Derek Smith is excited about the return of the Forest Gate Festival

Forest Gate Festival is back! Write it down, it’s on Saturday 2 July.

The Festival ran every year from 1999, apart from the last two years when Covid forced its cancellation. But here we are once more, promising a bumper day to blow the blues away.

Our celebration is a street festival on Osborne Road. That’s on the right, going north from Romford Road about 100 yards before you get to the station. It will be impossible to miss, with all the music, dance and stalls.

The Festival runs from 11am to 6pm. Residents move their cars from the street by 10am. In past years we have had up to 5,000 visitors.

Lining the street will be a variety of stalls with arts and crafts, bric a brac, food and drink, community groups, ranging from Forest Gate Community Garden, Women’s Institute, religious groups, charities, Woodcraft Folk, Newham Writers Workshop and a host of others.

People and community groups that want to book a stall need to get in quick, pitches are being gobbled up. They need to contact fgfstalls2022.eventbrite.co.uk

Naturally, anyone who is anyone will be there. The Mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz, is a regular visitor as is Lyn Brown MP for West Ham, and local councillors. There will be opportunities to meet people you haven’t seen for years (and, if you don’t really want to see them, you can always slip into the melee).

If it’s food you are after, then we have a big menu for you: Asian dishes, Chinese, African and Caribbean food, as well as cakes galore and ice cream. So filled to the brim, why not make your way to the stage at the far end. Take a seat and enjoy bands, choirs, and solo artists, amateur and professional, throughout the day.

Kay Rowe from the Council nursery on the street, will run activities for young children. For older children, we are booking a climbing wall. Along the street, amid the stalls, there will be dancers, stilt walkers and a magician. The latter has promised us a spell for sunshine.

Come and enjoy all the fun of the Festival! It’s great to be back after a dull two years.

https://forestgatefestival.com/

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.