The Fen Drayton Festival 2004 opened on 11-12th September with a floral extravaganza that filled St Mary's church with wonderful themed displays of nursery rhymes, and culminated on 18th September in a musical crescendo of local talent that literally raised the roof of this mediaeval church. Timing the event to coincide with a sponsored cycle ride around the area's churches, the flower festival comprised some 40 creations depicting 30 different nursery rhymes including old favourites such as "Oranges and Lemons" and "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary" to less well-known rhymes like "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go". Three renditions of "Incy-Wincy Spider" reminded the Churchwarden to clean out behind the organ. Some 70 villagers were involved in creating the displays, manning stalls for teas, cakes, raffles and artwork, creating a festival book of delicious Fen Drayton recipes (ancient and modern), and erecting colourful signage to bring the public in. Two lucky winners who completed a challenging quiz to match the displays to the nursery rhyme titles and each received a WH Smith voucher.
The festival concert was dedicated to the memory of Derek Deighton who was instrumental in reviving the music festival featuring talent from the village and local area. On a stage under the chancel arch and squeezed in among the flower displays from the previous week, an appreciative audience was treated to a varied programme. Swavesy Village College Girls Choir, under the direction of Audrey Caldwell, opened the show with a swing and were followed by Sarah Bernard on the piano. Audrey herself then played a GCSE piano composition by Matthew Sage. Kayleigh Hall sang a powerful song from Lerner and Lowe and was followed by the Girls Choir in a sensitive rendition of "Adiemus", which demonstrated the maturity and quality of Swavesey's choral tradition.
Margaret Copestake (piano) and John Stephens (violin) are well-known village musicians who recently moved deeper into the fens but returned to team up with new village resident Jeremy Thurlow, who is Director of Music at Robinson College, in a performance of a Handel Trio Sonata. Not to be outdone, six-year-old Ben Thurlow gave his concert debut with three solo ukulele pieces demonstrating not only his mastery of the instrument but also his crowd-pulling stage presence. He was followed by Catriona Dawe (piano) who treated the audience to a delightful Chopin Waltz in E-minor. Closing the first half of the concert were the Brian Thulborn Family Tuba Quartet. With four well-chosen pieces, the mellow texture of this relatively novel instrumental ensemble was beautifully complemented by the church acoustics.
After a gregarious intermission of wine and nibbles, Jonathan Sage regaled the audience with his wonderfully sensitive clarinet accompanied by Audrey Caldwell on piano. John Stephens and Margaret Copestake made their second appearance with two duets by Elgar and Fiocco. Daniel Ives (piano) played Beethoven and the ever-popular "Girl with the Flaxen Hair" by Debussy before the Vicarage Ensemble, comprising John-David Yule (fiddle), Jackie Few (clarinet), Alice Yule ('cello) and Ruth Yule (piano), provided the finale with a medley of 30 nursery rhyme fragments reflecting the flower festival theme of "A Rhyme in Thyme" (and only just in time). The evening was ably compèred by John Britten and when the final notes died away, the cost of re-roofing St Mary's south porch had been defrayed by some £1600, raised from stems and tubas.
Richard Close & Phil Christie