The celebrations of Britwell turning 70 got off to a flying start at the weekend.
A day full of community spirit
On Saturday, we welcomed a fantastic mix of local businesses and community organisations, with stalls, an ice cream van, coffee, delicious food and plenty to see and do.
Then, after a couple of hours, the rain and wind arrived — and arrived with a vengeance! The weather could not dampen the determination of Britwell residents and our amazing Britwell Hub volunteers. Their resilience really stood out as everyone refused to be beaten by the elements.
We were also delighted to work with Anna Jones from the University of Reading, who was an absolute joy to work with. Anna brought her professionalism and experience and worked brilliantly alongside our fantastic team of volunteers to help make the festival happen.
Music, dance and a very special choir
In the afternoon, Rob Harris led a fantastic variety show indoors, featuring a wonderful mix of performances, including a sitar player, dhol drummers, Amina Khayyam and her dance group, and local band Daft!, who delivered a brilliant set of smash hits.
Then came the grand finale — the newly formed Britwell Community Choir, working with Rob.
The choir sang a selection of well-known hits and led a wonderful community singalong that lifted everyone’s spirits. And, of course, they performed ‘Britwell Girl’, our very own version of the Billy Joel classic Uptown Girl.
We think it is safe to say that ‘Britwell Girl’ is now officially the theme tune for our 70th birthday year!
The choir had only managed a couple of practice sessions before the festival, but they were absolutely brilliant. It worked so well that we will now be starting regular choir practice sessions over the coming weeks.
A huge thank you to Stevos and the Love Music Hate Violence team for keeping the tunes playing throughout the day.
We also want to thank the young people from the Youth Parliament and Together As One for their energy, enthusiasm and hard work helping with the set-up and pack-down. It is so important that we continue to work together across generations as we look to Britwell’s future.
A new mural brings colour to Britwell
Another highlight of the day was the unveiling of our newly painted Britwell Mural.
Working in partnership with Together As One, artist Jho did a fantastic job, transforming what was once an ugly wall into something beautiful and vibrant for the community to enjoy.
And this is just the beginning. We have plans for more murals and other artwork around the estate in the months ahead, so watch out for more colourful transformations coming soon!
Britwell Bunting — made by the community
No festival is complete without bunting!
Thanks to the painstaking efforts of our very own Bunting Queen team, we now have hundreds of flags of bunting made from reused pieces of material.
It is a wonderful example of community creativity and sustainability — and the bunting will be brought out time and time again for events over the coming months and years.
We also unveiled a fantastic wall of flowers, all knitted and crocheted by the wonderful Knitwell Britwell group, who meet every Thursday and are led by the very talented Theresa Carter.
Look out for the flower display making its next appearance at Britwell Library very soon.
Make a wish for Britwell
The ‘Britwell Well’ also made its first appearance at the festival.
The Britwell Estate was named after a well. Originally called Bright Well, the name later changed to Britwell.
Our new Britwell Well will now be used in schools, at the library and at community events, giving residents of all ages the opportunity to share their ‘wishes’ for Britwell.
What would you like to see more of? What is missing? What would make Britwell an even better place to live, work and grow up?
We want to hear from you.
A huge thank you to our friend and creative partner Farzana for creating such a beautiful masterpiece.
Sport, activities and community partners
There was plenty more happening on the day too.
We were joined by the Fire Brigade, British Legion, Family Hub, Cardo, Everyone Active and many more of our fantastic partners.
Local businesses also came along to showcase and sell their products and services. And, of course, no celebration would be complete without face painting — so a big thank you to Laura, who always does such a brilliant job!
We were also joined by a fantastic range of sports organisations, including England Netball, Berkshire Cricket and Berks & Bucks Football, among others.
Over the coming year, we will be developing many more sports, activities and opportunities for people of all ages across Britwell. There is lots more to come, so keep an eye out as these plans start to take shape.