MUSIC IN THE PARK 2012, "BRITS AT THEIR BEST"

MUSIC IN THE PARK 2012 - "BRITS AT THEIR BEST"

Thank you for letting us know what a fantastic afternoon you all had. As you know The Friends Summer Concert is organised completely by Volunteers, and what a fabulous job they made of it!  This year's "Music in the Park 2012", usually held in July, was brought forward to incorporate and celebrate our Gracious Queen's Diamond Jubilee, but after the washout of Saturday and Sunday we really didn't know if you would join us in the park! No worries there, record attendance achieved! Eight and a half thousand of you!After many months/days/hours and minutes agonizing over if we had got it right, our expectations were far exceeded. We were extremely touched by the huge show of support from our park users.

At 1pm, solo artist 'Rick Christian' opened the concert to an audience that was to continue to grow to our largest yet! Even the rain couldn't dampen the mood up went the umbrella's with the deckchairs remaining fiercely guarded, Rick played on. It was fabulous to see the good old British spirit shine through willing the clouds away and the sun came out for the rest of the day.

Our second act 'Copper Face Jack', raised the bar and our spirits a little farther, and by the time our last act, 'The New Serenaders', with their calypso tunes wafting in the summer breeze, it seemed summer had finally arrived! Raising the temperature and everyone's spirit just a little more with "Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot", our work was complete with the crowd taking to the green dance floor!

Leisure 2000 ensured the children were entertained with their excellent funfair. Alongside this, fantastic food was in plentiful supply all day long from our very own Wok Man, Hog Roast and the Park Café.

What a wonderful afternoon! We always say, "Boy that took some organising!" But every one of us is filled with pride and joy when we stand back and see what we have achieved. We sincerely hope we have shown what a great place Raphael’s Park is, and what a few very dedicated people can do.

Our many thanks to our brilliant team of volunteers, our sponsor A.C.Preou Limited, www.preou.co.uk , TimeFM,the Parks Protection Team and to you, our supporters, for taking the time out of your busy holiday schedules to spend a few precious hours in our lovely park on that very memorable Bank Holiday afternoon, because without you we couldn’t have raised a whopping £4300 to enable us to continue to support our beautiful parks!