Due to essential maintenance, the website will be unavailable from 8-8:30am on Monday 28 May. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Party weekend enjoyed by thousands
Published Wednesday 6th July 11
Thousands of people flocked to Wellingborough’s party weekend on 2 and 3 July.
The fun kicked off on Saturday with the carnival parade, which started at 12pm at Broad Green and made its way through the town to Croyland Park. There were 32 entries in the parade, with community groups, businesses, schools and individuals all taking part. The overall parade winner was Attley Court sheltered housing with their 'right royal sing-along' float. The people on Attley Court's float had a combined age of 1,000!
Martin Sawers, court manager at Attley Court said: "It was a fantastic day and all the residents on the float had the time of their lives. We had a post-carnival party that evening to celebrate our win. We can't wait to find out what next year's theme will be in order to start our preparations."
Sue Bull, events manager at Wellingborough Council said: "It was a wonderful day, a chance to forget about bills and daily life and just have fun. Everyone made such an effort and you couldn't help but smile as the parade passed through town. We had so many positive comments about how much people enjoyed themselves. And the sun shone, which always makes it even more fabulous."
The event continued once the parade reached Croyland Park, with a huge range of arena acts for people to enjoy - from a strongman act to displays of martial arts and majorettes, wrestling and comedy acts. There was also a folk marquee, a craft marquee, a fun fair and plenty of stalls for people to browse.
Croyland Park was also the venue for the party to continue into Sunday, as thousands of people enjoyed six hours of live music. Families started arriving at 11am to find a good spot and settle in with their picnics. The Party in the Park event was officially opened by the Mayor of Wellingborough, Cllr Bhupendra Patel, at 12pm and saw local bands and nationally-acclaimed tribute acts take to the stage to entertain the crowds.
Tributes to Cheryl Cole, Boy George, Katy Perry and Bob Marley had everyone singing along. In between the live acts, people had plenty to keep them amused, with craft activities for the kids, funfair rides and lots of stalls all proving popular.
Leader of the council, Cllr Paul Bell, who ran a general surgery at the event said: "It was a fantastic, free day out that really brought the community together."
To view pictures of the weekend, please see our Party in the Park 2011 picture gallery.