Connections

Someone called Jenny from Rugby just called. Her dad is ‘a big vinyl fan’ and he bought a Chris Wood record. Jenny and her husband listened and liked it, and bought their own copy. Jenny knew nothing about Chris Wood so googled him and found his website. She saw Braunston Festival on his tour calendar, googled that and gave me a ring to find out how much the event was (it’s free!), where she could park (the Playing Field), whether she could bring her dog (yes). She was so full of enthusiasm! And her call got me thinking about the individual connections people have with this festival.

At Pre-school in the Village Hall today, I talked to a parent with a relation in a senior role at a major homestore about the possibility of acquiring some end of season stock for our Secret Reading Garden in the Pocket Park on Saturday 28 August. Later on I took my kids to a storytime session in the Village Hall and afterwards talked to staff about the children’s trails and treasure hunts they’ll be running at the festival. This afternoon we walked to the village shop to post a letter to Paramount British Pictures (still on the hunt for Running Scared, the film made in Braunston in 1971 starring Robert Powell) and met Wendi Buchanan who offered to run some ‘It’s a knockout’ style activities at the Fun on the Field event on Sunday 29 August, and to make refreshments for the cinema night on 7 August (she’s already running a bread stall at the festival itself). In the shop I got talking to Shane, who works for a local events company and offered us the use of a Rodeo Bull. The shop kindly agreed to put our highly technical film voting system (jam jars and pennies) for Braunston Cinema on the counter. And then on the way back home I stopped at The Wheatsheaf to talk to Glen, the landlord, about running the beer tents for the festival and putting on a band in the evening of Monday 30 August. I might still be there were it not for my family responsibilities of cooking some sort of dinner.

This festival lark gives me many sleepless nights, grey hairs, and not a few dark nights of the soul. But it has also given me the chance to meet so many good people, and to uncover the hundreds of connections lying just below the surface of village life. It’s been a good day!