News from Tillingham Festival of Arts

AUTUMN 2009

The Ninth Biennial Tillingham Festival of Arts was held from 21st to 27th June 2009 in St. Nicholas Church, Tillingham.

The week commenced on the Sunday with a Choral Evensong led by the Vicar The Rev. Lorna Smith together with the Burnham Music Group and organist Martin Taylor.

Richard Hand and Jennifer Stinton opened the week of concerts with a well attended audience who were treated to some wonderful examples of guitar and flute playing.

Travelling by Tuba made a welcome return on Thursday, and they held a workshop in the afternoon in a church packed with enthusiastic children from local schools who thoroughly enjoyed hearing and learning about the different instruments Chris and Stewart provided.
The concert in the evening was also a very enjoyable and amusing demonstration of sousaphone, alpenhorn, ocarina as well as the tuba.

Hughes Percussion Unit SIX also gave an afternoon workshop on the Friday to pupils of the local schools before giving a concert in the evening. James Hughes demonstrated the range and flair of his talent by playing the marimba, vibraphone, crotales and snare drum while being accompanied by Tim Balnaves on the piano.

The Aveley & Newham Band made a welcome return to close the Festival on the Saturday, playing a variety of music to an appreciative audience.
Before the concert, the church was open for visits and strawberry teas.

The Arts & Crafts Exhibition was held in the Congregational Church and included displays of art, textiles, embroidery and wood carving.

The Festival Committee are very grateful to the Vicar and Churchwardens and the PCC for their permission to hold the Festival in the Church, as well as thanks to those providing the logistics to stage the event.

Our thanks to all our “Friends” and Sponsors for their generous support.

2009 Annual General Meeting
The 2009 AGM will be held on Monday 9th November 2009 at 8pm in The Congregational Church, South Street, Tillingham to which everyone is invited to attend. We would be glad to hear your views and ideas as well as welcoming anyone wishing to get involved in the future running of the Festival.

A list of previous Festivals can be found here.

N.B. This will be my last Newsletter as I am now retiring after 10 years as Secretary. I wish the Festival all the very best for its future success and my thanks to all my colleagues on the Committee.

Autumn 2009 2/09