Newbury’s free, open-air Summer Series of Events is well underway, and crowds of visitors have gathered to watch the events unfold in Newbury town centre despite July’s temperamental downpours.
The next event in the series is the second of our Family Fun Days, which will take over the town centre on 11th August from 10am to 5pm.
The event features some of the most popular fairytale princesses from Jollypop Entertainment, who will be providing musical shows (sing-along at your own desire!), musical parades across the town centre, and meet and greets. Parkway Shopping will also be dedicating their Big Summer Screen Piazza to the event, screening Disney princess films throughout the day.
In addition, local family favourite, The Ugly Duckling, and community arts organisation, City Arts, will also be providing free activities in the Market Place for both parent and child to enjoy.
The Ugly Duckling will offer pottery painting and crafts at their wonderful coffee shop and City Arts will open their ‘Paint the Summer’ Community Event to the public in Newbury’s Market Place between 10am and 3pm. Furthermore, there will be an expert balloon modeller giving away free balloons alongside children’s funfair rides in the Market Place. All events and activities, bar the funfair rides, are completely free!
The third event of our live music series shortly follows Wednesday’s Family Fun Day, on Sunday 15th August. Achieving an award-winning appearance on Channel 4’s ‘Shed of the Year’ series, Disco Shed will be bringing joy to the Market Place with their giant music shed (garden gnomes included!) from 12 noon to 5pm. DJs Count Skylarkin and Peepshow Paddy, bring their very own garden shed complete with decks, lights, The World-Famous Disco Shed Inferno Smoke Machine (TM), visuals, DIY, and an ever-expanding army of Shedonists to Newbury.
The shed often secures top spots at the likes of Glastonbury, Latitude Festival and Bestival, and has regular DJ residencies in top London nightclubs and beyond. This hard-to-catch DJ crew is a real treat , and we encourage local residents and visitors to put on their wellies and pull on their garden gloves before heading into Newbury for a day like no other!
Alison Drummond, Operations Manager of Newbury BID, said:
When we saw the dull weather forecast for the first of our events, we felt slightly apprehensive about the turn-out. There’s no denying; the heavens opened for both of our live music events and the first of our Family Fun Days, which saw Alice and Madhatter visit the town centre.
However, we were blown away with the commitment of those who remained undeterred by the grizzly weather! So much so, there were families with deck chairs enjoying the phenomenal eight-piece jazz band, The Sideways Collective, under umbrellas for our day of Jazz and Acoustic Anthems on Sunday 1st August! With this in mind, we’re only optimistic that each of our events will encourage more and more footfall into the town centre, and we can’t wait to bring more musical cheer into Newbury, rain or shine!
Dates for your diary:
Summer Series of Events: Disco Shed- Sunday 15th August, 12 noon – 5pm, Grand Finale- Sunday 29th August, 12 noon – 8pm.
Family Fun Days, 10am – 5pm: Fairytale Princesses- Wednesday 11th August, and Superhero Training- Tuesday 24th August.
For a list of all events taking place in Newbury town centre and beyond, please click here.
If you need specific, tailored advice or guidance for your business, please contact West Berkshire Council’s Public Protection Partnership directly. You can find their contact details on their website here.
