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In previous years we have seen…

Queen’s Park Day 2014

Crowds enjoying Queen’s Park Day 2014

QPARA member Mike Bailey wrote about last year’s Queen’s Park Day in the QPARA Newsletter:

Come rain or shine, Queen’s Park Day is always a highlight in the local calendar. This year the sun shone and residents and visitors flocked here in their thousands (14,860 to be precise).

QPD is part traditional village fete – cake and jam competitions, donkey rides, a tug-of-war tournament – combined with twenty-first-century music-making, the candy-floss thrill of the funfair and the delights of a street-food festival. And that’s not to mention over a hundred individual stalls offering an A to Z of tempting items, promoting good causes and spreading the word about local events.

This is genuinely a something-for-everyone occasion. Whether you want to learn ballet or how to box, to keep bees or take up Filipino martial arts, the opportunity is here. For many, simply watching the entertainment on offer is enough, from the remarkable Fanti contortionists, to Mr Alexander’s brand of magic, to the regular high point of the Queen’s Park’s Vets fancy-dress dog show. For some, just sitting on a hay bale sipping Pimms while the world passes by is enough.

Some changes were made to this year’s arrangements, principally by moving the Community Performance stage to the Kensal Rise side of the café, thus avoiding a musical face-off with the bandstand and providing a showcase for local performers.

At the end of the afternoon, as the last helium balloon escaped over the treetops and the barbecue smoke faded on the breeze, weary parents gathered up little girls with flower-braided hair and their tiger-face-painted brothers. All of them, we hope, making a promise to come again next year. Our thanks, as ever, go to the tireless team of volunteers who make this complex event happen.

The last word goes to senior resident Monty Charkham, a seasoned observer of QPD down the years: ‘Everybody was smiling! Like an aura of happiness all over. It’s a remarkable day, you know.’

Briefing the crew!

Park staff working hard to get ready

Cake competition entrants

Queen’s Park Day 2014 Programme

See inside for details

Some arena events from earlier years

Seven-legged Race
Best Junior Handler (under 12)
Fancy Dress
Eagle Heights (Eagle, Vulture and Falconry Display)

Keen entrant for the dog show

Dog fancy dress entrant is prepared

Eagle & Vulture Show

Inch Perfect

Epico the Dragon

Get Cycling

Try out different kinds of bikes and trikes for free (including this year the eXtreme Try-out with even zanier bikes than before)

Fun with Get Cycling at Queen’s Park Day 2011

The Rhythm Studio

As featured in the film of Queen’s Park Day 2011

Other highlights from previous years

Donkeys – an essential part of the event

Arena events in 2012 included Bernie Bennett’s Comedy Tightrope act and an Eagle and Falconry display where some of the most awe-inspiring birds in the world swooped just above our heads.

And by popular demand those limbo-dancing, funny contortionists – the Fanti acrobats.

Get Cycling were present with their newest attraction, eXtreme Try-Out.

Fun with Get Cycling in 2011

Testing a Get Cycling KMX cart last year

The Rhythm Studio had a large audience all day for their performances on their specially constructed stage near the playground.

We’lined up a mouth-watering choice of food stalls from Afro-Caribbean to bagels, from hog roast to French cuisine – not to mention chocolate-dipped fruits, doughnuts or iced yoghourt – you are bound to find a stall to suit your taste. The dedicated tea-garden on the Kingswood Ave side of the main field proved a huge success again and a welcome place to sit down and enjoy a welsh cake thanks to the excellent bakers at the London Welsh School.

We selected a fantastic mix of stalls, selling among other things jewellery and clothes, both contemporary and vintage,crafts, books, plants, furniture and more.

Colourful trade stall

In line with our policy of encouraging new local businesses, many stallholders were exhibiting for the first time. Community stalls were well represented in case you be interested in joining – among others -the Scouts, Guides, Samaritans or local history groups