Knowle Park Festival
Knowle Park Festival was a popular annual event that took place in Knowle Park in the village of Knowle (just south of Solihull in the West Midlands).
The event is a mixture of stalls showcasing local community charities & small business', childrens play equipment & the all important refreshments !
Thousands of local residents & those from nearby Solihull & other local villages attend.
Since 2004 the Festival has been run by Friends of Knowle Park, a small charity created to support the local park, with support from our local council - Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council.
Many of the local charities raise money & / or awareness for their own causes & for FoKP the Festival is our main fundraising activity to support further improvements in the park.
Since 2013 the Festival Has Not Taken Place :
The main reason we have made this difficult decision is because of lack of sufficient volunteers to help with organising everything needed prior to the event.
Typically there is approx. 9 months "behind the scenes" activity arranging SMBC approvals, facilities for the day, stall attendees, arena activities, sponsorship, programme advertising & printing etc.
Without sufficient support we were just unable to commit to putting on the event.
2012 Festival :
The 2012 Festival took place on Saturday 2nd June as 1 of the first local events as part of the Diamond Knowle Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations for the extended weekend from 2nd~4th June.
The weather wasn't very kind at the start - with a persistent drizzle which unfortunately made conditions too risky for Learning Curves to show their skills as part of the Knockout Knowle start.
However the draw of this year's big "feature", "Knockout Knowle", appeared to motivate many locals to come out regardless - supporting relatives, friends or neighbours. Fortunately the weather improved after a while - but it never quite got to sunny & hot (unlike last year !).
For those who may have missed it in the past, "Knockout Knowle" is a team competition based on the BBC TV "It's a Knockout" televised competition. We had 42 teams of 10, creating a really good competive atmosphere.
By the end of the day we had had the normal thousands of local visitors including many from Solihull & other local areas (Some even lost their children briefly !!).
The Classic Car display was also well received by the many who walked around the cars.
The tea tent run by volunteers from the Lady Katherine Leveson Foundation kept many fed & watered with tea, coffee, cakes & pork baps.
Knowle & Dorridge Lions did a great job selling Burgers & hot dogs & at one point had a queue going round the tea tent - they were so popular (Personal recommendation from me !).
Fast Aid & a few other local small business' were selling cup cakes & other delicacies. They all appeared very popular - with a few cakes even leaving the park uneaten !
Local animal charities Fat Fluffs, Here 4 Animals, Retired Greyhound Trust & Blue Cross Animal Rescue all had lots of interest.
See our photos of the event on our "flickr" pages here.
As a permanent memento of the various 2012 Diamond Jubilee activities, a local company produced a DVD of professionally shot highlights from this weekends activities + other events from April until June. All surplus from the DVD sales went to local charities.
Advertisers / Sponsors :
David Lloyd Solihull Fitness kindly agreed to support the 2012 Festival & associated Knockout Knowle competition.
They helped organise warm-ups for the competitors, gave out spot prizes & supported the main prize giving.
They were also running mini games for the younger children - which seemed to go down well from the grinning faces of the competitors !
If you're thinking about Gym membership, they were also promoting the benefits of joining the local David Lloyd Solihull Fitness.
Knockout Knowle was jointly organised by 4 local charitable organisations - Friends of Knowle Park, Arden PTA, 1st Knowle Scout Group & Knowle CofE Primary School Parents Association.
Significant thanks go to the following for their donations in 2012 :
David Lloyd Solihull Fitness,
Standley & Co. Solicitors,
Knowle & Dorridge Lions,
Crown Cars (Taxis),
Jackson Ford of Henley,
Arundales Chartered Accountants,
Look Local Solihull,
Kumon Study Centre (Dorridge),
Spire Healthcare,
Deltaforce &
Carly's.
Without the support of SMBC, the many local business' who contribute via direct donations & / or paid for adverts in the festival programme & the tireless ( ! ) contributions of the Festival organisation committee, the event would not be able to take place each year.