Come on in, it's back on! SOHO FESTIVAL - Sunday, July 10th, St Anne's Church Gardens
Published: 01 July 2011
by JOSH LOEB
IT is the festival that almost never was. Ten days from today (Friday), members of the Soho Society will triumphantly return to the gardens of St Anne’s Church, Dean Street, with cake, bunting – and parrots.
The Soho Festival has always been a symbol of the influential amenity group’s link with St Anne’s, which it helped rebuild after the church was heavily bombed in the Blitz – but this year’s festivities will be more symbolic than most.
Six months ago the society was given the boot from its base in the tower of the church after being told by its then rector, Father David Gilmore, that its lease had expired.
Society members staged a defiant “sit-in” and mounted a legal challenge. And Earlier this year an ecclesiastical judge granted them permission to continue to use the tower, enabling them to finally start planning for next week’s event, which is expected to draw many hundreds of people including musician Adam Ant.
Soho Society chairwoman Kaye de Ville said: “It is our major fund-raiser. We wouldn’t have been able to continue if we couldn’t have the festival.” Mandana Ruane, a member of the Soho Society executive, said: “It’s something we have always done and it’s something we always will do. The Soho Society was brought about by the council and big business wanting to raise the whole of Soho, so I don’t think we’ve had big problems recently compared with that.”
The festival will feature a tug of war, Punch and Judy show, Alpine horn blowing, singing competition, tombola, face painting and a parrot drawing competition. One of the guests will be Gracie, an African grey parrot, and Ms de Ville, a former parrot conservationist, is also expected to bring along a couple of friendly macaws.
• The festival will take place in St Anne’s Church gardens from noon-6pm on Sunday July 10th. Entry is £2 for adults and free for children and OAPs.