 The Festival is organised by The Friends of Park Wood and was held within the wood itself in 2003, 2005, and more recently, in September 2007.
The Festivals have aimed to celebrate the work of The Friends and the Woodland Trust in conserving this area of woodland. The event provides publicity about the wood and hopefully creates interest for the local community. It also gives an opportunity for other environmental groups to promote their activities and perhaps attract new members. Refreshments and some entertainments were also provided to add to visitors' enjoyment of the day.
An event like this can be costly to put on and the aim is to fund the event by grants and donations. In 2007 we were especially fortunate in that the Friends' Chairman, Peter Hodges had applied for and been awarded a grant of £10.000 from Awards For All - National Lottery for environmental projects throughout the Borough of Havant. Within this award £2,000 was specifically allocated for the Park Wood Festival
The Festival took months of planning by a small group of Friends. Over 100 environmental groups, organisations and commercial operators were approached for expressions of interest in attending, and a list was of the 32 groups who finally agreed to attend the event was ready a few months before the festival itself.
 Steady rain got the day off to a difficult start and there were times when it seemed that the Festival might be abandoned. However to the credit of the vast majority of volunteers, including a group from the 2nd Waterlooville Scout Group, tents were soon being erected, tables and chairs and other supplies for the use of the exhibitors were distributed to the designated spots within the woodland. At the same time exhibitors were starting to arrive and where possible help was given to unload and transport their tents, exhibition and other materials Unfortunately the charts showing where exhibitors were to go within the wood soon fell apart in the rain and this created some difficulties. All praise was due to the exhibitors who carried on in spite of the weather, although conditions and illness made it impossible for three groups to attend.
Fortunately by the time the Festival was officially opened by the Mayor of Havant, Councillor Vic Pierce-Jones and Robin Walters of the Woodland Trust, the rain had stopped and although the sun rarely shone at least it was dry.
There were twenty-nine exhibitors present, mostly volunteer based local and national environmental groups but with some commercial firms such as Country Pursuit ( exhibiting birds of pray) and Wiggly Wigglers(exhibiting worm composting). Lyndsey Cook, Horndean Division Commissioner organised the Guides who provided hot refreshments and Verrechia supplied ice creams.
A choir from Cowplain Community School under the direction of Ms Sue Dobbyn entertained the crowds, as did a 10 piece ensemble Brass Reflections from Denmead, and the twin accordions of Two in Accord. Other events which took place included some bell ringing, a guided walk of the wood by John Carter, the lifetime President of The Friends of Park Wood, and story telling by Jonathon Huet of Walk With Trees.
St John Ambulance kindly provided first aid cover as well as giving interesting demonstrations and a display.
Pedestrian counts at three gateways showed that 440 members of the public came to the Festival - significantly down on previous years probably due to the adverse weather. Fund raising is not the main purpose of the Festival and there was no charge to visitors. However £127.86 was raised by voluntary donations and this money will fund further work within the wood.
The overwhelming feedback about the event has been very positive with many queries as to when we would be holding the next one. One little girl thought the next weekend would be a good idea! However there were some aspects that can be improved upon and these have been documented so that lessons learnt are not forgotten.
Will there be another Festival? That will be for the Friends of Park Wood Committee to decide but it should be noted that in 2010 the Friends will be celebrating their tenth anniversary.
 Lastly, thanks are due to all members of Friends of Park Wood who helped this event take place, and to all the other volunteers that Jackie Buckley managed to pursuade to assist on a wet Sunday morning and during the day. Special thanks are also due to all the volunteers who brought their interesting exhibitions and displays, to the birds of pray who stood around all day, to the entertainers and musicians, and to the Guides for providing me with many cups of reviving hot tea during the day. Last but not least to Jackie Buckley, Steve Lush, Maureen Nye and Peter Hodges for all their advice and guidance.
If you attended the Festival and would like to comment or suggest improvements then please use the contact page on this web site.
If you would like to see photographs of the Festival go to the gallery page.
David Nye
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