Wash Common Community Festival highlights the best of the local area

The sun was shining on residents of Wash Common when they attended the second annual Wash Common Community Festival on the weekend.

Held at Falkland Cricket Club on Saturday, the event featured more than 25 stalls from different community organisations, the Wash Common Garden & Crafts Show, and the opening of the new 1st Wash Common Scouts hut.

Organisations that took part included Wash Common Library, St George’s Church, West Berkshire Ramblers, Daisy’s Dream, Wash Common District Guides and Calleva Stick Dressers, among many more.

Wash Common Community Festival founder and organiser Eugene Futcher said: “There was a whole range of community groups and charities, all involved in the local area.

“The point of the festival is to create an opportunity for people to see what goes on in their community, and if they’re interested they can take part, or take advantage of some of the facilities that exist in the community.”

There were also musical performances from the Watership Brass Band, the Newbury Ukulele Town Strummers, Wash Common Guitar Club, Sing For Fun, and the Unwashed Commoners.

One of the highlights of the festival was the opening of the new £800,000 scout hut, which saw more than 100 people gather to see the ceremony, which was led by the chair of 1st Wash Common Scouts Mike Goddard and group Scout leader Rob Daniels.

Mr Goddard said: “It was a really, really exciting time. After all these years, and all the time and energy that everyone has put in to getting to where we were on Saturday, it was just lovely to get to that point.”

With the new facility, the Scout group hope they can double their current intake of 120 young people to 240.

The group is also planning to introduce Squirrel Scouts to 1st Wash Common, a programme for children aged four to six.

Mr Goddard and Mr Daniels also unveiled a new bench by the hut which is dedicated to Mr Futcher.

Mr Futcher was involved in various roles in 1st Wash Common Scouts for more than 25 years, and since retiring from the group in 2015, has still been instrumental behind the scenes in fundraising for the hut project.

He said: “I was quite emotional to be quite honest. I wasn’t expecting it and it was a very thoughtful and touching feature. I was quite overcome and very proud.”

Although entries to the Wash Common Garden & Crafts Show were down 20 per cent this year, junior entries encouragingly increased by half.

There was intense competition in the junior section, but the Barnes Cup was eventually won by Matilda Hogg, who beat her closest rival by one point.

In the seniors, Janet Anderson retained the Dr Elizabeth Dyson Rose Bowl for the flower arranging section, and Peter Wright won the garden produce section, as well as the artistic section.

Victoria sandwich sponges and jams, accompanied by lemon drizzle cakes and chocolate brownies, continued to be popular in the baking and preserves section, with Susan Wright emerging as the clear winner of this section.

She also won the Jean Bate Cup, with her husband, for the Wash Common family with the most points in the show.

Heather Rasman deservedly won the heavily contested trophy for the craft section, and the Mary Taylor Cup for the Wash Common resident with the most points in the show was won by Ellie Tin.

In light of the Queen’s recent death, balloons and bunting weren’t put up at the festival, and proceedings were kicked off with a rendition of the national anthem.