A team of volunteers in Peasedown St John have been nominated for services to the community at a special award ceremony at Bath’s Guildhall next week.
Peasedown’s Party in the Park festival team has raised almost £60,000 over the last six years, all of which has been or will be reinvested back into the local community.
They’ve been nominated by parish councillor Mandy Clarke, who said: “Peasedown Party in the Park is the biggest event of the year in our village.
“The summer event, plus all the activities and campaigns associated with the festival all year round, have a made a big difference. The team work extremely hard, and without them so many things in our community wouldn’t happen.
“It’s because of this that I’ve nominated them in the Volunteer Team of the Year Category at the Chairman’s Community Awards.”
In the October of 2008, during one late afternoon at Peasedown Youth Centre, the first ever Party in the Park meeting was held.
Those present included representatives from groups that had hosted events before, and a collection of brand new people who wanted to get ‘stuck in’.
From the early beginnings of pulling together ideas on a large sheet of flip chart paper the Peasedown Party in the Park brand was born.
The first event, pitched as a grand family fun day, was opened in 2009 by Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis and held in the new location of Beacon Field. With a small stage for musical performances and around 1,500 people attending, this was a great start to a string of successful festivals.
Now, seven years on, Peasedown’s Party in the Park festival has become one of the most popular in the district, with up to 3,000 visitors and more than £6,000 being secured each year to fund the event.
As well as the summer event, the team run a volunteer scheme which gives those that take part the chance to receive a reference for education or employment. Called ‘Be Part of It, more than 50 volunteers take part every year to ensure the seven-hour extravaganza runs smoothly.
They also run a Grant Fund which supports Peasedown-based projects; Christmas in the Park, and a community award in memory of the late Sara Holley; and they have launched their own exclusive cider – Peasedown Diamond.
At the end of 2014, the team calculated the total amount secured from events which came to almost £60,000. An achievement never seen before by a community group in Peasedown St John in a short space of time.
Craig Gill is the Party in the Park webmaster and literature designer, and is now working on his fourth festival.
He commented: “Much of this money is reinvested back into the summer festival, and a sum is set aside to give back to the community in the form of small grants.
“Since 2009 organisations such as Laurel Farm, the Children’s Centre, Peasedown Methodist Church, Peasedown Youth Albion FC and the Beacon Hall lunch club have benefitted from receiving a Party in the Park grant.”
On the 2015 festival team, Craig is joined by Joy Fraser, Danny Brothers, Karen Walker, Cat Savage, Jo Davis, Mike Auton and Nathan Hartley.
Party in the Park 2015 will be held on Beacon Field, Peasedown St John on Saturday 13th June from 12 noon – 7pm.
