Down in the Dell 2015

 

 

Family Bat Night 

 Thursday 10th September,  2015

 On a wonderfully warm evening in the middle of a short "Indian summer" about 26 children and their parents gathered in the Dell with Vicky Dunne from the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. First they had to find out facts about bats from bat-shaped information sheets hanging around the Dell, and be "tested" on what they had learnt. There followed the "bat and moth" game where two blindfolded children become a bat chasing a moth as they call out "bat" or "moth". The bat must catch the moth by hearing only. 

Suddenly the real bats were out and about. All the family groups were issued with bat detectors that bleeped like Geiger counters as they transformed the bats' echo-location radar into sounds that humans can hear. The detectors can reveal which species of bat we could hear, as they "broadcast" on different wavelengths. Ours were pipistrelles.

The evening ended with two more games: the "true or false" game, where the children must remember what they learnt earlier, and the "hibernation" game.

True of false? Which way to run?

The hibernation game. Who is under the blanket?

 

An excellent evening, enjoyed by all. We must do it again next year.

Music Festival Sunday 21st June   Doin' it in the Dell has become a habit. This year we held our fourth Music Festival for young people with a full programme of local bands, solo acoustic artists and even poets. Word had got around  and in spite of some indifferent weather lots of people turned up. Bands  included Crail, Chasing Deer, Rushmore, the Wapwaps, the Sixty Fours, Grass Routes and Trinity School. Acoustic slots were filled by Jack Emsden, Adele, Levi Washington and Martin Martell.  Two poets  added variety and lustre to the proceedings: angry young man Clint Bruder and rapper Flowlosopha. Food was laid on by the Star & Garter and the Fat Pug, while Coffee Architects provided excellent coffee, with their partners Fanny's Fancies offering scrumptious cakes. Ample donations towards next year's festival were gratefully received, as were a generous percentage of the takings by June, our Face Painter. Brink were there too, once again creating a Banksy style masterpiece in the course of the afternoon. Budding toddlers practised their own graffiti styles on the chalk board. A new feature was (were?) Escape Arts who persuaded youngsters to make little figures out of string, buttons and anything else in their magic box, all stuck together with a glue gun. With many thanks to organisers James Knight, Chris Meeke, Adam  Biddlecombe and Stephan Steinhaus and to Matt Waddell for his PA and meticulous  control of sound levels. Friends of the Dell Chris, Rosie and Sean supplied  power feeds from their houses, others delivered flyers, Kangs Costcutters  sponsored our banner. We are especially grateful to North Leamington Community Forum for the grant which enabled us to stage the event. A brief moment of sunshine at the Festival See pictures of the audience here and the bands here. The Dell Party, Sunday 17th May   Surely nobody would come to the Dell Party on a cool, cloudy and very gloomy afternoon last Sunday and we started with hardly anyone present. But it wasn't long before lots of families arrived with picnics to enjoy the Punch and Judy show, a bouncy castle, face painting and a good variety of excellent music from six local groups and two acoustic soloists. Bands playing for us this year were One More Night, Jazz-Bo, the Spa Strummers Ukulele Group, Chasing Deer, Midweek and the Hangover Blues Band. The young but highly accomplished soloists were Harry Alexander and Levi Washington. Our VIPs were the Chairman of Warwick District Council, Cllr. Clare Sawdon, and the Town Mayor of Royal Leamington Spa, Cllr. Amanda Stevens accompanied by Mr Ian Stevens. Local sponsors of raffle prizes, banner, flyers, real lemonade and the bouncy castle included the Fat Pug, the Grove Practice, Haddie and Trilby, Havana, Kang's Costcutters, News Plus of Regent Street, the Oddfellows, Sara Southgate, Sign Works, the Star and Garter, Stonemonkey, Sweet As, TWPrinting, and Wigwam. A grant from the Town Council covered our insurance while the District Council had not only mown the grass but also thoughtfully provided two giant wheelie bins. Many thanks to all those volunteers who delivered flyers, organised the music, helped set up in the morning, sold homemade cakes, raffle tickets and lemonade, and generally made it all possible. Above all our thanks are due to everyone who turned up in such inauspicious weather, and whose donations will help us put on another party next year. At least it didn't rain.  A good crowd in spite of the weather.