About the Festival

The 2007 festival will be the fourth festival, the concept of the Sunningwell Festival started within a working party at a Sunningwell Parish Council Meeting back in 1999.

The then parish clerk, Norman Baird, inspired us all to think ‘outside the box’ and ‘think big’ with our ideas to help the village celebrate the Millennium. The ‘crazy idea’ of building a stage on the pond to present Opera was mooted and with Norman’s enthusiasm and Anna Lever’s encouragement we staged 2 very successful proms concerts on the pond.

The idea was developed further to celebrate the Jubilee in 2002 and this time, under the leadership of Geoff Manning and again with Norman’s enormous enthusiasm, we created a real ‘festival atmosphere’.

We gained permission to close the road from the Vale Of White Horse District Council which enabled us to accommodate larger audiences. The 2005 festival was bigger and better and for the first time incorporated a schools performance of a musical, a folk band and a local bands night, as well as the regular Le Burn feature and the ‘Proms On The Pond’ evenings.

Please see the Events page for details of the performances at the 2007 Festival.

Details of tickets, sponsorship and travel arrangements can be found on the information page.

Find out more about the Pond where we hold all of our outdoor events on the About the Pond page.