Sunday 21st June - Bywell Castle Open Garden Day and Father's Day - dawned bright, clear and dry. A few hours later, the gardens and grounds of Bywell Castle were busy with Community Centre trustees and volunteers, Allendale family members, stallholders, band members and helpers setting up for the day. Then the members of the public started to arrive - first a trickle, then a flood, with their children, dogs, friends - and, of course, their fathers.
There was the band, Jeanie and the Jollyboys, playing all afternoon in one part of the garden. There was face painting, the Honey Store, craft stalls and others in another area. There were quieter parts of the garden where one could stroll in the shade of the trees or sit and enjoy the peace, the sunshine and the views of the river running past the castle.
There was pizza and paella from the Feathers Inn in the castle ruins. There were sausages, burgers and cakes to be eaten. Tyne Valley Taproom were serving beer, other vendors were offering gins and other alcoholic beverages. There was, of course, tea and coffee. What was lacking, unfortunately, was enough toilets for the unexpectedly large number of visitors on the day. There will be more toilets provided at any other events of this scale.
Outside of the gates, Andrea's Children's Dog Show was in full swing, and the occasional child or dog bearing a rosette was to be seen. There were llamas to be walked and ponies to be stroked. Back inside the gates, there were prizes to be won at the bottle tombola and the prize tombola. Families were picnicking on the grass and children were running about.
The volunteers on the gate and those on car park duty were wilting, but manfully (and womanfully) cotinuing to direct traffic and take entrance money. When this was eventually counted up, there was far more than we had expected, and it will make a real difference to what we can do at Stocksfield Community Centre. However, more volunteers and / or trustees would enable us to put more events on for the community, so if you or anyone you know might like to be involved, please contact Lisa on admin@stocksfieldca.org.uk
So from Stocksfield Community Association to everyone who helped to make this such an enjoyable and successful event - all of those mentioned above, but particularly Lord and Lady Allendale, without whom none of this would have been possible, and including the hundreds of peop[le of all ages who came along on the day, supported the stallholders and food and drink vendors, and relaxed and played in the beautiful gardens - a big Thank You.