The countdown has started to Burgess Hill’s Summer Festival, which starts on Saturday 3 June and runs until Sunday 11 June. There will be a riot of fun during the 9 day Festival with 62 events taking place – 46 of them either free of charge or costing no more than £5.
The Festival kicks off on Saturday 3 June with a French Market in the town centre so come and stock up on a range of Gallic goodies. Combine your visit with a walk across the park to Wild About Mid Sussex in the Festival Marquee… children will love handling the exotic reptiles and seeing the other fascinating exhibits.
On Sunday 4 June the Festival Marquee will host children’s entertainer Robbie the Magician followed by an afternoon of popular classical music with Burgess Hill Symphony Orchestra and an evening of Jazz in the Marquee with acclaimed musician Herbie Flowers and His Band.
The Festival offers music for all tastes with seminal British rhythm and blues band, Animals and Friends and Ireland’s top entertainer Dominic Kirwan with guest singer Lisa Stanley, at Martlets Hall, and a Motown Night with guest singer Albie J. in the Festival Marquee.
Double Duos play an evening of showtime music at St John’s Church and Act Too present the classic Lionel Bart musical Oliver! as their annual showcase production at Martlets Hall. Join All the Right Notes community choir for their Magical Musical Tour and dust off your dancing shoes for the return of the popular Party in the Park, with local bands covering 6 decades of music.
Local artists and photographers will be displaying their work at various venues around the town. Children and adults will be able to give free rein to their inner creativity at the Wax Flowers and Mosaic Workshops, a Comic Art Masterclass, get crafty at the Library, try Painting and Collage and learn traditional Croatian technique of Reverse Glass Painting.
For the more active there are Festival Walks, a Flamenco Dance taster session and a chance to try out Boules and Tennis, plus the annual Burgess Hill Bike Ride will be celebrating its 25th year with routes for the fit and not quite so fit.
There are plenty of other activities on offer too, with Festival talks on The Art of Taxidermy by ethical taxidermist Jazmine Miles-Long, an illustrated talk by Mark Saunders, Head Gardener at Fittleworth House, the independent Kingdom of Sussex with historian Rupert Matthews, and a look at the criminal mind in fact and fiction with top crime fiction writers, William Shaw and P.D. Viner.
Young people can join Burgess Hill Theatre Club’s workshop leader for a Shakespearean drama workshop with a difference. Drop in to the Amateur Radio Open Evening and who knows, you may get a chance to talk to a radio amateur on the International Space Station. And children will love having a go at “Robot Wars” style combat with radio controlled cars.
Jay Millers Circus will bring their special 30th Anniversary Show to Burgess Hill with acrobats and clowns to amaze and amuse. Get £5 off Circus ticket prices when you present your Burgess Hill Summer Festival brochure. All this and more will take place across Burgess Hill in June.
The Festival concludes on Sunday 11 June with fun for all the family at the traditional Summer Fayre in St John’s Park, and there will be a barrel of laughs at The Woolpack Comedy Club to close the Festival on Sunday evening.
The full programme can be viewed at www.burgesshill.gov.uk/Summerfestival and is also available from Burgess Hill Town Council’s Help Point at 96 Church Walk, Burgess Hill Library and other community venues around the town.
Tickets are on sale now.