Our mission, through celebrating Redbourn’s 900^th Anniversary, is to maintain, enhance and inspire the integration and sustainability of the Redbourn Community. With just over a month until our celebrations begin, let us tell you more…

The Great Paint

February is the month of the Great Paint – a Community Art Project to create large banners to be displayed around the village, involving many groups and organisations in the process of painting individual letters and numbers to make up the name ‘Redbourn 900’ which will be displayed around the village.

Willingness to have a go is all you need – for more information contact Grace Sawyer (793743) and Christine Farrington (793409) and let’s get painting!

Opening Celebrations – Thursday 25^th – Saturday 27^th March

Our Redbourn 900 celebrations kick off on 25^th March at 8 pm with a service at St Mary’s led by the Bishop of Hertford to celebrate our local links with Italy, Ghana, Tanzania and Afghanistan.

Saturday 27^th March heralds a concert by the Vasari Singers, one of the UK’s leading chamber choirs. The Vasari Singers are now in their 29^th year and, under Jeremy Backhouse, perform a wide range of repertoire with passion and sensitivity to exacting standards and considerable press acclaim. For Redbourn 900, the choir will be singing a programme including Bach, Duruflé, Britten and some other great pieces.

Family Fun & Sports Day – Monday 3^rd May

Held at the Recreation Centre this event does exactly what it says on the tin – a fun-filled day for all ages to engage in some of the many sporting activities Redbourn has to offer such as soccer, bowls, rugby, gymnastics and karate, as well as competitive races, a barbecue lunch and children’s entertainment.

A great way for us all to spend a Bank Holiday together.

Rural Day – Sunday 23^rd May

Despite being only 20 miles from London, Redbourn is a rural community surrounded by farms, fields and natural beauty. Come and celebrate Redbourn’s rural and environmental heritage with tours of some of the local working farms to learn where our food comes from and see organic and satellite farming, tractor trailer rides, Morris dancing on the Common, St Luke’s School Nature Trail Quiz, a walk on the Nickey Line, ploughmans lunches at the Recreation Centre and the Ver Society Nature walk. Finally, come and see our very own Watermill in action - the newly restored wheel will be turning, the millstones will be grinding organic flour, and the bread will be ready to eat!

Redbourn Songs of Praise – Sunday 30^th May

A wonderful event modelled on the ever-popular television format, held on the lawn outside St Mary’s with a live band and lots of great hymns to sing.

Carnival – Saturday 26^th June

The roar of cannons, cavalry dashing, colourful standards and the noise of drums heralds Sealed Knot’s re-enactment of the English Civil War on Redbourn Common as part of this major community celebration. Beginning with a parade down Redbourn High Street led by the Enfield District Scout Band and incorporating the Blue Angel Majorettes, Primary and Infant Schools, Hurst Children’s Theatre Group and The Redbourn Players performing the world premier of the street play Amphibalus, the Carnival will culminate in an arena programme including an inter-village tug of war and traditional village fete.

Flower Festival & Open Gardens – Friday 2nd, Saturday 3^rd & Sunday 4^th July

For all those green fingered folk out there - and even those without! - this is a great opportunity to visit and admire some of Redbourn residents’ own beautiful gardens, coupled with a stunning Flower Festival at St Mary’s Church and Redbourn Artists’ Exhibition in the Cumberland House Gardens – bloomin’ marvellous!

Street Parties & Barn Dance - Saturday 10^th July

Harking back to those bygone days, what better way to mark the half way point in the year of our Redbourn 900 celebrations than with a series of Street Parties around the village? Is your street taking part? We need volunteers from every street to gather their neighbours together.  You’ll receive a help pack and there’ll be a team to advise you. Help make 10^th July 2010 a day to remember and contact Pam Hansford (794802), Caroline Chandler (627222) or Steve Lillywhite (792881) for more information.

Then dust off those dancing shoes and finish the day with a traditional Barn Dance with Live Band and a Barbecue at Kettlewells Farm with the Friends of St Mary’s Church. Tickets and information from Chris Little on 01582 794262

Music Festival – Saturday 17^th – Saturday 24^th July

This is a week of diverse musical events carefully designed to appeal to all ages and musical tastes. A full brochure advertising this week-long musical extravaganza will soon be issued but here’s a little to whet your appetite…

• 17^th July – Bring and Sing Messiah with Symphonia Academica – join us to sing Handel’s most treasured and special work and make up the brand new Redbourn Festival Chorus.
• 18^th July – “Come Rain, Come Shine” – actors from Radio 4’s The Archers come to Redbourn in this sparkling anthology of music and dramatic interludes in celebration of the British countryside.
• 19^th July – Redbourn Junior School Summer Production members of Year 5 and 6 entertain us with a highly professional community performance of their special end of year show.
• 20^th July – “The Singing Storycloth” – Obelon, the Children’s Puppet Theatre, presents a superb show for all children aged 4-9 years old telling stories from around the world through puppetry, storytelling and song, inspired by the colourful puppets, textiles and music of the different cultures.

• 20^th July – Battle of the Bands – The Bull in the High Street plays host in this chance to celebrate the musical talent of Redbourn’s young and the not so young alike!
• 21^st July – Old Folks’ Sing-a-long – an afternoon of entertainment for the village’s senior residents by a mix of local amateur and professional volunteers.
• 21^st July – Hymns and Beer – Songs of Praise meets Eastenders as The Cricketers takes much-loved hymns right to the heart of the community!
• 22^nd July – a showcase of music, song and poetry from Redbourn Folk Club in the Hollybush pub garden.
• 23^rd July – “Grease ‘n’ Chips” – a sing-a-long night to this best-loved movie with a fish and chip supper at the Recreation Centre. Your chance to prove you can hand-jive baby!
• 24^th July – Big Band Dinner & Dance – a leading professional Big Band and support acts provide the musical backdrop to an evening of song, dinner and dancing at the Recreation Centre, showcasing it as a stunning, large performance venue.

For the Music Festival ticket and booking information please see the form on the back page.

Redbourn 900 Finale – Saturday 11^th & Sunday 12^th September

Our Redbourn 900 Finale celebrations begin with a superb concert on Saturday 11^th September at 7.30 pm at St Mary’s Church by the Canticle Chamber Choir - “Music in Praise of Mary”.

On 12^th September, following our final Festival Eucharist at 10.30 am at St Mary’s, we shift our focus back to the Common for the final events of Redbourn 900 celebrating Redbourn’s historical heritage including cricket, hats, buzzers and tea! Reputedly one of the earliest cricket clubs in the country, some of the village’s 150 cricketing children will participate in a tournament, coached by celebrities including former England Cricket Captain, Mike Brearley. Then it’s time to get our buzzers ready as we judge the village’s singing, dancing and variety acts in our very own ‘Redbourn’s Got Talent’. Watch these events sporting your very own straw hat with teacup in hand as Redbourn recreates its very own Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, celebrating Redbourn’s Brooke Bond Tea Factory heritage and harking back to when the reeds from the River Red were used for straw plaiting for the hat industry. Join us in attempting to break a Guinness World Record for dancing in hats on the Common, as a release of balloons signals the start of our tenth century.