Our Festival Fling (26 March 1976)

Currently we are being reminded that this year sees the 25^th anniversary of the Festival of Britain.  It was quite an event, but my memory of what went on in Bletchley is somewhat mixed with the coronation celebrations which happened only two years later.

I know that nationally by 1950 we had had about 11 years of gloom and doom and were in the mood to break out and have a fling at something or other.  So, despite the stringency of the times, it seemed a good idea to hold a festival in 1951, both for its own sake and to celebrate the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851.

In Bletchley a town’s meeting was called at the back end of 1950 and there was formed a festival organising committee which met every Wednesday thereafter.  At the meeting the question was asked:  “What shall we do with the profit, if any?” and it was suggested that a sports hall might be built at Manor Fields.  At subsequent meetings other suggestions were made including, of course, a swimpool.  But in the event, the profit was very little and I believe was put towards running the town’s own hospital visitors’ bus to Aylesbury that was later taken over by the United Counties company.

Eventually, the period from Monday, July 23, to Saturday, August 19, was fixed as Bletchley’s festival “month” and the Assembly Hall was booked accordingly for all that time.  With the passing of the months various organisations came forward to do their own thing in their own way.

The committee had little difficulty in arranging for a combined open air Act of Witness to be held on the eve of the festival.  But, as has happened on many similar occasions since, there was much difficulty with a gala parade proposed as an introduction to the actual opening ceremony the following evening.

As late as June 30 the committee were dismayed to hear that although about 200 letters had been sent to firms and organisations inviting them to put vehicles in the parade, only five acceptances had been received.  It was then decided to offer cash prizes for the best-decorated vehicles.  I don’t know whether that did the trick, but on the day more than 30 turned up.

This was the second astonishment of several during the festival.  The first was the open air service.  This was held on the school playing field adjoining the Leon Rec, and the evening was dull and rainy, but the congregation was the largest seen in Bletchley before or since, being estimated at some 1,500 people.

Two processions converged on the field, one from the Fenny churches and the other from the churches at the Bletchley end.  There were also coaches of people unable to walk the distances.

There was one amusing incident.  The school hall had been opened in case the weather was too bad to hold the service outside.  The weather at the time was doing neither one thing nor another and the leaders of the Fenny procession turned into the school.  Then, after only a minute’s consultation, they proceeded out of the opposite door to the field.  I don’t remember whether the whole procession passed straight through the school like that, but it is an amusing idea.  Possibly the fact that three or four halls would been needed to accommodate them all persuaded the leaders to risk the elements instead.

An address was given by Lt General Sir William Dobbie.  His name is now almost forgotten, but he was the man who commanded the Malta garrison during the island’s George Cross period.  He told the congregation:  “I have no hesitation in saying that if it had not been for God’s good hand upon us we could not have held Malta.”  That might sound odd today, but at the time it was widely felt that Malta’s survival had been nothing short of miraculous.

If the weather had been dodgy on Sunday, it was definitely bad for the gala opening on Monday – which at least left no question about events planned for Bletchley Park cricket field being cancelled.

There were two, even three parades – two official and one inadvertent.  First the vehicle parade toured the town, starting from Aylesbury Street and finally halting in Victoria Road for the foot parade to form outside the schools.  The Festival Queen (Judith Fairey) rode in the Fountain Inn’s stage coach which was drawn by two greys and driven by former Metropolitan mounted policeman F Baker in tricorne hat and cloak.

Next the foot parade set off from outside the schools headed by the town band and two smart contingents of WAAFS and RAFS from the Rickley Lane camp.  The weather was so wretched, however, that the 80 fancy dress competitors were picked up by the following vehicles.

The Boy’s Brigade bugle band brought up the rear to as to be as far as possible from the town band.  The planned route was Bletchley Road, Duncombe Street, Water Eaton Road, Buckingham Road and Church Green Road to the Assembly Hall.  Bernard Hoffnung could have more adequately described what happened next, but I will do my best.

All went well until Duncombe Street was reached.  There the combined foot and vehicle parade all did a left turn down the street.  All, that is, except the bugle band, who by this time had acquired to their rear two RAF vehicles which were not supposed to be in the parade and also a Civil Defence vehicle.

But the bugle band had kept so far and so dutifully in the rear that they did not spot the Duncombe Street deviation.  They thought the parade had simply disappeared in the dog-leg under the dark and narrow railway bridge of those days.  So they went straight ahead, followed by the RAF and CD vehicles.

The upshot was that the main parade arrived at the top of Water Eaton Road just in time to attach itself to the tail of this other “parade” and the abashed bugle band, far from taking up the rear, found themselves leading the whole lot, acquired vehicles and all, to Wilton Avenue!

During these proceedings Reggie Sherwood, the council’s clerk, turned to me and said:  “You know, if we aren’t careful, this festival is going to be a howling success.”  And so it turned out to be, socially, if not financially, though I have no space left to describe the splendid 1900-1951 Trades Exhibition and other attractions of the ensuing weeks.