BHF Woodland Stage 2024
For the past two years, I’ve had the joy and privilege of stage managing the Woodland Stage at Blythe hill Fields Festival. Having moved to the area in 2019 and been immediately thrilled by its music scene, green spaces, AND richness of community activity (especially the conservation centred “friends of Blythe hill Fields“ and their projects which include
- wildlife-friendly planting,
- the Wildlife Garden, and
- a tiny forest),
I immediately decided I had to get involved.
The Friends are closely involved with management of the park as a community space and an ecosystem. There you can find many indigenous wildlife and trees, including my favourite Fraxinus Excelsior aka European Ash.
The ash grove at the top of the hill, under which the Woodland Stage is constructed each summer, comprises five majestic Ash trees, all devastatingly in various stages of succumbing to Ash Dieback. I filmed these trees in 2023 as important members of the cast of my band’s music video for its Christmas single: https://youtu.be/SIV16_cTSDs
Here are photos of three other Ashes in Blythe Hill Fields, showing the effect of Dieback:
Here is a video showing all eight Ashes and pointing out the specific parts of them which exhibit symptoms of Dieback: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C78RQIjoc-s
This year we are again running the Woodland Stage. The lineup on 7th July comprises local artists & performing groups, selected from a long list of those who got in touch since we opened the application window in January.
With the exception of our very sadly not having Paul Newham this year (Paul is now retired) — who previously delighted so many with his reptile display and will be much missed — I’m excited to say all our acts for 2024 are phenomenally talented local performers who are bound to leave the audience with a smile.
The running order has been carefully curated to give families & community members a range of different performance styles and genres across the day. For the full list, visit the festival website at https://www.blythehillfields.org.uk/festival-2024!
Hope to see you there.
