Celebration weekend to launch revamped Priory Park
News release dated 28 March 2008 about plans for an event to mark the completion of the Priory Park restoration.
An exciting weekend of events to celebrate the completion of the Heritage Lottery-funded Priory Park Restoration Project, is being organised for Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 July 2008.
"What better way to celebrate than with a weekend of music and fun events." (Cllr Tom Stoddart, Executive Member for Leisure and Wellbeing)
The celebrations have been arranged to coincide with this year’s Reigate Summer Music and the Council is teaming up with the festival’s organisers to provide a fun-packed weekend of events and music for all the family.
Fun-packed weekend
There will be a host of activities in the park during the two days, followed by one of Reigate Summer Music’s outdoor concerts each evening.
Cllr Tom Stoddart, Executive Member for Leisure and Wellbeing, said: "This event is the culmination of many years hard work to regenerate and restore Priory Park to its former glory.
"With our association and on-going support for Reigate Summer Music what better way to celebrate than with a weekend of music and fun events.
"There will be a variety of activities in the park throughout Saturday and Sunday including entertainers, community events and heritage themed activities, so there will be something for everyone.
"We are still in the early planning stages and there may be events on the Friday evening too."
Saturday will be a family fun day. On Sunday the events and activities will have a heritage theme, linked to the key phases of the park's history.
There will be a range of community stalls; an arena with entertainment; guided tours of key park features such as the restored formal gardens and sports demos and coaching including a skateboarding demo and competition in the new skate park and croquet taster sessions on the new croquet lawn.
On Sunday there will also be period entertainers and strolling musicians, horse-drawn carriages and afternoon tea on the lawn.
More details of the programme for the event will follow in the coming weeks as plans are finalised.
Get involved
Any community groups, charities performers or volunteers interested in getting involved with the Council's celebrations should e-mail Linda Cressey or telephone her on 01737 276433.
Priory Park restoration
The £6.6 million project to restore and enhance Priory Park is backed by a £4.2m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund as well as support from Legal & General, Parador Properties, Canon (UK) Ltd, Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Fidelity Investments and Charles Church.
The project carefully combines the restoration of key historic park features with the provision of modern community facilities. The formal gardens around the Priory building are being restored to their Victorian design; tree lined avenues are being reinstated to recreate the park's 18th century landscape; the lake has been restored and improved and lost features from the park's history are being reinstated.
Among the new facilities are the glass café pavilion design by internationally renowned architect Dominique Perrault; a nautical-themed children's playground, complete with beached galleon; a youth area with skate bowl, multi-use games area and shelter; and four new tennis courts.
Read more about the Priory Park Restoration Project
Reigate Summer Music
Reigate Summer Music’s two outdoor concerts will feature tribute bands on Saturday 19 July followed by a classical firework spectacular on Sunday 20 July.
On Saturday night Bee Gees, Robbie Williams, and Kylie, tribute artists will be performing, including the Robbie-Kylie duet.
On Sunday night the RSM Philharmonic Firework Spectacular with the full symphony orchestra of the Camerata of London will perform a programme of popular classics conducted and introduced by Festival founder Leslie Olive.
Tickets for Reigate Summer Music are available from the festival’s website: Reigate Summer Music 2008 website (opens in new window).
Alternatively you can purchase tickets in person from Reigate Travel in Bell Street, Reigate; by post from RSM Tickets, 2 Oakwood Close, Redhill, Surrey RH1 4BD; or by telephone from The Harlequin Theatre box office on 01737 765547 (booking fees apply). Early-bird discounts and family tickets are also available.
Festival Founder and Conductor, Leslie Olive, said: “I have the happiest memories of Priory Park. I was brought here as a small child, played here as a teenager, and over the last 14 years Reigate Summer Music has flourished here. It’s great to see the park looking so fresh and clean, with a renewed sense of style and spaciousness.
"This year’s Reigate Summer Music will be one of the best ever, and I am delighted to see wider community celebrations helping to enhance Reigate’s sense of pride in itself.
"It was always my vision that Reigate Summer Music would be a broadly-based festival, and this sharing of the weekend with all kinds of community events in the park moves us a step closer to that dream."
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council
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Reigate
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