The Festival started with a very successful Parade of Superheroes. It was led by the Festival Queen and her attendants in an open top car. This was followed by another with the Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor Georgina Phillips and David Silver, the Chair of the RMA.
On arrival at the OCR the Deputy Lord Mayor opened the Fete. It was attended by a very large number of people. The BBQ in particular was heavily used and there was a queue until the end of the Fete. The NSPCC supporters provided tea, coffee and cake throughout the afternoon.
In the evening there was a sell out attendance of a charity concert by the Pontypridd Male Voice Choir at Radyr Golf Club organised by our local Rotary Group
Sunday heralded the Civic Service at Christ Church followed by a Civic Reception organised by the Community Council. There were speeches from R&MCC, the RMA to talk about the Festival itself and from Mr Mike Flanagan, the County Commissioner for St John’s Cymru Wales for Cardiff.
Monday started very cloudy after overnight rain. Not the best of conditions for the Fun Run and left the organisers with a big decision as to whether to move the Crowning Ceremony indoors. Both events went ahead and were not affected by the rain. The Crowning Ceremony started with a procession led by the Festival Queen and the Chair of the RMA followed by the Two attendants and the Vice Chair of the Community Council and our County Councillor. After the Vice Chair of the Council, Mike Diment, crowned the Queen we were all entertained by displays of Maypole Dancing by pupils from both Bryn Deri and Radyr Primary Schools. Both were as near perfect as possible. Tea and cakes were provided by Treforgan WI. The Queen’s party then left to go to the Children’s Tea Party at Morganstown Village Hall. There seemed to be more youngsters there then in previous year and after eating they were all entertained by Mike Church.
On Wednesday evening there was a literary event where Angela John spoke about the number of actors who come from Port Talbot, their origins, how they were influenced during their school days and how they developed. After answering questions, mostly about theatre in Port Talbot, Angela signed books for members of the audience.
Thursday saw the Tenovus Festival Quiz take place in the New School Rooms. Our own RMA team won the event, making a change from organising events themselves.
Friday saw the first of our two lunchtime concerts in the Methodist Church. Despina Homatidou, a Greek harpsichordist performed to a large and very appreciative audience. She was so popular that her CDs sold out very quickly, with extra orders having to be taken.
CUBE performed as usual at the Twinning Fellowship Jazz Night. It was sold out and it was a great performance in a packed room. This year they had a new Jazz singer with them as well. A thoroughly enjoyable evening wa shad by one and all.
Saturday afternoon saw the Bryn Deri Bike ride along the Taff Trail. One pupil started the ride using stabilisers on his bike, but when he got to the end he was riding without any! Saturday evening saw the RPMG concert “Up Up and Away”. This year they were joined by Rubicon Dance. Everbody joined in with the performers.
On Sunday we had the open gardens, which was well attended as last year. 5 gardens were open to the public. The weather was really good which made the gardens look even better. It was also a great boost to the Hog Roast at the Golf Club with lots of people on the patio.
Monday saw the regular Festival walk led by Allan Cook. This year it was in the local area around Morganstown.
Tuesday was Film Night in the OCR. We were treated to a showing of the classic film “Fargo” directed by the Coen brothers. It was a dark comedy crime thriller and was well received by the audience.
Wednesday we moved to MVH for “The Other Jolson”. This was put on by the Fluellen Theatre Company and starred Stefan Pejic in a one man show. The play had comedy, drama and of course lots of Jolson songs.
Thursday saw the Festival Fashion Show produced jointly in aid of the Festival Charity and Tenovus. A large range of clothes, all modeled by local ladies, came from Samantha B from her shop in Ewenny. The 90 attendees all had a fabulous time and the models all thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Friday saw the start of a very busy weekend with two events every day. There was a sell out lunchtime concert with two excellent singers from the Wales Academy of Voice. In the evening we had the Audio Visual and Video evening produced by Mick Sullivan and David Cargill. It included a series of events around R&M in pictures,including the end of last year’s Festival and most of this year’s and a video of the Gondoliers, produced by RPMG earlier this year.
Saturday saw the very popular Concert in the Parc. Crowds started to arrive at 11.30 am and continued to increase until just before the end at 6pm. The bar and BBQ were heavily used as normal and we sold out of food and virtually all of the drink available in the last half hour. The pupils from the local schools, and the section put together by Nick Cook were all really well received by the audience and we are already planning next year’s event.
Sunday started after some rain overnight, but again we had good weather for the dog/tractor show. This year there were both breed and novelty classes. Everyone had a great time and as usual, the BBQ sold out just before the show ended.
The evening saw the last event of the 30th Festival, the charity concert for StJohn at Christ Church. It was performed by the City of Cardiff (Melingriffith) Brass Band. In the interval the Festival Raffle was drawn, the Ken Innes trophy was awarded to Julie Davies and David Silver, Chair of the RMA announced that £6000 had been raised so far for the Charity. A final figure will be available in June. He also thanked all members of both the RMA Executive Committee and the Festival Committee for making the Festival such a success.
Festival 2017
