Can you link to our blog or website?

The Harold Hill Festival are looking at increasing the profile of our website and blog. If you are a local person or organisation and have your own website or blog I wondered if you can promote our website and blog through your website, blog, Twitter or Facebook page.

We can look at reciprocating any promotion you do as appropriate.

Our blog address as you will notice is www.haroldhillfestival.blogspot.com

Our website address is www.haroldhillfestival.moonfruit.com

Any queries about this please email us at haroldhillfestival@gmail.com

Merry Christmas!

The Harold Hill Festival Committee would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Make sure you  enjoy yourselves, keep warm and keep safe.

Photo: The Day Harry Met The Mayor

The Harold Hill Festival mascot is Harry the Squirrel. Here he is at this year's festival with the Mayor.

200 days to go!

There are now just 200 days to go to the Harold Hill Festival 2013.

Remember to keep your stallholder bookings and offers of volunteering coming through our website at www.haroldhillfestival.moonfruit.com

And also to keep checking www.haroldhillfestival.blogspot.com for all the latest festival news.

Meet the Partners - Harold Hill Ambitions Community Programme

Harold Hill Ambitions is the Council's programme for improving the Harold Hill area. The Harold Hill Ambitions Community Programme supports a lot of activities and developments in the Harold Hill area. They have contributed to funding the Harold Hill Festival and have helped us to get support from other council services. To find out their latest news you can visit their website at http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/ServiceChild/HaroldHillAmbitionsCommunityProgramme-LGSL-823.aspx

Dates set for Partners Meetings

The dates have now been set for our Festival Partner meetings with local organisations that want to take part in or support the Harold Hill Festival in some way. At these meetings we will provide an update of what is planned, where things are at and how you can get involved. The kind of organisations that are involved already include public sector partners, local community groups who want to put on an activity and local businesses who can offer services or sponsorship.

Anyone who can contribute in any way is more than welcome to come along as the Festival Committee see the Festival as an event that celebrates all the many good things about Harold Hill.

The dates for partners meetings are:

8^th Jan 2013
9^th Apr 2013
18^th June 2013

All are Tuesdays 4.00pm - 6.00pm at St Georges Church Centre. The venue is subject to change so if you plan to attend then please email haroldhillfestival@gmail.com in advance so we can confirm it with you.

Photo of Army Cadets at Festival

The Army cadets volunteered at this year's Harold Hill Festival. Here they are with our mascot Harry the Squirrel.

Photo of Harry, Santa and Mayor at Light Up Harold Hill

Photo of our mascot Harry, the Mayor, Santa and compere Mike Jones at last night's event.

Event to celebrate Festival volunteers past, present and future

If you've volunteered with the Harold Hill Festival on the committee or at the event in the past or would like to in the future then we're holding a Christmas celebration event at myplace on Tuesday 11 December from 6pm 8pm.

There will be mince pies and fizzy pop as well as a chance to meet our mascot Harry the Squirrel.

Given the seasonal nature of the event Harry hopes as many ghosts (well volunteers anyway) of Festivals past, present and future will be there... (!)

Any queries about this event please email haroldhillfestival@gmail.com

myplace Christmas Market - Sat 8 Dec

As the Harold Hill Festival we love fun, family events and we love Christmas. Please see below the poster for the Christmas Market event held by myplace on Saturday from 11am till 1.30pm. Please note that myplace are one of the 2013 Festival partners.

Volunteer with us

The Harold Hill Festival Committee is always on the look out for people to volunteer with us. This could be being part of organising the event and attending monthly meetings to plan it or being part of the day itself.

The committee needs people who can give some of their time to coming up with ideas for the event, helping to book people to take part, organising how the event will work and promoting the festival. The planning meetings are on Tuesdays once a month at 6.30pm at St Georges Community Centre. The group are open to anyone who is interested but would be keen to hear from anyone who can help with our social media work and blog posts.

On the day we require volunteers to help with a wide range of tasks from being stewards (either looking after the crowds or the stallholders), litter picks and marshalling traffic. Pre-event training will be given so you won't thrown in the deep end.

One incentive to people to volunteer with us is that it does look good to potential employers on your CV.

If you are interested we will welcome you warmly and support you. To find out more please email us at haroldhillfestival@gmail.com 

The Harold Hill Festival 2013 is to be held on Saturday 6 July in Central Park from 12 midday till 5pm. To get more information on it see our website at www.haroldhillfestival.moonfruit.com

Consultation sessions on changes to Briar Road Estate

The Harold Hill Festival likes residents to have their say on their local area.

Therefore we want to let you know the council is consulting on changes to the Briar Road Estate.

