This year marks the 18th annual Hungerford & District Community Arts Festival since its launch with a week-long programme of events at John O’Gaunt School in 1992. HADCAF, as it has come to be known, quickly expanded to 3 weeks and spread out into other venues around the town and surrounding villages, and over the years has brought a wealth of professional music and theatre to the town in addition to celebrating and promoting local talent, knowledge and expertise.
During that time a great many individuals and organisations have given their time and shared their skills with HADCAF. Members of the WI have arranged craft demonstrations, walks and picnic cruises on the ‘Rose of Hungerford’, and provided delicious refreshments at the annual Art & Craft Exhibition in which local schools have proudly displayed their pupils’ work. The Library has arranged talks and children’s story sessions; the Historical Association has opened its archives and organised informative town walks; the churches have hosted flower festivals and concerts. The Town Band, Phoenix Brass, the various theatre groups, the Camera Club, Round Table, British Legion and Scouts have all been regularly involved – even the police station took part in the early years!
Many of the surrounding villages have staged exhibitions, concerts, film
shows and theatre performances under the HADCAF banner. Local branches of
national charities have held fund-raising events, and artists and gardeners
have welcomed visitors into their studios and gardens. And Newbury Building
Society has provided a superb box office service from the very beginning.
A glance through Festival programmes shows the scope of HADCAF activities
over the years. There have been workshops for all ages and covering a huge
variety of subjects: film acting, guitar playing, disc jockeying, chalk sculpting,
painting with watercolours, t’ai chi, cyber art and computer imaging,
kumihimo braiding, dance (including salsa, rock ’n’ roll, line,
clog, tap, country, Irish, Latin, ballroom, belly, ballet and modern jazz),
recycled weaving, dyeing with natural materials, singing and music making,
photography, handbell ringing, Adinkra cloth printing, African drumming, bodging,
bead stringing, quilting, fishing, and making scarecrows, carnival costumes,
baskets, silk flowers, felt, papier mâché, clay tiles, mosaics,
kites, cocktail hats and clay ovens.
There have been guided moth-spotting and bird-watching expeditions, and wild flower, organic farm, cross-country, trout farm, marsh and town walks. There have been opportunities to learn about the ecology of our local chalk streams; to compete in quizzes; taste wines; have one’s antiques valued by local experts; display and sell art, craft and photography; exhibit produce at horticultural shows; enjoy tea dances; play sleuth at a murder mystery dinner; hear poetry recitals and listen to ghost stories; to watch films. Youngsters have been offered discos, puppet and magic shows, film, a family concert, a treasure hunt, board games, art, poetry and band competitions, and master-classes with top professional rock musicians, whilst senior citizens have enjoyed lunch-time concert parties and puppet shows at the Day Centre.
Over the years there have been talks on subjects as diverse as plant hunting in Vietnam, wild food, jukeboxes, the history of Hungerford, the life of the patriot John Hampden, antiques, horticulture, humorous writing, art, the history of Punch & Judy, sweet wrappers, the Round the World yacht race, an actor’s life, millinery, word games, the flora of St Helena, Butlin’s holiday camps in the ’50s, a year in Kew gardens, campanology, flower arranging, researching one’s family tree, solo expeditions to the North and South Poles, Australian plants and botanic gardens, the culture of Tibet, working with disabled people in Kenya, touring Britain in an old Humber, walking the Great Wall of China, collecting valuable books, and cycling in Kenya. Speakers have included the author, playwright and broadcaster Simon Brett, novelist Mavis Cheek, children’s author Geraldine McCaughrean, TV chef Mike Robinson, artist Beryl Maile, and the poet Elizabeth Jennings. A wide range of music - from classical, jazz, opera, choral, brass band and madrigals to folk, pop, boogie, blues, rock’n’roll, kletzmer and cutting-edge contemporary - has always been a feature of the HADCAF programme, in which talented young local performers have taken part as well as established professional musicians. The many instrumental concerts have included orchestral, piano, acoustic guitar, church organ, electronic organ, harpsichord, saxophone, oboe, marimba, alphorn, brass quintets, string quartets, and flute trios.
Theatre has also always had a high profile in the Festival, ranging from sell-out Edinburgh Fringe productions to musical revues and local variety shows, from performances by amateur dramatic groups (HADCAF has been host to no fewer than 16!) to West End actors and award-winning plays that have toured the world.
The organisers of HADCAF are grateful for and dependent upon the financial support of the Town Council, The Town and Manor of Hungerford, West Berkshire Council and Greenham Common Trust, as well as the sponsorship of a great many local businesses and individuals. Although conscious of the present gloomy economic climate, they hope that the Festival will continue to be a fixture in the town’s calendar, giving pleasure to residents of Hungerford and district well into the future.
Meanwhile planning is well under way for this year’s programme, and as always offers of help are welcome. Please contact Beryl Fowler (Chairman) on 01488 684901, or visit the website (www.hadcaf.co.uk) for information about the Festival.Elizabeth Davis