CHISLEHURST: Here's to 75 years! (From News Shopper)

CHISLEHURST: Here's to 75 years!

4:04pm Friday 16th October 2009 in Chislehurst By Hannah Cordwell - community correspondent

Over the past two weeks Chislehurst has been host to the first ever village festival, celebrating 75 years of the Chislehurst Society. A number of special events took place during this time ranging from belly dancing workshops to dog shows and all the way through to a Victorian play which took place in a local pub.

The Big Draw event took place last weekend, there was a huge community atmosphere on the common as people of all ages took part in the activities on offer. This year's theme was Alice in Wonderland. The adults who attended took part in a calligraphy workshop, and also made clay pots, while children decorated their own t-shirts and could also have their face painted by the Chislehurst Society who organised the event. Photos of Chislehurst's historical sites which were taken by local children were made into postcards and put on sale at The Big Draw. There were also tents with information about the Chislehurst Society who look after the well being of Chislehurst and make sure that the historic sites are kept in fantastic condition. There was also a tent for the local Rotary Club who raise enormous amounts of money for charity. All the proceeds from this particular event went towards the upkeep of Chislehurst common. The community spirit made the day a wonderful occasion.

There was also a concert that took place at St Nicholas Church featuring the Bromley Boy Singers and the Allegri Singers. This was a huge success and was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended. There have been a number of concerts taking place throughout the whole festival with one at Farringtons School with performances from a variety of local singing and amateur operatic associations.

2gether Charity Shop held a late night shopping evening on October 1st. They welcomed a wide variety of new customers and the event was very successful and they took £1,500 on the evening and an extra £800 the following day. All the money that was raised during this event is going towards the new youth centre project, The Edge.

During the London open weekend, Chislehurst opened up all its historic building's such as Bullers Wood House which is part of Bullers Wood School and Babington House was also open to show off its fine architecture. All three local churches where open for the public to visit too.

Over the final weekend there was a dog show which saw 65 dogs enter show. This event was clearly a huge success. While this event took place a tap dancing group put on a little show for the audience, despite the stage being carpeted the girls pulled through and pulled off their performance perfectly.

The final event that took place was the Chislehurst Chase. This was the first time that the race had been run in Chislehurst for over one hundred years. Originally the chase was a horse race that took place annually . The race was over a 10k course through the surrounding countryside with local people running in the race and club runners joining in as well. The furthest competitor came from Edinburgh, and the eldest participant was in their 70's.

A huge thanks go out to Ellie Ables who was project manager and Tony Allelm who both put in so much work to make the festival a huge success. Here's to the next 75 years!