What a wonderful day!
Sunday 29th June saw the first ever New Forest Bear Festival take place in and around Beaulieu village. The day was very well attended, the sun shone and the bears picnicked although blustery winds made it essential for exhibitors to hold on to their gazebos and the craft marquee had to be opened to allow for free air flow!
We have so many people to thank for their support not least the village residents and traders for their cooperation, especially Eva and Steffi at Beaulieu Delicatessen, Fairweather's Garden Centre,
Trevor and team at the Chocolate Studio and Brenda at Flowers of the Forest.
Thank you Chris and Irene from Festive Friends for manning the pay-as-you-play games all day and helping to create a wonderful family fete feel to the proceedings. Thank you to the Beaulieu Estate for allowing us to use the Motor Museum car park and Vitalise for running the park and ride bus service all day. (Huge thanks John!) A special thank you also goes to the Beaulieu volunteer fire crew for opening up the fire station and joining in the day. (I will speak to them later about selling the treasure hunt clue to visitors if they polished the crew's boots!)
Big thanks to the Community Police Officers who kept vigil over things and joined in the spirit of the day allowing children to explore a real police car!
Finally a huge thank you to all the exhibitors and all the visitors without whom the day would never have been. Next year's date is set for Sunday 28th June 2009.
Hope to see you all there.
With grateful thanks from
Julie and Amanda xx |