes, drinks and lunches, but also to see our varied continuous programme of entertainment.
There were Morris Dancers of many different kinds; Beat – a group of youngsters performing street dance – who were brilliantly trained, wonderful to watch, and who drew a very large crowd outside. Most of the groups danced outside on the forecourt even when it was raining, others came and performed inside. To finish the weekend, a dance workshop featuring Breton and French dances took place indoors.
Music-wise we started off with our organ, which played itself through part of Saturday, which was fine – especially if you like Christmas carols, Easter music or American tunes! It has a programme that auto-plays so it was exciting to listen for what came next! Later on Saturday, Jasper, who is 14 and plays for his church's services frequently, played live organ and piano music for us and was very much appreciated by all who listened. On the Sunday afternoon, Weyland, a folk-band, played outside while little children spontaneously danced to their music on the forecourt.
The best part of all, however, were the animals brought by "Wild Science". They were an enormous success and saw lots of children and their parents in the church cuddling anything from Gertrude the tortoise, (who has a bath once a week we learned!), through to guinea pigs, a snail, tarantula and scorpion, to the very long Royal Python snake that enjoyed a cuddle with Deborah as well as the children (and other adults). Thanks must go to the generous donor who helped to pay for them to come as it was wonderful to see so many happy children (and adults) in the church.
We also had a quiet corner where one could go to think, or reflect, with the help of ideas put out by Deborah.
I would personally like to thank everyone who came to help in so many different ways to achieve such a successful weekend. Many people worked tirelessly throughout to achieve such a great result.
The profit of £2009 will be split between FPZ and Little Buds, a local charity run by the New Life Community Church in Wimborne who also came to offer their help in practical ways. They provide access on a weekly basis to post-natal parents who need advice, or help with being new parents, in a relaxed environment and with a medical professional on hand. The remainder will be used by our church to acknowledge all the tremendous work, time and effort given by many of our people.
Thank you to everyone involved.
(Christine Thompson)
