"old Fashioned" Family Festivals

[Paul]

A local village here in Leicestershire called Shackerstone used to hold a family festival every year on this first weekend in September. It's not ancient, it began in 1990 and last year was the 25th and sadly last. It will not happen again, not a COVID victim - the decision to end the festival was taken after last years event and is largely down to the ever increasing amount of bureaucracy and costs involved. It was a wonderful weekend, display arena, steam engines, vintage cars, wild west enactments, fair ground, lawn mower racing, stunt men, red arrows etc etc. Plus the neighbouring steam railway and vintage boats on the canal. 

Having searched the web for similar events elsewhere, not this year of course but maybe in future years I'm finding a similar story everywhere. Music festivals galore, but no good old fashioned family fun weekends. 

I wonder of you know of anything like that, not just in broadland but in your local area?

[MaceSwinger]

9 minutes ago, Paul said:

A local village here in Leicestershire called Shackerstone used to hold a family festival every year on this first weekend in September. It's not ancient, it began in 1990 and last year was the 25th and sadly last. It will not happen again, not a COVID victim - the decision to end the festival was taken after last years event and is largely down to the ever increasing amount of bureaucracy and costs involved. It was a wonderful weekend, display arena, steam engines, vintage cars, wild west enactments, fair ground, lawn mower racing, stunt men, red arrows etc etc. Plus the neighbouring steam railway and vintage boats on the canal. 

Having searched the web for similar events elsewhere, not this year of course but maybe in future years I'm finding a similar story everywhere. Music festivals galore, but no good old fashioned family fun weekends. 

I wonder of you know of anything like that, not just in broadland but in your local area?

I live about 200 yards from Charnwood Water in Loughborough and I only grew up about a quarter of a mile away. Every year we used to have a raft race on the lake, with local businesses competing on a variety of rafts of their own building. Some were very well put together (including the ones from my dad's business at the time) where as some were nothing more than a couple of 50 gallon drums with a polyprop chair yoked to the top! That all died a death in the late 1990s (I think). The council decided it safer not to use the lake (an old clay pit of Tucker's Brick Works) as there were some old industrial structures left and that was that. The lake goes largely unused, with all water based activities banned on it, except for model boats. Very, very sad. To my memory there was never a single death or serious injury in the history of the event.

[Paul]

I know Charnwood water well, I've played cricket on the ground across the A6, next to the crematorium many times. Sadly this is what the modern world is coming to, too much liability and blame culture nobody dare allow anything, just in case. 

[MaceSwinger]

I know Charnwood water well, I've played cricket on the ground across the A6, next to the crematorium many times. Sadly this is what the modern world is coming to, too much liability and blame culture nobody dare allow anything, just in case. 

Probably very true Paul. With my opinion of Charnwood BC I'd also suspect that they disallow some things because they haven't figured out how to charge for it. If it benefitted the bleeding uni I guarantee it'd still be going on though!

I know that cricket ground. It used to be the 3M sport and social club. I assisted on the big fireworks display there once or twice many years ago.

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