Myatt's Fields Park: The Big Event Midsummer's Eve Saturday 20th June 2pm-7pm

PRESS RELEASE

The Big Event: celebrating the transformation of Myatt’s Fields Park, Camberwell, with a spectacular opening procession, music, workshops and performances inspired by the Victorian era.

Midsummer’s Eve, Saturday 20^th June, 2009, 2pm – 7pm

5pm: opening ceremony with Kate Hoey MP, CEO Lambeth Council

Myatt’s Fields Park, Knatchbull Road, Camberwell SE5

A free event for all on Midsummer’s Eve, and the launch event of Camberwell Arts Festival, The Big Event officially marks the re-opening of Myatt’s Fields Park, Camberwell, after its extensive £3m renovation. Opened in 1889, the park was designed by Fanny Wilkinson, one of the first female professional landscape gardeners and a well known supporter of women’s suffrage.

The Big Event is the third in a series of innovative artist-led community events produced by Camberwell-based arts organisation, home live arts, in Myatt’s Fields Park. The event is inspired by the Victorian heritage of the park, celebrating the familiar as well as the more quirky Victorian performance and cultural traditions, including: a mass ukulele jam, tea dance, big top performance programme, mass carnival procession and artists’ sideshow stalls.

The event also plays on the ideas of leisure and recreation so prevalent of the era, particularly in South London, home of the original Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. This spirit is embodied in philanthropic projects such as Myatt’s Fields Park, which was originally commissioned by the Minet Family to provide a space of relaxation, recreation and healthy pursuits for the tenants of nearby estates and family homes.

The Big Event invites the community back into the park, championing it as a vital green space in Camberwell and celebrates through arts, music and performance projects, its unique Victorian heritage.

Participants: Kinetika Bloco, Caragh Buxton, Charles Edward Brooke School, Bygones Rent a Mob, Camberwell Choir School, Rosie Cooper, South Connections & The Myatt’s Junkeno, Adam Dant, Stephanie Douet, The Dulwich Ukulele Club, Marcia Farquhar, Christopher Green, Jenny Hayton, Martina von Holn, The Insect Circus, London Irish Rifles Bugles, Pipes & Drums, Jellymongers, The Judy & Punch Show, The London Theatre School, Loughborough Primary, Lottie Leedham, Natasha Mann, McApline Dance School, St Michael & All Angels Academy, Tim Mitchell, Moving into Age, The Nest, Clare Patey, Reay Primary, Rediscovered Urban Rituals, Salsateca, Splatrix Circus, Search Party, South Island Workshop, Yara El-Sherbini, Splatrix Circus, Bob & Roberta Smith, Ragroof Theatre, Rachel Tweddell, Isabel Walker, Eva Weaver, Society of Wonders.

Partners: Myatt’s Fields Park Project Group, Lambeth Council, Southwark Council, Creative Camberwell, Camberwell Arts

Supported by: The Arts Council, Lambeth Council, Southwark Council, The Heritage Lottery Fund, Co-op Community Fund, Southwark Alliance, The Minet Conservation Association

Principal Sponsor: Cowling & Wilcox.

Sponsors: New Dewaniam, Sun & Doves, The Castle, Veolia, Taximedia

Notes to Editors

• Myatt’s Fields Park, The Big Event officially marks the re-opening of Myatt’s Fields Park following its extensive renovation. The £3 million renovation of the park includes a new playground and the restoration of its landscape and historic features such as the bandstand and roundhouse. A new refreshment kiosk, depot offices and meeting rooms and a wildlife area have been created. Plans also include a range of community activities and events. Work will start on a new children’s building and toilets, to be completed in November 2009.

The restoration has been led by local residents, who are members of the Myatt’s Fields Park Project Group and has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Lambeth Council. The playground was funded by, Biffaward, London Marathon Trust, Western Riverside Environmental Fund, the Peter Minet Trust, Lambeth Endowed Charities and Lambeth Council.

• The park was originally part of a 109-acre estate, inherited by Sir Edward Knatchbull in 1745 and purchased by Hughes Minet in 1770. Hughes was a descendant of Isaac Minet, a Huguenot refugee who fled to England from France in the late 1600s to escape religious persecution. The park is named after Joseph Myatt, a tenant market gardener, who grew strawberries and rhubarb here in the 19^th century.

• On 20^th June 1837, Queen Victoria ascended to the throne.

• 20^th June, Midsummer’s Eve, marks the year’s longest day, celebrated throughout history as a day of ‘gathering’, processions and music.

• The Big Event is part of The Camberwell Arts Festival 2009, ‘Make your own Damn Festival’ www.camberwellarts.org.uk. Love London Festival www.lovelondon.org.uk and The Story of London www.london.gov.uk/storyoflondon

For more information contact home live art, laura@homeliveart.com, tel. 07957 565336, www.homeliveart.com