The Bedford Park Festival moves into its second week with a series of events marking the first garden suburb’s 150th anniversary, including a Bedford Park Quiz and an Auction of Memorabilia to highlight the anniversary week. It begins on Monday June 16th, when the Bedford Park Society exhibition ‘The Community at Bedford Park 1875-2025’ will be on display at Chiswick Auctions in Barley Mow Passage, all week until June 20th.
On Monday evening in St Michael & All Angels Church, the historian Deborah Cadbury (Chocolate Wars, Queen Victoria’s Matchmaking) will speak about writing her famous family’s history alongside fellow Bedford Park resident Andrew Pears, who is researching his own family for a book about Pears Soap. In ‘When Cadbury met Pears in Bedford Park’, they will share stories and images of two of Britain’s best loved brands with Torin Douglas, director of the Chiswick Book Festival, who introduced them to each other in the Post Room café.
He said: “When I heard that Andrew was planning to write his family history, I told him that Debbie had written hers and suggested he might pick up a few tips. Within five minutes of introducing them and hearing them sharing stories, I knew this deserved a wider audience.”
Monday will also see the launch of the Bedford Park 150th Anniversary Quiz Sheet, with 50 questions about people and events in the first garden suburb’s first 150 years. For the prize, Stephen Foster of Foster Bookshas donated an original framed lithograph of Tower House, one of nine lithographs depicting views of the Bedford Park Estate. Printed copies of the quiz sheet will be available free of charge at all this week’s Festival events. Foster Books is also offering several other lithographs for sale for framing, as well as other memorabilia of Bedford Park.
For those interested in the history of the area, there will also be an Online Auction of Memorabilia, including books, artworks, ceramics and a poster from the centenary celebrations in 1975. The auction will go live at 6pm on Monday June 16th at https://www.32auctions.com/bedfordpark150. It will close at 2pm on Sunday June 22nd.
Other events in the anniversary week include the annual Bedford Park Walk exploring the area’s architectural and literary heritage, led by Dr Pamela Bickley and John Scott; a celebration of Bedford Park composer Cecilia McDowall, who will have works performed in the Summer Serenade concert on Wednesday 18th and the Bedford Park Festival Mass on Sunday June 22nd, which is followed by the ever-popular Bedford Park Open Gardens.
The poet and heritage campaigner 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 Bedford Park. It is opening its doors for an Open House anniversary event with talks on Friday June 20th, at which it will remember Betjeman as well as EW Godwin, the first architect of the Bedford Park Estate; 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.
Tickets are on sale for these and the other Festival events on TicketSource.
Profits will support St Michael & All Angels Church, which runs the festival as part of its mission of community and cultural outreach, and its three 2025 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.
Read more at www.bedfordparkfestival.org.
