Our first Green Festival took place on Sunday 21st September in Horsforth Hall Park and it was an amazing day!
Working closely with Friends of Horsforth Hall Park we organised a day of activities, music, community, stalls, information and food.
The day kicked off with a fruit and vegetable family headdress parade, marching round the park in homemade masks and amazing willow headdresses made at several adult and family friendly workshops hosted at local businesses Hoc Loco and Stocked.
People also came along armed with entries for our produce show and our children’s Potato head competition.
Music
Three pop-up music areas provided music for all tastes. Powered by Roadblock Sound System – a cycle powered sound system, amplified music was supplied by the upcoming talent from LS18 Rocks. The park bandstand hosted groups from Horsforth Music Centre and Cookridge Love Pop Choir. Finally the Orchestra of Objects brought a truly amazing interactive music experience for children and adults alike!
Activities
From mindfullness to crafts to a cardboard theatre, there was something for everybody.
The Japanese Garden provided the perfect backdrop to both free sound baths and yoga sessions provided by The Crystal Booth and Cafe Yoga. The sessions were well attended and raised interest in both activities. The garden also hosted a tree planting ceremony in conjunction with Friends of Horsforth Hall Park and Horsforth Town Council.
There were craft activities open to everyone. Making flower pot people and wind chimes, cardboard art with Horsforth Walk of Art, and the Sisters of Horsforth WI ran a mend in public stall.
Rodley Nature Reserve brought their Harvest Mice, and the queue to dissect their Owl Pellets was surprisingly long! Further nature viewing was provided by Horsforth Blossom Honey who brought along their observation hive to show people the working life of Bees.
Leeds Urban Harvest offered apple juicing with support from volunteers from Horsforth Town of Sanctuary and a Smoothie Bike was also on site providing the chance to make your own bike powered fruit smoothie!
The ever popular Repair Cafe were on hand with a pop up stall providing fixes and advice to local residents. The full Repair Cafe takes place on the 1st Saturday of every month (apart from December) from 1-4pm at St Margaret’s Parish Centre. There was also free bike repairs and free secure pop up bike parking for those who came by bike.
Stalls
There were lots of information stalls from local nature groups and national campaigns. They were able to provide information and advice on lots of topics from Swift boxes, permaculture, local woods, supporting the skate park and community garden, litter picking, insulating your house, and recycling and reusing.
Local businesses were also represented with Zero Muda, local artist Mouse and Snail, Leeds Women’s Aid Shop, and Pooky’s Deli.
There were plenty of food stalls too catering for all tastes.
Feedback on the day has been overwhelmingly positive, with lots of positive comments about the atmosphere, the variety of free activities and the music!
You can find out more about the day and people’s feedback in these articles in the West Leeds Dispatch and Yorkshire Evening Post.
We would like to say a HUGE thanks you to everyone who took part in the day, and everyone who came along and made it such an amazing event!
Photos from the day
Scroll through to see a full gallery of photos from the day.
