ukulele idol

Do you recognise this man?

Well for those of you who came along to our fete last summer, you might recall this handsome chap as Mr. Rod Thomas, who was strumming his ukulele at about 2 o'clock on the Sunday on The Acoustic Bandstand stage.

As well as working the sports casual look rather well, he's also just won Best Ukulele Video of the Year award , which features another rather fetching jumper and some very friendly socks.

You can listen to more of Rod's ear candy here or simply just kick back and watch his award winning video (and jumper) below:

fete flickr winners

Last week we had a big Eurovision style vote for the best photos from our 2008 village fete flickr. The deadline has gone, we've added up the results and it's congratulations to all of the below.

Best fete game photo: SJNewton

Best picture of bunting: Mondoagogo

Best overall fete photo: CJSteele

Well done to each of you, we've sent you all flickr mails.

vote for fete

You might remember a while a go we asked everyone who came along to our village fete to upload their photos to our fete flickr group and FaceBook group. And that we'd give prizes to the best photos. Well the time has come for you to help us judge the shortlisted photos.

There are three categories, twelve photos, and everything to play for. Help to make someone's year by voting here before Sunday night (Sept 21 2008).

a feteful weekend

It's been a couple of weeks since our village fete in Regent's Park so we thought we'd share some stuff that we've uploaded and you've uploaded to the web since then (because 'tinternet was made for sharing).

First up our little film of the highlights from the weekend that bring it all back again...

Then here are some great shots from our fete flickr group and facebook event page.

Rainy yet resilient / at least it didn't snow.

The bit when summer did what it's meant to do

We'll be sorting through all of the pictures from both groups in a couple of weeks and will put together a shortlist for the year's supply of smoothies competition. Then we'll get our innocent family to vote on the best 3 photos. Just like last year.

So if you've got any leftover photos or video from the weekend hanging about, upload them now to be in with a chance of winning big.

love note board

At our fete the other weekend, we had a big pink felt covered board where you could leave a love note for someone you fancied or thought was rather lovely at the fete.

Lots of people left notes and we're keen to see if any romance actually came out of it.

There were over 1000 notes left over the weekend, all of which were dutifully read by Tansy, Ben and Stu.

So we're itching to know whether any love blossomed from these little notes?

Did the fine looking person by the tea stand hook up with the shy person who had the purple pen?

Did Jonathon meet Medium Build But Really Gorgeous by the ferret racing at 2:30pm on Saturday?

Did Casper read his note?

And did the pretty girl who sneezed on Dom's shoulder realise she'd stolen his heart as well?

If you left a love note or had a love note left for you at the fete, we'd love to hear what happened next.

some video highlights from the weekend

Youtube is a truly wonderful thing for stuff like this.

James Taylor Quartet on Saturday night:

nabbed from darrenwool

The wonderful Angus and Julia Stone playing their Mango Tree song on Sunday afternoon in the Hay Barn:

filmed quite badly by ourselves on a little digital camera that does movie clips

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain play a unique cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit. (Watch the far left strummer for some great ukulele head banging).

same camera, same shakie hip shot style

And last, but definitely not least, our very own innocent band in the Village Disco on Sunday evening:

 

thank you for coming

We had a fantastic weekend at the fete. We hope you did too, even though there were some slightly damp moments. Post your own photos on the fete flickr group when you have a moment - here are some of our favourites so far...

saturday at the fete

Day one of the fete was a belter - it ended up being a beautiful evening. Sunday tickets are available on the gate, on sale from 10am. See you in the park...

cometh the hour, cometh the fete

We've been down at the park quite a bit this week. Things are coming together nicely - lots of strong people lugging bits of tent all around the site, looking for mallets and pegs and wearing big boots so they don't get their feet bashed in.

These three poles mark the spot where the main stage will be, a.k.a. the Hay Barn. By now the chaps will have hoisted the tent right up to the top, and moved on to fixing up the rest of the site.

Thankfully, there are some solar powered eco-toilets for them to relax in when all of the hoisting is done.

animal welfare at our fete

Our fete is only a day away and we are getting quite excited about what the weekend will bring. We have received a few emails from people concerned about the welfare of some of the animals that will be at our fete, so we just wanted to reassure anyone who wanted to know...

We love animals, and we’ve made sure that all of the activities involving animals at our fete comply with the Animal Welfare Acts of 2006 and 2007. All the animals are well looked after and no animals are hurt during any of the activities.

The exhibitors who will be at the fete are professionals who do this for a living across the country and, most importantly, are all animal lovers. The people we have employed to put on a show for you are at the top of their field and we have never received any complaints from any members of the public about these activities.

Also, the RSPCA are aware of the content of our event and haven't expressed any concerns. If you are concerned, please call the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999.

Hope that sets minds at rest.