For 2002, we decided to expand the Arts Weekend. We successfully applied for an ‘Awards for All’ grant of £2,608 which covered the costs of hiring a marquee, transport, printing and security costs. As well as the CAE touring exhibition, we invited a group of local professional artists to put on a separate exhibition. On the Saturday evening we had a concert by a local choir. We attracted over 400 visitors over two days and made a surplus, which we shared with the church.

  2003 was a difficult year. Funding bids went in late and we did not attract all the grants that we had hoped. However, in a very positive display of community spirit and lots of self-help, the festival was even bigger and better than before. We had two marquees and added poetry readings. Some of the planned elements of the festival had to be cancelled because of the lack of funding. In spite of the difficulties we attracted a lot of people, continued the tradition and even made a very small surplus.

The renamed Welborne Arts Festival in 2004 was the best so far! The total number of visitors to all the events was over 700. This nearly doubled our previous highest attendance and reflected the wider scope of the festival. Over 60 villagers contributed to the festival in some way. This was particularly encouraging as it suggested we were achieving our underlying objective of community-building.
We were very successful with funding bids and even had to give back £2,700 to ‘Awards for All’!
Our proposals included schools workshops and linked activities, concerts in the church, ‘Something for all the senses” in the church, arts workshops and presentations for families, as well as two art exhibitions.
We delivered all of these and a few extras, such as the appearance of the Bristol Art Library, well within budget.
The 2004 festival made a surplus, £1000 of which has been put into a reserve fund to give us some flexibility in funding future festivals. Hopefully, a surplus will become the norm, but is dependent on the major costs being met by external funding.

The total number of visitors to all the events of Welborne Arts Festival 2005 was around 800, more than ever before.
About 80 villagers contributed to the festival. Some people contributed in more than one way, so there is some double-counting, but 48 people helped during the festival with organising, catering, stewarding or greeting, over 20 took part in the villagers visual art exhibition and there were 19 flower arrangers. This is particularly encouraging as it suggests we are achieving our underlying objective of community-building. In addition, 140 children from Mattishall and Garvestone schools took part in the workshops run for the festival by Liz McGowan.
The major costs of the festival were met by generous funding and sponsorship from local and national charities, local councils, the lottery and local businesses. The festival raised income from advertising in the programme, sales of the programme, commission on sales of art, catering, sales of concert tickets.

The 2006 festival had grown to include more literature and music and included all the following:

• Our artist-in-residence, Pat Derrick, created a video of Welborne villagers growing and preparing food and this was shown in the church during the festival. She also performed at the festival. This joint South Norfolk Festivals Network project was organised by South Norfolk Council and Commissions East.
• The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts gave pupils at four local schools, a day at the Sainsbury Centre followed by visual artists Sarah Florence and Jessica Perry working with the children at their schools. The work by the children was then displayed outside the church at the festival.
• Sheringham Town Crier, Tony Nelson was at the festival all weekend, announcing events and very successfully encouraging people to move to the next activity.
• The Dereham Times, publicised and sponsored a children’s photography competition, donated prizes and published the winning entries. The winning entries, along with 10 other photos, will be included in a calendar to be sold in aid of the festival during autumn 2006
• Readings and book signing by three Norfolk-based authors: Patricia Duncker, Louis de Bernières and Michèle Roberts
• Wymondham Players performed two of their specially commissioned, short plays
• Dereham library brought their mobile library to the festival, storytelling for young children, promoted Bookstart and recruited new members for the library
• A daytime programme of music of all sorts - some in the church and some outside
• Two evening concerts in the church - on Saturday, Laurette Pope, harp, and Lowri Porter, violin and on Sunday, one of folk’s leading singer/guitar pickers, Eddie Walker from Middlesbrough.
• Inspiration in the church including the video by artist-in-residence, Pat Derrick, wonderful flower arrangements and writing by Dereham and District Writers Group, all on the festival theme of ‘Building Bridges’
• Visual art exhibitions by The Norwich Print Fair and North Norfolk Visual Artists Association
• A high quality exhibition of visual art by villagers from Welborne and surrounding villages
• The Grapevine Gallery from Norwich held ceramic painting workshops

Attendance in 2006 was over 900.

• to improve access to and experience of the arts and professional
• artists for people living in a remote rural area where access to the arts is limited
• to celebrate Welborne as a community and a place to live
• to increase the sense of inclusion for all residents of Welborne and surrounding villages
• to address the issues of community development, learning and skills, rural isolation, particularly for the young, the elderly and the disabled
• capacity building by linking culture and learning
• to develop new rural audiences for the arts
• to inspire villagers to be creative themselves to develop audiences for future activities in Welborne

We have the serious intent of “bringing the arts to the people” but there will always be a sense of fun in what we offer.

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