The Grand Opening comprised a weekend of celebrations.
Saturday 2nd September - opening ceremony, fete and family fun.
Saturday 2nd September evening - barn dance and live music
Sunday 3rd September - Music festival
We are hugely grateful to The Big Lottery Fund for our "Celebrate" grant which helped fund our Grand Opening Celebration.
The Grand Opening Celebration Saturday 2nd September 11am - 4pm
The Grand Opening commenced with a blessing by Alison White - The Bishop of Hull and an unveiling of our wonderful stone carved entrance sign by longstanding Kilnwick resident Audrey Weightman. The stone entrance sign was designed by Jake from our Kilnwick Parklings group and carved by Patrick Walls (who joined us for the unveiling).
The press were in attendance with a film crew - and we enjoyed a group photograph to celebrate the newly opened park facilities!
We wanted our celebration opening event to reflect the general aims of The Park - particularly in respect to wildlife education, adventure and activity as well as being fun with "hands on" workshops. For the Wildlife aspect we were delighted to be joined by NYM Birds of Prey, Beverley Bee Keepers, RSPB, East Yorkshire Rivers Authority and the Woodland Trust. Our youngsters also made (and decorated) their own bird boxes to take home for their gardens.
In the marquee our fabulous volunteers served cakes and refreshments to our visitors and John (2 chefs) cooked up a storm on his BBQ's (all profits to The Park's funds).
We were entertained by LS School of Dance, zorb football, ERYC play and sports team, vintage vehicles, chain saw carving demonstrations, the Buckrose Concert band, willow weaving, bird box decoration, face painting and henna decorating, Will Ackerley's bike tricks, Driffield Fire Brigade, Wolds Gymnastics display team, our wonderful friendly "parrot and pirate" friends and so much more!
Our handicrafts show attracted some eye catching entries - our diligent judges did an incredible job of judging them all.
Despite all the other attractions at the Grand Opening, the play equipment was extremely popular!
The Grand Finale of the Grand Opening was a coloured powder run! Great fun for all ages and the "before and after" pictures highlight the effect!
The Grand Opening Evening Barn Dance & Live Music Saturday 2nd September Evening
We had a fabulous evening dancing to "The White Horse Ceilidh Band" followed by The Underground Owls. John (2 Chefs) provided incredible pie and peas to keep our energy levels up!
Kilnwick Music Festival Sunday 3rd September - afternoon / evening
We had a fabulous time at our family friendly music festival. We were thrilled to have such a fabulous line up of artists in such a relaxed setting. The music was incredible and the catering (street food by John of 2 Chefs) was wonderful too. Wom-Bling for the arts, our facepainter Adie and our glittertastic Daisy's were brilliant for the younger ones. A great package and a day to remember.
Our artists were:
Edwina Hayes - beautifully written songs, charming stage presence and voice of an angel have won her a reputation as a true natural talent of gentle folk-Americana. She has played everywhere from Glastonbury Festival to The Royal Albert Hall and opened numerous shows for Jools Holland and Van Morrison.
Katie Spencer - a progressive-folk singer, songwriter and guitarist from the East Riding. Her debut studio release "Good Morning Sky" was released in May 2017.
Dodge McKay - Belfast born singer/songwriter was hugely successful in the early 90's as lead singer with Ghost of an American Airman. Now solo, Dodge's recent album "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow" has been acclaimed as "a stunning song cycle that addresses love, loss, memory and desire with a tuneful, poetic finesse and a crushing emotional precision."
Amber Warren - Amber is a young singer-songwriter based in East Yorkshire. Having already developed a matured and unique songwriting style Amber is said to give a "captivating vocal performance." Amber's ghostlike vocal and unique guitar style has seen her perform at Humber Street Sesh and last years Freedom Festival.
Dogfinger - Driffield based Dogfinger describes his music as difficult to categorize, but is a mojo fuelled blues played on 3 and 4 string cigar box guitars. He has already performed at Filey and Beverley Folk Festivals in 2017 and is in this years Moonbeams Festival line up.
Nick Rooke - East Yorkshire based singer/songwriter of an acoustic / folk genre. His debut album "Trouble Adjustin'" speaks comically of tragedy, cynically of unwanted change, tenderly of relationship and affectionately of reminiscence.
Jasper Bolton - Driffield based Jasper Bolton and Brontes member. The Brontes recently played Tidal Waves and are a Driffield based band formed in 1988.
The Underground Owls - East Yorkshire based band (saxophonist a Kilnwick resident!) have had a very successful 2017. Having met during 2016 while studying at East Riding College they have created a song inspired by Hull City of Culture and have been signed to Academy Records. They've recently performed at Tidal Waves and Beverley Folk Festival, and are soon to perform at TribFest.
http://addplant.co.uk/
Addplant are providing our public conveniences for the Opening weekend as a donation. We are hugely appreciative of their support.
Our Opening Weekend Celebrations have been partially funded by a "Celebrate" Grant by the Big Lottery. We are extremely grateful to them for their support.
The Big Lottery have also supported the Park creation with an "Awards for All" grant.
http://www.2chefs.co.uk/ 2 Chefs catering are supporting our Opening weekend by providing all catering on a voluntary basis, with all proceeds being donated to The Park, Kilnwick charity. John will be cooking us BBQ food on Saturday daytime, Pie and Peas for the Saturday evening event and Street Food on Sunday. A huge thank you to John for his generosity.