The council website says:

"A series of public consultation sessions on the proposals will take place on a number of dates and locations. Residents are encouraged to call in to a session to give feedback on the plans.

The consultation sessions will provide an opportunity for all residents to look in details at the proposals for new homes, news village square, parking and environmental improvements and also meet the project team."

The dates for the consultation sessions are this week and next. See more at http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/News/Briar-improvement-plans-to-be-revealed.aspx

Poster for Light Up Harold Hill - Thursday 6 December 4-6pm

The Harold Hill Festival will be the Light Up Harold Hill event with our mascot Harry the Squirrel. Please come and meet us there. Full details below:

Who are those figures by the bench in Central Park?

Ever walked through Central Park and wanted to know what the three figures are in the middle by the bench? Given it's the location of the Harold Hill Festival we thought it worth sharing the background to them.

If you looked closely you might have spotted by the plaque on the bench. If you haven't then the three figures are Henry VIII, Dick Bouchard and Harry Ecclestone.The reasoning behind these three figures can be found by downloading a leaflet at http://www.sustrans.org.uk/assets/files/connect2/pb_leaflets/havering_leaflet.pdf

The short reasons are as follows:

Henry VIII - said to have hunted in local area

Harry Eccleston - lived in Harold Hill and  designed first fully pictorial banknote in 1978

Dick Bouchard - founded Romford Drum and Trumpet Corps in 1957

The bench and plaques were commissioned by Sustrans due to the cycle path that runs through the park.

Festive Events

It's the time of year for Festive events and everyone wants to know what's on, when and where. We share your excitement and want to let you know what's on. The best place to find a comprehensive list of what's on is at the London Borough of Havering website at http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/LatestEvents.aspx

As the Harold Hill Festival we always like to promote family or community events in the Harold Hill area. If you are holding a local event in Harold Hill to which the public is invited then please leave a comment below or email us at haroldhillfestival@gmail.com and we will feature it on this blog.

We want your ideas for 2013

We are busily planning the festival for 2013 and would like to know what sort of things you would like to see at the festival? Let us have your ideas for activities, stalls, entertainment etc so we can make the next festival the best ever :)

Either comment below or email us at haroldhillfestival@gmail.com

Sports Day Comes to Harold Hill Festival

Hooray!!! We have just taken delivery of some of the equipment we need for the good old fashioned Sports Day we intend to run, sacks for a sack race, eggs and spoons, ties for three legged race, space hoppers, bean bags......... get practising, this is going to be fun fun fun!!! What do you think of the idea of a Sports Day at the festival?  Would you join in? Do you know someone else you can get to join in???

Remembrance Sunday Service - Harold Hill

Harold Hill

The Harold Hill Memorial Service Parade will assemble out side of Saint George's Church Centre in Chippenham Road at 10.30am. At 10.45am the parade will march down Fareham Road to the Hilldene Avenue War Memorial, where there will be a short service, led by the vicar of Saint Georgry's Church.

Any further questions or for details of services elsewhere in Havering see the council website at http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/EventSingle.aspx?eventid=157_11/11/2012

Harold Hill Light Switch-On Details Confirmed

This year's 'Light Up Harold Hill' event organised by Harold Hill Ambitions now has a few more details confirmed. The event will start at 4pm, have the light switch-on at 5pm (by leader of the Council - Councillor Michael White) and close at 6pm. Santa will be present in his grotto in the area the bottom of Hilldene Avenue Shopping Centre. There will be carol singing with several schools involved. There will also be Christmas craft making activities taking place in the library.

All the latest details can be found on the Harold Hill Ambitions Community Programme website at http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/ServiceChild/HaroldHillAmbitionsCommunityProgramme-LGSL-823.aspx

Stallholder Bookings Form on Website

Our new website has a Stallholders Booking Form you can fill in and submit online to express an interest in taking part in the 2013 Harold Hill Festival.

This can be found at http://www.haroldhillfestival.moonfruit.com/#/stallholders/4568527040

Individual stalls, community groups, registered charities and non-profit businesses will all pay a £10 booking fee.

Any other organisation such as statutory organisation or profit making businesses should email us on haroldhillfestival@gmail.com if they are interested in being part of the event.

Free Swimming for Over 50s at Central Park Leisure Centre

Havering Council is working in conjunction with SLM to offer residents of Havering, that are over the age of 50, the chance to swim for free in off peak times at Central Park Leisure Centre.

For further information please see http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/ServiceChild/Free-Swimming.aspx

Our Mark Delivers A Right Royal Dish

Committee member and local community chef Mark Borrell had the honour of being invited to cook a dish for the Queen's lunch at Drapers' Academy last Friday.

