The 8th annual WESTfest, heralding the coronation of our new King and celebrating our village community in majestic style! A coronation parade and celebration took place in Westcott in 1953, complete with ‘Queen Elizabeth II’ in full fancy dress regalia, so we’re delighted that 70 years on, ‘King Charles and Queen Camilla’ came to WESTfest to open the show (arriving with Daniel Brown Horseman ), accompanied by the wonderful Surrey Hills All Saints Primary School choir singing the National Anthem!

This year our eclectic mix of live music included the stately 20-piece brass The Cobham Band, and the brilliant Chobham and Dorking Rock Choir! Westcott’s resident dog expert John Venn from Surrey Hills Dog Training was back to run our dog agility and judge the Fun Dog Show. And rounding off the afternoon in rollicKING style our brilliant compere and DJ, G-Man’s Mobile Disco blasted out his favourite ANTHEMS… It was a cracKING line-up! (And despite the dismal forecast it DIDN’T rain!)

An entertainment highlight that wasn’t on the agenda was the visiting Fire Engine getting stuck in the mud on Cradhurst and needing rescuing by Giles in his vintage tractor!

Another highlight was the number of grown adults who engaged in the Coronation Games 3-legged and egg and spoon races with such vigour and competitive spirits they also became closely acquainted with the Cradhurst mud…

WESTfest is really all about community, but a happy bi-product of the day is our charity fund raising! The famous WESTfest Silent Auction and Raffle did a stonKING job, raising over £5000 which will be split between our 5 charities, F@SH Friends at Surrey Hills School, Dorking Minds Group, The Brigitte Trust – Helping People Live Well Beyond Diagnosis, Papua Partners and Faurefold Holiday House Guiding.

WESTfest has become a key part of Westcott’s village identity (it’s like the annual whole village street party!) but it is only possible with all the support we get from people in the village and local businesses… ThanKING our performers, stallholders, advertisers, Silent Auction donors, designer Suellen Peskett, event sponsors Seymours Estate Agents Dorking, raffle sponsors The Tree Associates Surrey Ltd, W Songhurst Ltd (Westcott Builders) and C J Uden Ltd (Drainage), our amazing team of volunteers, and to everyone who came along (especially as the forecast was so dire!).