East Barnet Festival 2005

Largest Free Festival in North London

The largest free festival in North London, the East Barnet Festival regularly attracts as many as 25,000 weekend visitors. Celebrating it's 10th anniversary this year, the 2005 festival aims to be "the best yet" and will be held over the weekend of Friday evening July 1st, Saturday July 2nd, and Sunday July 3rd.

Arts, Sports, Music and Dance

This multi-cultural arts and sports festival strongly features live music and dance, in The Big Top, on The Bandstand, around and off the main stages, in the arena, junior soccer, and a wide range of traditional community and business stalls, amusements and entertainment, including music and dance workshops and children’s activities

Highlights of the East Barnet Festival, Oak Hill Park, EN4, July 1-3 2005

LIVE MUSIC: in "The Big Top" - Saturday July 2 and Sunday July 3 2005

Saturday from 1.00 to 7.00pm - "Uncovered", the best of North London's unsigned bands, presented by Will Hudson and Rangoon with their blend of "accomplished country blues, politics, passion and puns"

Sunday from 1.00 to 7.00pm - Pop, Rock, Blues, Boogie Woogie, and Folk, presented by J.J.Dunne

1.0pm Matt Hart - an exciting solo spot and Festival debut for a young man who’s equally impressive on acoustic and electric guitar, playing a set that draws upon his musical influences and passions, from Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green, through to Green Day and White Stripes. 2.0pm Hokum – ‘Howlin the blues’, these veteran local heroes are back by popular demand. Harmonica driven, they are steeped in the electric sounds of the Windy City’s unique blues greats, from Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf himself, through B.B. King and Guitar Slim, to Chicago’s very own Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. This is urban blues at its best. 3.00pm JJ & Friends - a change of pace, as Barnet Folk Club organiser and music programmer for the Festival, JJ Dunne, takes the stage for an acoustic set of old favorites and 21st century material. 4.00pm The Haunting - a warm welcome back for "the coolest rock band around". This local band, full of talent, features electric fiddle and is led from the front by ace guitarist John Hoare and vocalist Caroline Hoare - Barnet’s raunchy answer to Tina Turner - performing some of Rock’s all-time classics as well as their own original material. 5.00pm Daniel Smith - special guest performer, Daniel Smith, back with us after his great Festival success of a few years ago. A keyboard superstar, singer, composer and performer, this young man shows us what blues, boogie woogie, and barrelhouse piano really sounds like. They say that Oak Hill Park is full of ghosts. Today, it will be the ghosts of keyboard greats like Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis, Fats Waller, "Pinetop" Smith, and Pete Johnson, brought back to life by Daniel. 6.00pm The Warren Band - to round off our final rousing day of live music in "The Big Top", once again we have the energy and vitality of the "all singing, all dancing" Warren Band. They’ll be providing a suitable grand finale to this year’s Festival programme of live music with their unique non-stop medley of rock ‘n roll, soul and a whole lot more!

LIVE MUSIC on The Bandstand

Saturday July 2 and Sunday July 3 2005 Brass & Wind music in a new setting on The Bandstand at the edge of the Nature Reserve, presented by Barry Ainsworth, from the world of brass, wind and country music

Saturday 3.00pm CONCHORD BIG BAND - this swinging big band from Enfield specialise in dance, swing and jazz, and plan to feature some Glenn Miller WW2 favourites, to echo the various VE Day/ end of WW2 activities being commemorated at the Festival. Sunday 1.00pm EAST BARNET WIND BANDS - some 35 young musicians from the East Barnet Music Centre performing under the direction of Andrew Pearce. . 1.50pm BARNET SAXOPHONE ENSEMBLE - formed five years ago by Emily Baker and Adrian Wilson, recently won North London Music Festival ensemble category for the second year running, and performed at the Civic Opening Concert at artsdepot last November. 2.15pm BARNET BAND - local favourites, who’ve been established for more than 100 years. 4.30pm THE SUSI EARNSHAW THEATRE SCHOOL - an interlude with a WW2 theme, by senior pupils from the full time school. 5.00pm THE DA CAPO SYMPHONIC WIND BAND - mainly post graduates, many being former pupils with Barnet’s Music Services. Their programme includes film music from "Saving Private Ryan" and "Summer of 42"

MUSIC of the Streets in The Big Top - 7.00pm Friday evening July 1 2005 - members of the RITHMIK youth project will demonstrate their skills in DJ-ing, audio recording, sampling, mixing and creating new music of the streets. The Mayor of Barnet, Cllr Andreas Tambourides and the Mayoress are expected to be there. Join them!

