Written by Linda Bigham, chair of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Committee, Longford Community Forum
At 12pm, under welcoming banners, the VIPS cut the golden ribbon to the sound of African drums. We were off on the first festival in the park since the war.
Undaunted by the traditional drizzle, cars and local people on foot poured in.
听| 听 |  | Louby Lou at Longford Park
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Some children pulled their parents towards the scout marquee. They were anxious to sign up for face painting, water colouring and hat making for the later competitions.
Others queued for their free party tickets while some were distracted by the fair or by the scents of Caribbean, Asian and traditional barbecue cookery as the local food stalls started to feed the forming queues.
听| 听 |  | The gospel choir entertained brilliantly
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The crowd's attention was drawn from the stalls to the arenas and then to the stage as entertainment varied from cheerleaders to magic, from Salsa to Morris dancing and from clowning to cricket. The whole audience clapped and sang along with the gospel choir.
By 5pm the sun finally broke through and over 200 children collected their tea and the golden balloons presented by Travel West Midlands. The Hat Competition prizes had been collected and parents stood holding the precious hats while last goes were had on the donkeys and the fair to the sound of a solo guitarist.
听A huge effort from everyone
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By 6.30pm only the brave remained, singing along to the karaoke while the tired volunteers on duty from 8am took down the stalls and greeted each other with traditional volunteer's sayings, "Went great didn't it?", "Did you get to eat? No nor me", "Who's gone home with the Allan Key?"
And the person who said "That was brilliant, but what we should do next time?" got chased from the field!
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