- Top concert stars include Evita’s Marti Webb, organist Jonathan Scott & violinist Braimah Kanneh-Mason
- Festival also gives showcase to young singers and musicians
Tickets are selling fast for the 59th Bedford Park Festival in Chiswick, one of West London’s most popular arts and community events. With concerts, talks, walks, film & theatre, art and photography exhibitions and open-air events, the Festival offers something for everyone, whatever their age. This year it is marking the 150th anniversary of Bedford Park, one of London’s best-preserved conservation areas, set up as an artists’ colony and the world’s first garden suburb. The Festival runs from Friday June 6th to Sunday 22nd 2025.
At lunchtime on the opening Friday, celebrity organist Jonathan Scott will perform a recital on the wonderful organ in St Michael & All Angels Church, followed at 6.45 by the Preview Party for the Bedford Park Summer Exhibition and the Photography Exhibition.
“Queen of the Musicals” Marti Webb will perform songs she helped make famous in performances from Evita, Tell Me on a Sunday and other West End shows. She is singing in St Michael & All Angels Church at 7pm on Saturday June 14th 2025. Tickets are on sale for this and the other Festival events on TicketSource. https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/smaaa
BBC Proms performers Braimah Kanneh-Mason and Plinio Fernandez are two of the top young musicians giving concerts in St Michael & All Angels Church to broaden young people’s access to live music in Chiswick. Others include Classic FM 2024 Rising Star and BBC Young Musician finalist, Rob Burton, and ambassador for the Benedetti Foundation Poppy McGhee, who is also giving workshops in schools. These concerts are made possible through our fruitful partnership with Pladis UK, maker of McVities and other biscuit brands, based in Chiswick Park. See our Music & Performance lineup https://www.bedfordparkfestival.org/l/events?c=7
The 150th anniversary of Bedford Park
Events marking the 150th anniversary of Bedford Park will highlight former and current residents of the first garden suburb, including WB Yeats, who will be remembered at the annual Poetry Evening and in the WB Yeats Walk - Land of Heart’s Desire - led by Cahal Dallat, poet, broadcaster and founder of the WB Yeats Bedford Park Artwork Project. The Festival’s longest-running event, the annual Bedford Park Walk, will explore the area’s architectural and literary heritage led by Dr Pamela Bickley and John Scott.
Sir John Betjeman, who helped save Bedford Park from demolition in the 1960s, was one of the founders of The Victorian Society, which has its headquarters in Priory Gardens W4. He will be remembered at the Society’s own anniversary event, as will Tom Greeves, co-founder of the Bedford Park Society and his wife, the ceramicist Eleanor Greeves, whose Bedford Park tiles and mugs have become collectors’ items.
The area’s heritage as an arts and crafts colony will be celebrated at the annual Bedford Park Summer Exhibition in the church, the Craft Fair on Green Days weekend, and the Artists At Home studios event in the middle weekend. And the great gardening reputation of the first garden suburb will be celebrated on the final Sunday when around a dozen gardens are open to the public.
Among current Bedford Park residents, the distinguished composer Cecilia McDowall will have works performed in the Festival Mass and the concert by local Festival favourites David Juritz, violin, Mark Viner, piano, and friends.
The historian Deborah Cadbury (Chocolate Wars, Queen Victoria’s Matchmaking, Princes at War) will speak about writing her famous family’s history with Andrew Pears, who is writing the history of Pears Soap, sharing memorable stories and images of two of Britain’s best loved brands which were reaching their heyday in 1875. They will be talking to Torin Douglas, director of the Chiswick Book Festival, in ‘When Cadbury met Pears in Bedford Park’.
Other Festival highlights will include “All you need to know about Opera in 60 Minutes” by Sarah Lenton of BBC Radio 3, at the Theatre at the Tabard, which is also presenting performances of Noel Coward’s Red Peppers, in a double bill with the world premiere of Aged in Wood by Cian Griffin. And The Chiswick Cinemawill host another Bedford Park Festival screening – the Merchant Ivory film Maurice from the novel by EM Forster, who is celebrated with a blue plaque in Chiswick. It will be introduced by a filmed interview with the director James Ivory.
Tickets are on sale for these and the other Festival events on TicketSource. https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/smaaa
Green Days Fete & Craft Fair – June 7th and 8th
Fresh from a sell-out performance as ‘The Pub Landlord’ at the London Palladium, local resident Al Murraywill open the Festival at 11am on Saturday June 7th. This marks the start of the two-day Green Days Fete & Craft Fair on Acton Green, opposite St Michael & All Angels Church and Turnham Green tube station, featuring the usual array of stalls and refreshments and funfair.
Entry to the Green is free and the Bandstand on the Green provides a showcase for local bands, schools, dance groups and other performers. The Craft Fair on the Green displays works by 20 local designers and craftworkers. See our Music & Performance lineup https://www.bedfordparkfestival.org/l/events?c=7
Festival competitions range from a ‘Chiswick Pub Challenge’ Tug of War and Children’s Fancy Dress Competition (theme: Chess) on Green Days, to the Photography Competition in the opening week and the Children’s Chess Tournament on Saturday June 21st.
The Festival receives huge support from local businesses and individuals as partners, sponsors and donors of prizes for the High Roller Tombola and meals for two for the Win A Meal Raffle. Their contributions can be seen on the Partners page of the Festival website. https://www.bedfordparkfestival.org/s/11/partners
Profits will support St Michael & All Angels Church, which runs the festival as part of its mission of community outreach, and its three 2024 charities: The Upper Room, helping the needy in Shepherd’s Bush; Crosslight Chiswick, which provides debt advice to individuals and families in need; and The McCabe Educational Trust, which supports a range of health and education projects in the Holy Land. https://www.bedfordparkfestival.org/s/17/charities
Read more and book tickets at www.bedfordparkfestival.org.
More information and photographs from Torin Douglas, m 07860 422992 torindouglas@gmail.com
