11/06/2026
๐ GAWCOTT FESTIVAL 2026 โ THANK YOU! ๐
Grab a cuppa and settle in, because this is going to be a long one!
It really does take a village, and we wanted to recognise everyone who contributed to making this yearโs festival such a huge success.
Firstly, a massive thank you to our wonderful sponsors. Without your support, we simply wouldnโt have been able to run the event:
Tony Ulph โ Gawcott Solar Farm
Gawcott Parish Council
Sam Whebb โ EKFB
Lee and Jenny โ Gawcott Bonus Ball
Alberto J Solera โ Solera Engineering
Mark Paul โ Lindon Gas
Carl Shute โ Redfield Construction
James Brown โ JB Pro
Adam โ Tailored Timber
Scott Maynard โ Soft 99 Whip
Kipper โ GMS
Mark Steed
Jyoti Uppal โ The Crown Pub
Tesco Buckingham
๐ค ENTERTAINMENT ๐ค
A huge thank you to our fantastic entertainment team, headed up by Steve Britton, who was compere for the day. Thank you for running the show, keeping everything on time and making sure the day ran smoothly from start to finish.
Big thanks go to Mikey Dyson and Corinnaโs Cool Kids Entertainer, Sam, who kept the children busy with dancing, games, magic and balloon modelling. Everywhere you looked there were smiling faces and plenty of laughter!
Aspire Arts Academy you did an absolutely amazing job performing for us. It takes real courage to stand up and perform in front of a crowd, and every one of you was fantastic. We know how much hard work goes into learning those dances and songs, and it certainly showed.
Also as additions on the day to the stage, special thanks to Rosanna and Tiegan for their impromptu but brilliant performances and for helping with the raffle draw
To Fraser โ thank you for opening the festival so brilliantly. It wasnโt long before people were settling in, tapping their feet and enjoying the atmosphere.
Thank you to Colin Bray Jazz Band. You brought a wonderful relaxed festival vibe and kept the crowd thoroughly entertained.
Thank you to Tim Peterkin for bringing the reggae vibes to Gawcott. You had everyone up and dancing and created a fantastic atmosphere throughout the afternoon.
Thank you also to The Turf Tappers for a brilliant performance. Everyone looked like they were thoroughly enjoying the music.
And finally, Down to the Chords Thankyou! You had the field rocking and, by then, even the volunteers were able to let their hair down and join in the fun. We even got that โone last songโ!
๐พ DOG SHOW ๐พ
What an afternoon! It was wonderful to see SO many dogs and owners enjoying themselves.
A huge thank you to our judges, Nicola Adams from Field & Family Gundog Training and Louisa Richardson from Sandhill Farm Livery. You were both fantastic and helped make the show feel incredibly professional.
To my big sister, Katy Mahoney, and Claire Britton, thank you for keeping everything together when we had far more dogs enter than we ever anticipated!
Thank you to the Bernese Mountain Dog display team for coming along and showcasing your wonderful dogs. They were impeccably behaved and received plenty of cuddles and admiration throughout the day.
Helen Carter Photography you did a superb job capturing the event. At one point you seemed to be everywhere at once! Thank you also for generously donating a prize for Best in Show. Donโt forget to check out Helenโs photos on our page.
Thank you to our dog show sponsors:
R&J Pet Supplies for donating all the prizes for our winners and Best in Show.
Astaire Bespoke for funding the dog show.
๐ฐ BAKE OFF ๐ฐ
Thank you to Nicky for arranging the Gawcott Bake Off. All the entries looked amazing. A special shout-out to Jennie Smith and Callum Anderson MP for judging the Bake Off. It canโt have been easy when every entry looked absolutely magnificent.
๐ SPORTS DAY ๐
Claire Britton, thank you for providing so much entertainment through the Sports Day. There was plenty of laughter, some very competitive space hopper racing and more than a few legs in the air!
๐ฑ STALL HOLDERS & FUNDRAISING ๐ฑ
To all of our wonderful stall holders, thank you for your time, effort and support.
A special thank you to Jo Hall and Katy Spedding for running the Community Plant Stall and somehow keeping all those plants alive!