Mark who is involved in our Harold Hill Festival and runs a cookery club at Broadford Primary School was delighted to be invited by Drapers' Academy to cook for the Queen. Along with his twin brother David and half a dozen local chefs (including 3 students from Havering College) he prepared the food for Her Majesty.

Mark said of being asked to cook for the Queen that 'it was perhaps one of the challenging things I had done, well worth every single minute and long hours though'

The menu was:

Starters: Hamhock terrine with baby plum tomatoes and relish and basil dressing.

Main course: Cannon of lamb served with dauphinoise potatoes and buttered spinach and beetroot puree.

Dessert: Roasted rhubarb and ginger crème brûlée with tuile biscuit.

Credit should be given to everyone who helped out on the day who helped serve up the food and helped to make it such a memorable lunchtime. 

250 days to go!

There are now just 250 days to go to the Harold Hill Festival 2013.

Our website has a continuous countdown clock which you can find at www.haroldhillfestival.moonfruit.com

And all the latest news on the Festival will be found here at www.haroldhillfestival.blogspot.com

Did you see the Queen?

With the Queen's visit to Drapers Academy earlier we want to know if you met her? Did you get to speak to her? If so please leave your comments below.

If you got a photo of her then please share with us on Facebook where you can find our 'Harold Hill Festival' page.

It was fantastic to have her here in Harold Hill and I think it's fair to say given us the chance to show her our pride in our area.

Planning for 2013 Festival

As the Harold Hill Festival Committee we are planning hard for the 2013 Festival now.

The event will be Saturday 6 July 12-5 at Central Park.

We are learning from your feedback from this year's festival. We are getting ahead of the game in getting as much booked in as early as possible and it is fantastic that requests for stalls are coming through already.

We are looking at what attractions and activities we have on site given our learning from the event in July.

We've created a new website too which looks fabulous and introduced a suite of social media tools including this blog.

And we are working on getting in place the partners, the funding and the volunteers to make 2013 one of the best festivals so far.

Our committee are now building momentum so now is the time to get involved. To find out more visit our new website at http://www.haroldhillfestival.moonfruit.com/ or email us at haroldhillfestival@gmail.com

Do you like our new website?

The Harold Hill Festival has a new website. It can now be found at http://www.haroldhillfestival.moonfruit.com/

It has been given a complete makeover by Craig and I think it's fair to say it is an improvement on the old one.

It would be great to have your feedback though to ensure it can be as good as it can be. To let us know what you think please email us on haroldhillfestival@gmail.com or leave your comments below.

And please do link to us from your blog, website or Facebook page.

FREE Love Food Hate Waste Cookery Workshop

Free local event in Harold Hill:

Learn how to save money and reduce the amount of food you throw away with professional chefs! Now includes ice cream making! These are open to anyone living in Havering. Booking is essential. Call 01708 432563 or email waste-team@havering.gov.uk to book on.

2 seperate sessions: 23 October 2012, 6 November 2012

17:30 until 20:00

Hitchin Close, Harold Hill

FREE (booking essential)

Gooshays Community First Programme Now Open

The Harold Hill Ambitions second round of the Gooshays Community First Programme is now open.

 

With funding of up to £2500 available for projects located in the Gooshays ward of Harold Hill, this is a fantastic opportunity for groups that want to run community activities in the area.

Find out more at http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/ServiceChild/HaroldHillAmbitionsCommunityProgramme-LGSL-823.aspx

Queen keen on visiting Harold Hill

Delighted to read in the Romford Recorder that the Queen is keen to visit Harold Hill. I hope she'll be inspired by the new Drapers Academy building, the local community and how we work together to give our children a better future. For the online version of the article see http://www.romfordrecorder.co.uk/news/the_queen_says_that_she_is_very_keen_to_visit_harold_hill_1_1651249

Harold Hill Light Switch-On - Thursday 6 December

The Harold Hill Light Switch-On will this year be held on Thursday 6 December from 4-6pm. It will be full of fun, carol singing and the all important light switch-on will be at 5pm. Watch out for further information at http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/ServiceChild/HaroldHillAmbitionsCommunityProgramme-LGSL-823.aspx and we will do our best to keep you updated on this blog too.

Community Chest Funding Now Available

If you are involved with a local community group then we thought this news would be of interest:

Community Chest Opens

Apply now for the latest round of Community Chest grants - applications can be accepted from Monday 1st October.  

Past successes include grants for sports equipment, language lessons, musical instruments and improvements to outside spaces.

Groups can apply for up to £5,000 and should read the standard conditions below before submitting their application.

