Above and Beyond
The Made in Corby and Core at Corby Cube teams would like to say thank you to all the people, organisations and groups who made Grow Festival 2019 a great event, despite battling the worst weather of the summer all weekend!
The Production Team
Bill Gee Projects Team who organised the event in conjunction with Made In Corby and The Core at Corby Cube – and all the casual staff who turned up to help. Many staff members from all teams were there clearing up in the rain and mud long after everyone had gone home!
Brilliant, very well organised and very inclusive.
Funders
- Arts Council England, Anglian Water, Johnson Underwood and Priors Hall Park for their financial support for Grow Festival.
- Building Connections Fund via National Lottery Community Fund and Her Majesty’s Government who funded the Community Garden growing projects.
- Constance Travis Endowment Fund via Northamptonshire Community Foundation who funded the making workshops for the Grow Festival parade.
- National Lottery Community Fund who funded the Community Feast.
Very good. A great celebration of all that’s good about life and food.
Community Festival Panel
Vince Hanratty, Jayne Incles, Ann Leonard, Chuck Middleton, Amber Miller, Maria Rowe and Susan Shier who have been attending planning meetings all year, sharing their ideas for the festival and helping to choose the artists. Many of these panel members also helped as festival volunteers on the weekend as well as in the run-up, helping with designing publicity materials, translation and in other roles.
I have great admiration for all those behind the scenes who generate ideas and interests for the people of the town. Keep doing what you are doing & THANK YOU.
Partner Organisations
Rob Purdie and the Made In Corby Consortium (Corby Community Arts, Corby Unity, The Core at Corby Cube and Groundwork Northamptonshire). Corby Borough Council for supporting with infrastructure, Groundwork Northants for running the growing projects. Daniel Pickard, Kay McGinley and their team at Willow Place for helping with infrastructure and practical support for the festival as well as their flexibility in planning for wet weather. The Umbrella Fair who brought us their marquees on Sunday morning to keep us dry at the feast.
The staff at Stephenson Way Community Centre, Hazelwood Neighbourhood Centre, Kingswood Neighbourhood Centre and The Autumn Centre who helped with the four community gardens. The staff at Adrenaline Alley and Kingswood Neighbourhood Centre for hosting the Boom Bikes Youth Project. Staff and volunteers at Corby Rise, Corby Food Bank, Home-Start Corby, Corby Job Centre, The Bridge, Eden Park, Corby Women’s Refuge, who both distributed tickets for the feast and supported some people in getting there and helped on the day. Stevie Way Art Group for creating the bunting and loads of vegetable-themed decorations to bring some festival cheer! Staff of Pen Green Nursery who hosted a making workshop for the parade. Maplefields Circle of Friends and The Friends of Coronation Park for their support in the use of Coronation Park and the Pavilion.
Fabulous, funny, amazing entertainment and food. What a wonderful weekend. Exactly what Corby is about, getting people together for a brilliant time never mind the weather.
Festival volunteers
The absolutely amazing festival volunteers who braved the extremely adverse weather conditions to ensure festival-goers were kept informed and having a good time. We salute you!
The People who fed us
The cooks – John Fahy, Radek Kowalski, Julia Sironi and their teams of amazing assistant cooks and kitchen assistants. Tresham College catering students and the volunteer servers with quick service from the kitchen tent to the tables despite a huge amount of rain!
GREAT Festival, good fun, great food. loved the variety of acts. Looking forward to the Light Festival!
Arts Ambassadors and Translators
Our Arts Ambassador volunteers who consistently shared festival content online all year round, helped us put up posters, distribute flyers and helped to recruit other volunteers and tell people about the festival. Our translators Maria and Klaudya who helped us promote the festival in Polish and Romanian. Staff of Pen Green Nursery who did the BSL translation about the festival.
Great – lovely that people still came in the rain. Still felt the connection with the community. Thank You xxx
Food Growers and Suppliers
The Community Garden Volunteers who planted the seedlings, tended and watered them from March to July so we had food for the feast. The children at Squirrels Nursery and the Cub Scouts who helped water the plants in the community gardens.
The allotment holders and gardeners who donated fresh produce. Fruitful Abundance CIC who supplied some of the rescued food. Lakelands Hospice and Corby MIND who took away any surplus food and produce from the feast.
It was absolutely brilliant, the community spirit that was created was one of a kind! The musicians were a personal highlight for me – incredible talent.
Artists
All of the artists both from the People’s Stage and professionals, as well as our wonderful compere Chuck the Poet and our delightfully kilted feast host, Stuart Reid. They all put on a great show regardless of the downpours of rain!
My hat goes off to all the performers & volunteers as they carried on regardless of the constant rain. My granddaughter really enjoyed the craft facilities.
Photographers and videographers
Adam Balcomb, Chris Atkinson, Andy Eathorne and several volunteer photographers – view the photos from this year’s festival on facebook
And last but not least…
The audiences that braved the rain to turn up! The children who created the parade items at International Children’s Day, Corby Carnival, Highland Gathering and at Pen Green Nursery, and all the people who got involved in carrying items in the parade.
It is one of the best events for everybody to enjoy together.
