May is festival time in Jesmond
Talks, walks, music and teddies in the mix…
The BFG is the Big Friendly Giant to Roald Dahl fans but in Jesmond it’s the Big Friendly Gathering, a celebration to get this year’s Jesmond Community Festival off to a flying – and friendly – start.
There’s a VE Day theme to the event on St George’s Church green, Osborne Road, on May 3 – the Saturday before the official 80th anniversary of VE Day on May 8, remembering victory in Europe in 1945.
The church bells will ring ahead of the official opening at 2pm by the Deputy Lord Mayor, announced by a town crier, and there will be a parade by cadets, band music and a performance with a 1940s vibe by close harmony trio The Darling Dollies.
Refreshments will be available (or take a picnic) along with activities for children before the Vicar, the Rev. Debbie Loughran, brings proceedings to a close at 5pm with a thanksgiving prayer.
But that’s just the start of the Jesmond Community Festival which is marking 20 years since it first took place, showcasing the array of activities and attractions in the bustling and cosmopolitan Newcastle suburb bounded by Jesmond Dene and the Town Moor.
Also taking place on May 3 (10 am to 3pm) is the Jesmond Food Market on Armstrong Bridge and the following day (May 4, 11am to 3pm) ‘Festival Special’ model train rides will be on offer behind the Wylam Brewery, courtesy of the Tyneside Society of Model and Experimental Engineers.
Jesmond has many manifestations of the ‘great outdoors’ and the festival offers various ways to experience them.
Celebrate Italy, with poetry, literature and music, at the Italian DIY picnic in Jesmond Community Orchard (enter via St Andrew’s Cemetery, Tankerville Terrace) on May 5 (11.30am to 1.30pm) or help to mark the orchard’s 15th anniversary at Orchard Open Day on May 17 (from 1pm).
There are plenty of guided walks.
Early risers might fancy the Dawn Chorus Nature Walk in Jesmond Dene (May 10, 4.30am… yep, that’s the crack of dawn) hosted by the Friends of Jesmond Dene.
And to find out about some of Jesmond’s fascinating characters from the past, many of whom helped to shape Newcastle’s history, join one of the popular cemetery tours.
The Friends of Jesmond Old Cemetery will guide you round the Victorian walled cemetery on Sandyford Road (last resting place of some 25,000 souls) on May 8 (2pm) while city guides Julie Jacques and Dee Pass will lead a tour of St Andrew’s Cemetery on May 21 (10.30am).
There’s a Jesmond Vale Heritage Walk on May 31 (11am) and an open day at the extensive West Jesmond Allotments at Highbury (entrance near Forsyth Road), on June 1 (11am to 3pm).
Throughout the festival Jesmond will be alive with the sound of music.
Jesmond Choral Group and friends will perform Fauré’s Requiem (Jesmond United Reformed Church, May 6), The Singers will entertain with Music for a Jesmond Spring in St George’s Church (May 10), and Axum Folk Ensemble will be at Jesmond Library (May 16).
St Hilda’s Church Hall (May 11) and Holy Trinity Church (May 23) will both host ceilidhs and there will be concerts by Tyneside Fiddle Alliance (St George’s Church Hall, May 15), Tyneside Mandolin Orchestra (St Hilda’s Church, May 19) and the North East Recorder Orchestra (Jesmond United Reformed Church, May 24).
Jesmond Library will host the West Jesmond School Festival of Music on May 21, there will be organ recitals at St George’s Church (May 16, 23 and 30) and Newcastle Bach Choir will perform at Holy Trinity Church on May 31.
Jesmond Pool gets in the festival swim with a ‘chill out’ session on May 23 (8.30-10pm) with special lighting and a live DJ set.
Meanwhile Jesmond’s small orchestra, the Semitones, busy throughout the festival, will give a public concert at Jesmond Library on June 1.
Along with lots of music come many words… and you can meet author Merryn Glover, born in Nepal and now living in the Scottish Highlands, who will talk about her life and work at Holy Trinity Church on May 16 (7.30pm)
Hugely topical will be the public lecture given by Dr Austen Ivereigh at the Church of the Holy Name on May 17 (11am).
The foremost English language biographer of the late Pope Francis will talk on The Legacy of Pope Francis and the future of Christianity.
Jesmond resident Keith Jewitt will take Revolution on Tyneside as his topic for a May 29 lecture (6pm) in Jesmond Library, looking at some of the local figures active during a wave of revolutionary activity in Europe in 1848.
They include Joseph Cowen (Junior) – whose statue stands on Westgate Road and who befriended leading revolutionary figures such as Italians Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi and the Hungarian Lajos Kossuth - and ‘Doctor’ Charles John Gibb who was in Vienna when revolution broke out and in a diary (now in the care of Newcastle University) detailed some of the horrific injuries suffered.
By contrast, the annual teddy bear trail returns with the theme Ted Goes Travelling (teddies in suitable costume to be found across Jesmond throughout the festival with entry forms from Jesmond Library) and there are festival photographic and ‘glorious gardens’ competitions.
Jesmond Library will also host an exhibition of art by children from West Jesmond Primary School who worked with artist Elizabeth Kane and were inspired by items held in North East Museums collections relating to the end of the Second World War.
The final festival weekend brings the action full circle with the St George’s Church spring fete on the green beside Osborne Road (May 31 from 12 noon).
Jesmond Community Festival runs from May 3 to June 1 and you’ll find details of all the attractions on the festival website or via Facebook - or pick up a printed programme at one of the venues.