The closing date is Friday 26th October 2012   

Find out more at http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/Services/Grants-community-facilities.aspx

Central Park Consultation Extended

The consultation on Central Park, Harold Hill has been extended to Monday 22 October. To find out how to take part please see http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/ServiceChild/HaroldHillAmbitionsCommunityProgramme-LGSL-823.aspx

It's not too soon to book!

The Harold Hill Festival is now taking bookings from stall holders and refreshments vendors athttp://www.haroldhillfestival.moonfruit.com/  or email haroldhillfestival@gmail.com

Get your pitch booked and lets make next years festival will be the best ever!

What are your favourite Harold Hill festival memories?

The Harold Hill Festival has been running for a few years now and we'd like to hear what your favourite memories are.

Have you performed on stage or enjoyed a particular performance in the past?

What activities have you enjoyed most?

And are there are any rides or attractions that have encouraged you to come along?

Please leave us your comments below and let us know what your best moments have been.

Like 'Harold Hill Festival' page on Facebook

For those of you who are on Facebook you can 'Like' our Community Page on there. Search for 'Harold Hill Festival' and we will come up. Click into our page, click the 'Like' button and you'll be kept up-to-date with all the news as we build up towards the 2013 Festival.

Consultation Meeting on Central Park

There is a consultation meeting open to the public to have their say on Central Park on Thursday 7.30pm at myplace. See more information at http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/EventSingle.aspx?eventid=107_04/10/2012

Broadford Primary on Stage at Harold Hill Festival

You can see 2 videos of Broadford Primary School's choir on stage in Central Park at this year's Harold Hill Festival on http://www.youtube.com/broadfordprimary

Cycle event in Central Park - Sat 6 Oct

​Residents are invited to take their bikes to the doctor for a health check, arranged by Havering Council, in Central Park, Harold Hill on Saturday, October 6.

A cycle care event will take place from 1.00pm to 4.00pm. Dr Bike Cycle Care will be on hand to check bikes over for the winter.

There will also be an opportunity for visitors to try out lots of unusual bikes including adult and child tandems, a mini penny farthing, a BMX with a sidecar, a hand-cranked cycle and many more. The police will be on hand to security tag resident's cycles.

The event is being run by Havering Council as part of a consultation for the Harold Hill Ambitions Programme.

The Council is asking residents for their views on how to improve Central Park, from safety and security to equipment, appearance and access. Details of how to take part in the consultation will also be available at the event and those who are keen can fill out a survey on the day.

You can give your views online at www.surveymonkey.com/s/haroldhillcentralpark - if you enjoyed the festival then please mention us!

Want to be a part of it?

On Thursday 4 October at 6.30pm the Harold Hill Festival Committee are hosting a meeting for organisations who currently support or who are interested in supporting the festival. If you would like to find out more or want details of the meeting then please email haroldhillfestival@gmail.com

We'd welcome input from all local organisations including community groups, voluntary organisations, statutory agencies, businesses, schools, community centres and anyone else. The event is for the people by the people so please get involved.

Remember you can keep up with all the latest news on the blog at www.haroldhillfestival.blogspot.com

Find the Harold Hill Festival on Twitter

The Harold Hill Festival is now on Twitter. This account will include all the news from the Harold Hill Festival blog and more. You can find us at www.twitter.com/haroldhillfesti

Updating the Harold Hill Festival Blog

We are in the process of refreshing the blog so apologies for this year's Harold Hill Festival content still showing on the homepage. It does however give you an idea of what the Festival is all about.

Keep in touch though for all the latest information on the Harold Hill Festival Blog

Pamper your pooch in the park

​A free dog care event organised by Havering Council will take place in Central Park, Harold Hill on Saturday, September 22 from 10.00am to 1.00pm. Find out more at http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/News/Pamper-your-pooch-in-the-park.aspx

It is part of the Central Park consultation so if you complete a survey and enjoy the festival please say so.

Consultation on future of Central Park, Harold Hill

Havering Council is currently consulting on Central Park which is the home of the Harold Hill Festival. You can find out details of the consultation at http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/ServiceChild/HaroldHillAmbitionsCommunityProgramme-LGSL-823.aspx

The consultation includes dog care and cycle care events taking place in the park.

If you enjoyed the festival please do mention that in your consultation responses.

Date set for 2013 Harold Hill Festival

Saturday 6 July 2013 has now been confirmed as the date for next year's Harold Hill Festival. If you want to take part as a volunteer, stallholder or wish to support the event please contact haroldhillfestival@gmail.com

The event will take place in Central Park, Harold Hill as usual.

All the latest news on the festival will be available on the Harold Hill Festival blog at www.haroldhillfestival.blogspot.com

You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.