The Muswell Hill Festival and Donkey Derby - Sun 12 September 2010

The Muswell Hill Festival and Donkey Derby

Our annual fundraiser takes place on Sunday 12 September from 12 noon to 6pm in Cherry Tree Wood, East Finchley, London N2 9QH (nearest tube: East Finchley).

To book a stall, please complete our booking form and return to us as soon as possible. To sponsor a donkey for the Donkey Derby, please complete our form. We also invite volunteers to help on the day and companies to sponsor our event. For more information, please contact Daisy Mathebula: daisy@cplondon.org.uk.

Last year’s event raised over £13,500 for our charity and many stalls donated their entire takings to us. Starbucks raised £1,300 and the Hornsey Round Table’s Pimms Tent £1,500 – wonderful!.

Hundreds of local residents turned up to enjoy a fun filled day out with bouncy castles, fairground rides, a donkey derby, dog shows, a stage with live music from local bands, stalls with crafts, food and information on local community groups from Muswell Hill and Finchley.

In 2009, we saw a great uptake on donkey sponsorship from local businesses with donkey races taking place over the afternoon. The donkey rides for the children were also hugely popular with local families. The donkey derby format changed this year with youngsters from The City Farm Riding School in Vauxhall acting as jockeys on sponsors behalf’s. The Round Tables of North London had raised £600 to sponsor their own race and table 1741 won the race on the day, a delighted Donkey organiser Neil Levitt said “We have had such a laugh today, it’s been a real success and I am delighted that my round table won the race!”.

There were also a series of Dog Shows which took place over the afternoon with local canines competing for titles such as ‘Dog with the waggiest tail, Golden Oldie and Prettiest Dog’ First place winners won vouchers from Fetch 22 in East Finchley for Dog Grooming sessions to really pamper their pooches.

The stage hosted a series of incredible acts, The Kids Uncanny kicked off the festival in style with their blend of pop punk. Festival Favourites Keith Airey and friends got the crowd going with a rousing set of rock classics and in keeping with the Dog theme of the day newcomers to the festival Dog Day and Dog Roses wowed the crowd with two exceptional sets. Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet was also on hand at the end of the day to draw the charity raffle and told reporters he may try to get involved with the festival next year. Tony sang at the festival back in 2007 with Keith Airey and the Avenue Dukes.

Festival organiser Sara Westrop said “We have been so thrilled at the turn out for the festival this year, despite the weather being a bit cloudy loads of people turned up to enjoy a great day out and we’ve raised a record breaking amount for the charity too so it’s been a real success. Now we just need to work on making this year even bigger!”

Cerebral Palsy Support | The London Centre

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