Tag: Maidenhead Festival

Maidenhead Festival – 22 July 2017

Posted on Posted in Maidenhead FestivalTagged , , Leave a comment

Despite somewhat inclement weather in the afternoon, we had a good day in Kidwells Park as we joined others as part of Maidenhead Festival.

We met up at 8am to set up the marquees and had a good location in the park, although, due to space issues, we were unfortunately only able to put up one of the marquees.

After completing setup in good time, we enjoyed some coffee and bacon rolls, courtesy of Lesley, before having a short time of prayer.

Like previous years, we had colouring and worksheets available for the children, but this year we also decided to try a new venture and spend some time telling children some of the stories from the Bible.

At 12pm, we had the first of three planned Bible stories during the day as Alan ran through David and Goliath.  This was followed by a quiz, based on the story and the children then learnt the chorus, Only a boy called David.  The children attending were all given goody bags, containing various invites to activities including the upcoming Holiday Club, a notebook, Parkside pen and a children’s activity tract.

Alan had also created a Splat the Cat game, using materials found in his father’s garage. This proved effective at engaging with passers by and drawing them in to hear the stories.

Phil told the second story – that of Jonah and the Big Fish.  This was again followed a quiz and a chance for the children to learn the chorus Come listen to my tale, of Jonah and the whale.

As we approached the time for our final story, the rain seemed to be getting increasingly heavy and numbers in the park seemed to be diminishing.  However, the rain ended up drawing people in to take shelter and the final story, Daniel in the Lions’ Den, was probably the best attended of all.

Overall, despite the rain, we were pleased with how the day seemed to go.  We had a good number of children in for the stories, while Lesley single-handedly gave out a large number of invites to Toddlers!  Numbers for the colouring were down on previous years so it may be worth considering focusing more on stories next year.

It was interesting to note that, despite the large number of stalls in the park, numbers attending the Festival overall seemed to be down on previous years.

Again, we’re thankful to the Lord for answers to prayer for the day.

Preparation for Maidenhead Festival – 21 July 2017

Posted on Posted in Announcements, Maidenhead FestivalTagged , Leave a comment

Tomorrow, we’ll be out once again with a marquee in Kidwells Park, as part of Maidenhead Festival.

We’ll have a variety of different activities for children including telling well-known Bible stories at 12pm, 2pm and 4pm.

We’ll also have colouring and worksheets available and a range of Christian literature for all ages.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Maidenhead Festival – 23 July 2016

Posted on Posted in Maidenhead FestivalTagged , , , Leave a comment

The sun shone virtually all day as we once again had a stall in Kidwells Park as part of the ever-popular Maidenhead Festival.

We were grateful for our location within the park which enabled us to erect both of the marquees and give us plenty of space.  With set up in the park from 8am, it was an early start for us, but we were able to complete by around 9am and retired inside for a short time of prayer and some well-deserved bacon butties, kindly organised by Lesley.

This year, we decided to dispense with the old sign, seen in the photo below.  Although it was clearly effective and eye-catching, the website address has changed to parksidecf.com and the wooden support framework was heavy and cumbersome to transport and set up. Instead we opted for a couple of pop up banners, which we noticed seemed to be very popular among other stallholders this year.

P1010188

As in previous years, we opted to focus on children’s colouring with a wordsearch also available for the older ones. Goody bags containing some information about us, a Parkside pen, balloon, rubbers, coloured pens, notepad and a children’s activity leaflet were given away to everyone who completed colouring.

As well as helping with colouring, we were able to enjoy some good conversations with those who visited us, in addition to giving out a number of invites to activities and Christian literature including several copies of the book about the Queen’s faith, The Servant Queen – and the King she serves.

As usual, it was a long and tiring day, but worthwhile in every sense and we’re grateful for God’s help and support to us during our time in the park.

We look forward to being a part of Maidenhead Festival next year as well.

Maidenhead Festival Colouring Competition winners – 2 September 2013

Posted on Posted in Maidenhead FestivalTagged , , Leave a comment

We had nearly 100 entries at our colouring competition at the recent Maidenhead Festival and had four separate age categories for the competition.

Congratulations to all our winners who each received a £5 gift voucher for Quench.

Roman
Roman – Winner, age 3 to 6
Eve
Eve – Winner, age 7 to 9
Poppy
Poppy – Winner, age 10 to 12
Emily
Emily – Winner, age 12 and above

Maidenhead Festival – 27 July 2013

Posted on Posted in Maidenhead Carnival, Maidenhead FestivalTagged , , 2 Comments

We had an excellent day at Maidenhead Festival and had a stall in Kidwells Park with a colouring competition for the children and various literature displayed.

The day began for us at 8am with the setup of two marquees along with various tables, chairs, pencils, colouring sheets, literature and stands.  We made time for a short time of prayer before getting out into the park in time for the official start at 9.30am.

Our location in the park was good, with sufficient space for us to be able to spread the tables out around the edge of the marquees.

The Parkside stall in Kidwells Park
The Parkside stall in Kidwells Park

We were also opposite the sand pit, set out with its rows of deckchairs to guard the edge.  This extra attraction helped to ‘draw’ people to that part of the park.

The sandpit and deckchairs
The sandpit and deckchairs

As in previous years, there were a number of other ‘charity’ stalls set out in the park, along with fun fair rides for the children and a good selection of food stalls – all supporting the main stage and acoustic tent.

We had four different pictures to colour, which Judith had kindly arranged, all of which represented a scene from a Bible story which included water.  People arriving with children were given a choice of picture to colour.  Once complete, they then entered details of the child’s name, age, address and added a parent’s signature to the back.

All entries went into our competition with the first prize a £5 book token from Quench.

We had a relatively quiet morning, ironically while most of our volunteers were there.  Things became busier after lunch and for most of the afternoon we were so busy we had to buy more sweets and obtain more copies of the colouring sheets.

Blue skies and sunshine
Blue skies and sunshine
Getting busy
Getting busy

Eventually, after warm sunshine for most of the day, the long-promised rain began to arrive.  This had the effect of forcing more people into the tent as they sort shelter from the rain.

The inclement weather drew more into the marquees
The inclement weather drew more into the marquees
Final view before the big pack up began
Final view before the big pack up began

Around 5pm, we decided to call it a day, along with most of the other stall-holders.

It had been another successful outing in the park and we’re grateful for God’s leading and guiding with our position in the park, the good weather and the excellent response to both the colouring competition and literature being offered.