Thousands flock to Mudeford Arts Festival (From Bournemouth Echo)

Thousands flock to Mudeford Arts Festival

3:00pm Tuesday 31st July 2012 in News By Katie Clark

THOUSANDS of people indulged their artistic side at the weekend paying a visit to Mudeford Arts Festival.

The two-day event at Mudeford Quay, which celebrated beach huts and bathing machines, attracted between 4,000 and 5,000 people to the artists’ tents and displays.

Entertainment was provided by State of Undress performing the specially penned Mudeford Mood, while Simon Prynn did some African drumming to entertain the crowd.

The belly dancers also proved to be a draw while amateur singing group Crescendi from New Milton also went down very well when they performed over the weekend.

Penny Simpson, chairwoman of Mudeford Arts Festival said: “It went very, very well.

“It was absolutely wonderful.

“The voting for the artwork was brilliant and was very popular.

“Everyone was studying them very carefully and spending a lot of time in the tent, which was great. Charles Williamson from Stanpit won for his painting At the Mouth of the Harbour.”

During the weekend there were different bathing machines on display as well as up to 60 stalls from different artists and craftspeople.

A living crafts tent with people working on their art was also popular, with All Saints Church providing some yummy refreshments for hungry visitors.

The Mayor of Christchurch, Cllr Peter Hall also paid a visit to the display tent, studying some of the artwork with organiser Penny Simpson.

The Mudeford Arts Festival began in 1997 as a community celebration of the arts and was revived back in 2007, taking place every year since then.

It aims to showcase the work of local artists while involving the local community as well.

Penny added: “This was a real community event. We’re very proud.”