By Peter West, Bletchfest Committee
Now in its third year, Bletchfest is an initiative of Grange Meadow CIC, a not-for-profit community interest company raising funds for local community projects. Its purpose is to create an annual festival of the arts for East Surrey, providing a platform for local visual and performance artists of all ability levels to showcase their talents. At the same time, we seek to engage the wider community in the therapeutic benefits the arts, in its many forms, brings to mental health and well-being.
The initiative has grown each year and there are now five scheduled annual events. For 2024, they started in January, with the reintroduction of a seasonal pantomime performed in Bletchingley for the first time in almost 30 years.
The second is our Comedy Night at Bletchingley Village Hall on the 27 April. Headlined by Hal Cruttenden, who has appeared on Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You and many others, there is a full supporting line-up which includes Fiona Allen (Smack the Pony), Ross McGrane and Omar Badawy. Previous comedy nights have proved very successful with shows selling out. Tickets are available via our website.
Over the weekend of the 18-19 May, our Artists and Artisans exhibition takes place at Grange Meadow. Here, artists and craftsfolk of mixed abilities showcase their unique creations. This is where the leisure artist can display alongside the professional, such as the renowned Paul Chisholm. We are delighted that in each of our previous exhibitions local artists, exhibiting for the very first time, have found art lovers eager to acquire their original art. But there’s always more than original paintings to see, with woodturning, stained glass, embroidery, fabric art, ceramics and metalcraft too, some produced by local charities such as Renewed Hope, to admire and perhaps acquire. Entry to this event is free.
Music in the Meadow
Our outdoor festival of music will take place on the 20 July, with three top bands providing five hours of good time music with, following our successful Blues Night last year, a themed music night in late autumn.
Bletchfest committee member Peter West said:
“Established arts festivals add significantly to local image and identity and can become embedded in the social and cultural life of communities hosting them. Those attending such events generally feel more positive about the host town, leaving them with improved perceptions of people and places.
As a community-driven arts festival, BletchFest has different objectives, from commercial events, seeking to promote inclusive participation in the arts in its many forms, with all the benefits to well-being and mental health that brings, while generating awareness and sustained audiences for the town’s year-round venues.
Creating positive experiences and awareness of the venues that cultural events take place in can build return visits and greater public interest in the arts. A successful annual arts festival will promote a town and its environs to the wider local regions around it and perhaps nationally too.”
It is this community aspect, as opposed to commercial focus, that is the drive behind BletchFest. Revenues generated are partly put back to make the next event bigger and better, but also to support ambitious plans to refurbish and enhance the community facilities at Grange Meadow, Bletchingley. However in the two full years of activity so far, Bletchfest has also helped raise funds of more than £1,000 for many local charities, including Renewed Hope, Bletchingley Skills Centre, Bletchingley Repair Cafe, Caterham Food Bank, Ukranian Humanitarian Appeal and the Tandridge Chair’s Charity Fund.
Visit our website to register to receive regular updates about our events, or tell us about an idea or project you would like to discuss with us.
