Bumper turnout for the Festival of Leisure’s return

After a two-year gap, South Derbyshire District Council’s Festival of Leisure returned at the weekend (25 and 26 June) and bumper crowds turned out at Church Gresley’s Maurice Lea Memorial Park.

The two-day festival saw hundreds of families flocking to enjoy the array of family entertainment, fairground rides, inflatables, traditional stalls and food vendors.

This year the festival included a special Platinum Jubilee Pageant Arena area to help celebrate the Queen’s 70-year reign. Event organisers had asked people to dust off their best Jubilee attire and wear it to the festival – the people of South Derbyshire and further afield didn’t disappoint and many people of all ages were spotted in royal attire.

The assembled entertainment ranged from Charlie’s Angels and G’s Studio doing amazing dance displays, to local archive charity Magic Attic, Equestrienne Stunt Show horses performing wild west trick riding, post riding and pony express, shooting, roping and line dancing horses. Also, there was Bob Hogg with his sheepdog and duck display!

There was live music from the Rolls Royce Derby Band on the Sunday and a chance to see Tribal Vibes with their community drumming group, the Xtreme Stunt Team with their motorcycle stunt show and martial arts displays from Crown Kickboxing and Fight Station.

All the above was lapped up by visitors, alongside the traditional village games and picnics which were in full swing throughout the day.

Event organisers were delighted with the turnout, numbers were much better than anticipated, with close to 5,000 estimated visitors per day turning up to enjoy Maurice Lea Memorial Park in full festival swing.

Chris Smith, South Derbyshire District Council’s Communities Team Manager, said: “I was really excited that the Festival of Leisure was able to make its return after a forced absence - and the weekend did not disappoint, what an amazing turnout and feedback from people of all ages.

“I’m proud and grateful to everybody that was involved in coming together and putting on this fantastic festival of family entertainment and I’m also especially pleased the festival included a Jubilee theme – we can see from today, South Derbyshire residents and people visiting from outside the District had a real appetite to continue to celebrate the achievement of the Queen’s 70-year reign.”

27 June 2022