HORNDON-on-the-Hill Feast and Fayre provides thousands with a ‘symphony’ of fun and revelry.
The annual village event which took place across the weekend (June 27th/28th) saw Horndon-on-the-Hill closed to traffic to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta with a veritable feast of ‘Music through the Ages’ and traditional entertainment. As ever, the streets were lined with craft stalls and charity teams who combined to make the event a happy and peaceful occasion.
This year, the organisers made special efforts to present a range of musical and street entertainment. Acts ranged from traditional artistry from harpist J.P. Lodge and classical guitarist Richard Stokkereit to boogie woogie from forties revivalists
Sentimental Journey suitably attired in WREN outfits, not forgetting memorable acts from folk legends Captain Patch and the Mermaid Mollies, the Stanford Rock ‘n Roll dancers, Hands Around Morris, Thurrock Spectrum Brass and Palmers College Sixth Form street performers.
“Over the two days we had over a dozen performers to work alongside the Music through Ages theme of the entertainment programme which went down really well and kept everyone in a happy party mood,” said entertainment organiser from the Feast & Fayre committee, Nell Edwards.
The most colourful highlight of the event was the annual Horndon 10k run on Sunday, organised by the Rotary Club of Thurrock Gateway with just under 500 runners of all standards taking on the race which is branded the ‘toughest’ 10k in Essex. All runners were chipped for ‘electronic’ accuracy and BBC Radio Essex mentioned the Feast & Fayre and 10k in their BBC Essex Quest feature live on air.
The race got underway from the now famous Blue Rotary Arch at 11am sharp. The gruelling course, with a tough uphill climb in the first section and then back through the High Street before venturing onto the Horndon countryside, climaxed 10k later with another uphill finish. First man home saw Tom Heslop cross the line in an amazing 33mins 21secs and the women’s race winner was Sarah Pennington who came in at an incredible 42mins 32 secs.
The annual flower display centred on the ‘Magna Carta and Music Through The Ages’ themes in Horndon’s St Peter and St Paul Parish Church once again proved to be a magnificent spectacle and an assortment of choral and musical performers in the Church gave attendees the chance to enjoy some peace and tranquillity during the course of the weekend.
The event culminated with competitors from the two village pubs, The Swan and The Bell, compete in the annual ‘best of three’ Tug-of-War contest which saw The Swan triumph 2-0.
