ARCHERS actress Sunny Ormonde, who plays Lilian Bellamy in the popular drama, got Pebworth Party In The Park off to a flying start as the village celebration raised more than £7,000 for local groups.
After a respectful minutes’ silence to mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and the playing of the national anthem, Sunny welcomed everyone to the first Pebworth Party In The Park since the pandemic.
She arrived in a metallic blue classic E-type Jaguar accompanied by the Archers theme tune. She gave a warm, welcoming speech and then spent an hour or so going round the event meeting visitors, volunteers and stallholders before dashing off to Birmingham to record the latest episode of the Radio 4 show.
The show continued with rousing music performed by the Pebworth Parpers Brass Band, an acrobatic dance display by the Mezzo Dance Company, and traditional Morris dancing by the Pebworth Morris Men. This was followed by a parade of forty classic cars, dating from 1910 to the 1960s, and around thirty 1950s and 1960s scooters from the Awfully Pleasant Scooter Association.
The Scrufts Dog Show proved as popular as ever with plenty of entries for each class. Best in Show was won by Poppy, a three-year old Jack Russell bitch, owned by Beverley Daffurn. The Giant Sack Rack was a very competitive event with several groups of youngsters and adults vying to synchronise their hopping to reach the finish line first.
Visitors enjoyed the eagerly-awaited performance by the Pebworth Red Barrows wheelbarrow display team.
Accompanied by rousing music the daredevil team performed a hilarious routine featuring a pit stop race between two teams and a ‘ring of fire’ finale.
The quirky Cow Pat Bingo drew big crowds as always with anticipation building through the afternoon. Paloma, the prize cow, ended up ‘choosing’ O10 as the winning square.
And the afternoon was rounded off with a tug of war competition, won by a team of local farmers, and the traditional egg splat competition.
