Farnham’s safari weekend ended on a high note as over one thousand people brought along their picnics to Gostrey Meadow and took part in Sunday’s Picnic in the Park.

Picnickers, which included many families with young children enjoyed five hours of free, live music, which was compered by Picnic in the Park sponsor Richie Ellmer from Weyfest. The bands played a wide range of music to suit all tastes including Paul Weller tracks by guitarist and singer Patrick Webber; Beatles songs by the Vic Cracknell Band; Queen numbers by The Danny Lee Band and the Lion King’s Circle of Life by the Choir Company.

Speaking after the event, Cllr Jill Hargreaves, Lead Member for Tourism and Events said: “After the torrential downpours we experienced on Saturday, it was a great relief to see sunshine return for Picnic in the Park. The annual event, which this year was sponsored by Weyfest and Companion Care, is probably Farnham’s largest outdoor dining occasion and is always most enjoyable. Lots of people brought picnics with delicious looking sandwiches and strawberries and cream. Many people also went to a great deal of effort to bring flags to wave during the concert and served their food on beautiful and very patriotic looking plates!

“The bands and musicians who performed throughout the afternoon are all local people and the standard was extremely high. I am very proud to live in a town that has so many talented people.”

As well as musical entertainment, there was face painting and glitter tattoos for children. Music in the Meadow sponsor Savills Farnham hosted a stall where they gave away balloons and organised games with sweets as prizes. Picnic in the Park sponsor, Companion Care had a stall where they handed out information and balloons.

For those who did not bring a picnic, ‘posh’ hotdogs, crepes and refreshing cocktails were available to buy from local businesses Traditional Catering and Beetlejuice. The charity Pimm’s tent was run by volunteers from the Post-19 Group to raise money for their charity, which is also being supported by the Mayor of Farnham, Cllr Jeremy Ricketts.

The next Music in the Meadow is on Sunday 6 July and will be an opportunity for local, young people to showcase their musical talents live. The concert will take place in the bandstand on Gostrey Meadow between 3 and 5pm. The refreshment tent will be hosted by Arthritis UK who will be raising money for their charity.