DANCE STAGE, on and around. Saturday July 2 and Sunday July 3 2005

A colourful wide-ranging cultural fusion of dance presented on Saturday by Paul Sadler - former ‘Big Breakfast’ presenter, commercials music writer, collaborator with Julian Defries on an upcoming show, and co-organiser of the Battle of the Bands in Friary Park - and on Sunday by Mary-Ann Ochota, a local presenter from North Finchley

Saturday 1.30pm Samba - The Beija-Flor Dance Group present The Art of Brazilian Dance, workshops and performances. Exotic dancers, exotic performances. 2.45pm and 3.30pm Union Dance Too - the innovative Union Dance company's youth group, based in Islington where young people train in longterm dance projects with professional dancers from the main company, while exploring their own potential through the creation and development of their own work. They will also be taking part the 'Big Youth Dance Week' at the Festival Hall. 3.15pm Susi Earnshaw Theatre School fill the Dance Square.

Sunday 2.00pm Lesley Hand School of Dancing - based in East Barnet, performing ballet, tap and modern jazz for all ages. 2.45pm North London Dance (dancesport) - all styles of dancesport, including modern ballroom, Viennese waltz, Latin American, sequence, disco/freestyle, rock’n roll, Argentine tango and salsa/mambo. 3.30pm Spy Rikud - award winning Israeli folk dancers who have performed at the London Palladium, and on ITV. 4.15pm North London Performing Arts Centre - catering for more than 1500 children at their Centre in Muswell Hill, their dance troupe is this year choreographed by Ann-Marie Lennon who's worked for the Jazzexchange and Sakoba companies, Mis-Teeq and Billie Piper 5.00pm Flash Musicals - from Edgware, an amazing finale staging songs and dances of favourite pop stars.

In the Dance Square - Sunday July 3 2005 1.45pm and 3.15pm Bollywood Grooves - the colour and excitement of Bollywood music and dance 2.45pm - join in with the Scottish Tally Ho Dancers, and at 3.45pm - the Texan Dudes Line Dancers. At 5.00pm - the London School of Yoga

BRING A GRAN or A VETERAN

Saturday July 2 and Sunday July 3 2005 Complementing the special exhibition of WW2 material from the Barnet Museum and the RSVP In the History & Tea Tent, will be an opportunity for anyone of a certain age - civilians and war veterans - to record their reminiscences for the BBC "PEOPLE'S WAR" archive. Organised by the Barnet Borough Arts Council. Featuring newspapers of the period from local resident John Frost's world famous collection, and the presence of Cockfosters naval veteran "Duke" Thomson, who'll be discussing his experiences of the Arctic and North Atlantic convoys, and the Mediterranean Fleet, as described in his forthcoming book.

SPORT

Sunday 3.00pm to 6.00pm - keenly fought Six-a-Side Junior Soccer - the schools taking part include Brunswick Park, Danegrove, Monkfrith, St Catherine’s, St Paul’s, Queenswell, and last year's winners Edgware Junior School who went right through the tournament without conceding a single goal.

PLUS, PLUS, PLUS

A folk music workshop with JJ Dunne and Robin Gillan on Saturday, Bollywood dance workshops on Sunday, children’s painting in the artsdepot Arts Tent on Sunday, Punch & Judy throughout the weekend , arts & crafts, charity and business stalls galore, Greg Burns' Beer and PIMMS tent, the Food Fair, the Fungee Bungee, workshops in Circus Skills, the Climbing Rock, adjacent St Mary's Church 925th anniversary celebrations, and of course Hammond’s Family Fun Fair, with its latest rides and 'ridem-all' wristband nights, will be open from Thursday evening, June 30th through to late on Sunday.

Free Festival Run By Volunteers

The Festival is a genuine community event, entirely volunteer-run, bringing together local and guest musicians, artistes, performers, with participants from London and beyond. Free and open to all, the Festival is held amongst the 50-plus green and rolling acres of local authority owned Oak Hill Park, which has historic associations and origins going back through medieval times, the Normans, the Saxons, to the Romans