Best of British Festival coming to Winchester (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Best of British Festival coming to Winchester

10:30am Thursday 29th December 2011 in Arts By Warwick Payne

Winchester will be a patriotic riot of colour next summer with household names heading to the new Best of British Festival.

The two-month programme will include existing events, such as the Hat Fair and Winchester Festival, along with several new ones.

Running from Friday, May 25 to Tuesday, July 26, it will coincide with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the run-up to the London Olympics.

Names already confirmed include crime writers PD James and Ruth Rendell, who will appear together at Winchester Guildhall on Friday, June 1 for an event entitled Queens of Crime.

Dame Judi Dench has been named as event patron – a role she also performs for the Winchester Festival – and organisers hope that she might attend.

Her long time friend John Miller from Bishops Sutton is the artistic director. He held the same post at the Winchester Festival until last summer, when his contract was not renewed after 13 years in the role.

Winchester Festival organisers have since announced that radio producer Victoria Shepherd will be taking on many of his duties for 2012.

But it will be just one of several events under the Best of British banner, with Mr Miller hoping to confirm more big names soon.

He said: “In previous years whenever we’ve had Dame Judi coming to Winchester the event has always sold out by lunchtime.”

He added: “She’s very busy with the new James Bond film at the moment. As always, it’s a question of what her schedule is likely to be, but I’m hoping to see her in January to see if she can join us next summer.”

He also said: “Best of British is certainly the biggest thing I’ve ever done in Winchester.”

It will not only include cultural events but several other highlights, including a Diamond Jubilee street party in The Broadway outside Winchester Guildhall.

The city’s Business Improvement District will be fixing red, white and blue bunting across the whole retail district for the festival.

Chris Turner, the BID’s executive director, is also chairing the cultural and commercial groups joining forces on the project, which is backed by Winchester City Council.

He said they were due to meet on Wednesday, January 4, and those represented would include the Hat Fair and Winchester Festival.

Prof Turner said: “We’ve got a good deal on the bunting and hopefully we’ll be putting it up in all the main shopping areas and also the side streets.”

He added that the Best of British branding would hopefully keep tourists coming to Winchester.

He said: “The fear nationally is that everyone will be going to the sporting events, or getting as far away from the Olympics as they possibly can.

“In Winchester we’re very keen to retain our home-grown tourist trade and this is one of the things that we’ll be doing to boost our footfall.

“I think we can say that something will be happening every weekend during that time.”

Several events are being planned elsewhere in the Winchester district under the Best of British banner. They will include open days at Twyford Waterworks and a wartime weekend on the Watercress Line in Alresford.

Food events are also scheduled at the Marwell Hotel at Marwell and the Holiday Inn at Morn Hill, while the Thomas Lord pub in West Meon plans to offer a Best of British menu.

Other venues expected to take part include Winchester Discovery Centre, the city’s military museums, the Theatre Royal and Winchester Cathedral.

The full schedule is likely to be confirmed in the coming weeks, with a Best of British launch event planned on Friday, March 23.