FOREWORD
Diary
Friday 14 July to
Saturday 16 July
from 12:00 pm
Towrags Rally at the
Smallbrook Stadium.
Motorcyle rally in aid of the
National Association for Bikers
with a disability & an Island charity.
Stalls, disco & bands, silly games,
hog roast, bike & trike show.
Saturday 22 July
from 8:00 pm
Pedigree Dog Show at the
Newchurch Community Centre.
Members only dog show.
Spectators welcome
Monday 24 July and
Wednesday 26 July
from 11.00am
Become a Junior Falconer at the
Isle of Wight Owl and Falconry
Centre at Appuldurcombe House
Learning to fly one of our trained
owls or hawks. Introducing young
people to birds - suitable for over
7’s with parental supervision.
Saturday 29 July to
Sunday 30 July
from 10:00 am
Isle of Wight Fuchsia Show at
the Bishop Lovett School, Ryde.
10
GARLIC FESTIVAL - 19th - 20th AUGUST
A TOUCH OF GARLIC
The Island always likes
to be just that little bit
different. Like all seaside
tourist resorts, we have
our ice creams and our
buckets and spades, but
we’re also very fond of
our garlic.
It started off as a bit of
a curiosity, but now the
Garlic Festival is one of
the Island’s most popular
summer shows, attracting
huge crowds of both
Islanders and visitors
from the mainland.
The survival of this
year’s event has been
quite a cliffhanger, but
after
some
delicate
negotiation, everything is
on course for a wonderful
festival weekend, held at
Newchurch on August 19
and 20.
Principal
organiser
for the last eight years,
Rosemarie Norman tells
me that she believes that
the 2006 Garlic Festival
will be one of the best
shows yet.
“It will offer great family
entertainment for all ages.
We have radio presenter
Johnny Walker opening
the show, and Chas & Dave
– famous for Gertcha and
Rabbit – doing a set on the
Saturday afternoon.”
Another certain crowdpuller will be the freeentry circus, which will
have plenty of dazzle
but strictly no animals.
Island magician David
Randini will be up to
all his favourite tricks,
and there’ll be falconry
displays, dog agility
performances, and lots
of live music, alongside
many excellent Island and
mainland stalls.
But the festival is really
about garlic, of course,
and at Newchurch, it goes
far beyond a few cloves.
Among the more unusual
applications on offer
will be garlic ice cream,
garlic sweet corn and
garlic relish. I’m assured
that they’re all utterly
scrummy so long as you’re
not a vampire
Tel: 01983 863566
www.garlic-festival.co.uk
1940s DAY HAVENSTREET - 1st - 2nd JULY
Re-living the 1940s
You weren’t around in
the 1940s? Well, don’t
dismiss
Havenstreet
Steam Railway’s period
extravanganza weekend,
which will take place this
year on July 1-2 and which
will be a real treat for
everyone, young and old.
Being amazingly youthful
myself, I’m very much
post-war vintage, but
when I visited last year’s
event, I enjoyed myself
enormously.
The 1940s Weekend is
like a journey back through
time. Everything is themed
around the austerity years
of the Second World War
and its aftermath. Clothes,
food, and ambience all
contribute to a fascinating
reconstruction of the
way things were, and
with visitors joining in
and dressing up for the
occasion, the whole event
is heady with nostalgia
and
the
marvellous
sense of unity and cooperation that prevailed
in those days. Performing
against the wonderfully
atmospheric background
of the Havenstreet Steam
Railway, a group of
professional actors set the
style for the event with
polished
authenticity.
There are troops milling
about, just as there would
have been half a century
ago, and last year the
Royal Marines made their
contribution to this trip
into history. Apart from the
wonderful performances
and
entertainments,
there is a wealth of
1940s memorabilia on
display and for sale,
from ration books and
no-frills food to patriotic
flags and contemporary
photographs.
A number of military
vehicles are on parade, and
if your taste is for more
frivolous things, you can
watch just how Jitterbug
dancing put the pep into
the youth of the 1940s.
Steam trains will be
running throughout the
weekend on the railway’s
route between Wootton
and Smallbrook Junction,
providing that bustle and
puff that was so prevalent
during wartime and in the
years when few people
owned cars. Whether you
view it as history or a trip
down memory lane, this
1940s Weekend will take
you back to an era that was
fascinatingly different from
the way we live today.
Island Life - www.islandlifemagazine.net