To Ben Robertson for running the Teddy Tombola, and to everyone who donated teddies and plants for the festival , thank you.
To Penny, thank you for tirelessly speaking to local businesses and collecting raffle and silent auction prizes. The selection was incredible, and thank you to everyone who donated prizes. Thankyou to Alecโs Angels for managing the silent auction on the day.
๐ BEHIND THE SCENES ๐
A huge thank you to the Tofield family for allowing us to use your field for parking and for taking the time to move livestock and prepare the field for us. We really appreciate your support.
Thank you to Kate Fowley for sprucing up the Pavilion and making it such a lovely place to be.
Thanks to Debbie who attended the meetings on behalf of Alecโs Angels
To Ali Thankyou for taking the time to design the poster and setting up the page.
Martin Young, thank you for PAT testing all the electrical equipment, which turned out to be in remarkably good condition considering it hadnโt been used in over a decade!
A huge thank you to Ian Taylor for spending time with us and for so generously imparting your knowledge and expertise.
To Tojo and Ricky Hine, thank you for being the best security team from Friday through to Monday.
Probey, thank you for allowing us to use your lorry and trailer and for giving up your weekend to help.
Peter Gibbs, thank you for setting up and running the PA and sound system throughout the entire day. We could not have done it without you.
Adam Bourne and GMB Scaffolding, thank you for delivering and setting up the scaffolding for the bar and for generally lifting every heavy object that needed moving!
๐ THE BAR & BBQ TEAM ๐
To Jyoti and the wonderful Crown team, thank you for working tirelessly all weekend. You kept smiling, worked seamlessly together and showed true professionalism throughout.
Bar Team:
Gary Fowley
Toby
Kadi
Maddie
Owen
Deanna
BBQ Team:
Addison
Charlie
Roni
A huge special thank you to Gina and Rory, Tamzin and Julien who worked their socks off running the BBQ. None of us could have predicted quite how busy it would be, especially when we ended up making an emergency Tesco run for more food!
โ COMMUNITY GROUP โ
A huge thank you to Nicky and the Community Group volunteers who ran the Bottle Tombola, served teas, coffees and cakes, and helped throughout the day.
Thank you also to those who couldnโt be there on the day but worked incredibly hard behind the scenes:
J Mistry, Ian Blacker, Sylvia Burgess, Claire Crosbie, Jennie Smith, Debbie, Dipali, Sarah & Seb Smith, Kim & Sandy Horne and Alan White.
๐ช OUR AMAZING VOLUNTEERS ๐ช
Stuart, Jo and Kate Hall, thank you for stepping up wherever needed, whether that was parking cars, helping at the dog show, putting up marquees in the rain or decorating the site with bunting.
Katy Spedding, thank you for being our clean-up extraordinaire. There wasnโt a piece of litter left on that field!
John, thank you for managing the car parks, helping with Sports Day and generally being our go-to person for absolutely everything.
Lyall Robertson, thank you for somehow managing to be everywhere and anywhere all at the same time.
โค๏ธ OUR COMMITTEE โค๏ธ
Finally, to our amazing committee: thank you for your dedication, enthusiasm, patience and teamwork. From our very first meeting back in February to now, there have been months of planning, organising, fundraising, problem-solving and hours upon hours of hard work to bring the festival together.
Jyoti, Nicky, Steve, Claire, Penny, Gina, Rory, Deanna, Tojo, Lyall and Jenny โ every single one of you played a part in making this yearโs festival such a success.
Thank you to everyone who attended, supported, volunteered, sponsored, performed, competed, donated, baked, danced, parked cars, moved tables, picked up litter, served food, poured drinks and helped in countless ways.
Gawcott Festival 2026 was truly a community effort, and we couldnโt have done it without you.
๐ FINALLYโฆ ๐
The update youโve all been waiting for!
We are absolutely delighted to announce that this yearโs festival raised an incredible ยฃ2,300 for Alecโs Angels. ๐
And thatโs not allโฆ
We are also thrilled to say that we are now in a position to announce the provisional date for next yearโs festival:
๐
Sunday 13th June 2027
Pop it in your diaries now โ we canโt wait to do it all again!
Thank you once again. See you in 2027! ๐ช๐ถโ๏ธ
