Fantastic 40th Anniversary celebrations

July 12, 2011

The Westway Community Festival, 11th – 19th June 2011 was an overwhelming success, attracting in excess of 6000 people of all ages and backgrounds over the six days.   

Stretching from Bramley Road to Acklam Road the festival kicked off on Saturday 11th June at the Sports Centre with a fun and activity packed afternoon of sports and arts, culminating with a packed programme on Sunday 19th June on Portobello Green.

Activities included live music and dance from performers across the globe from Russia to Senegal, Turkey to Brazil and Somalia to the Caribbean.  150 artistes performed representing 23 nationalities. Other popular attractions included Belly Dancer Solariss complete with her albino cobra, volleyball and Zumba demonstrations, circus skills, magicians, face painting, storytelling, steel pan music and much, much more.

Thirty-five community stalls represented a range of local services and projects and food stalls served cuisine representing our local communities.  The newly opened Portobello Art Gallery had over 400 visitors including the Mayor of Kensington & Chelsea to its first exhibition ‘Seldom Seen’, a mixed media exhibition of images of local, older people whose lives are often hidden from view.

The festival was an opportunity to celebrate 40 years of community development and the provision of services and activities for the benefit of the local community.  In addition the festival was a great success in increasing interest in the Trust and generating feelings of goodwill in the community.  Feedback from Westway staff was that they had the opportunity to meet and speak to many local people, explain what they do and encourage people to get involved and that many residents expressed that it was a fantastic event and that they have a clearer idea about what we do and equally importantly how they can get involved in.