Saturday 20th July 2024
Today we’re travelling to Suffolk for the Smile Festival in support of ‘The Smile of Arran Trust’.
The venue is in the grounds of AFC Sudbury in Suffolk…
As we weren’t on till 9.40pm we decided to meet up in town about 1.30 as it was quite a drive…
We have a new front of house sound mixer today…
And a new look Keith…
Gold bus today so hopefully some videos…
Off we go…
Roy had been to the farmers market and bought Scotch Eggs and a Dickensian pie…
Weather was changeable…
Time for a video…
I’m really enjoying this pie…
Peter suggested for dinner we head to Huntingdon, the birthplace of Oliver Cromwell…
Still a way to go so we stuck on an old favourite…
After a while we started seeing signs…
Soon enough we arrived in Huntington…
We were heading for the Brampton Mill on the River Ouse…
The pub is situated in a picturesque setting…
It was an old corn mill…
Time to see what was on offer…
An enticing aroma of resinous hop, sweet malt and delicate roasted notes. The mouth feel is a balanced, complex blend of succulent dried fruit, lightly roasted malt and a subtle yet assertive bitterness. The finish is dry and refreshing.
We sat outside…
Keith was full of the joys of spring water…
The rest of us were all doombarred…
Food was fantastic…
Time for one more pint…
Another look at the river…
Then back to the van…
On our way again…
Still over an hour to go…
Some facts…
Enjoyed views of sunny Suffolk…
Then eventually some signs…
AFC Sudbury!
At last the venue…
Everybody out…
The Smile Festival is in support of ‘The Smile of Arran Trust’ and in memory of Arran Tosh. We met Arran’s sister Abbie who made us all very welcome and explained to us how the trust came about after losing her brother to a brain tumour at the age of 13.
This year’s event will mark 10 years since the Smile of Arran was created and also 10 years since Arran passed away.
This was the running order of the festival…
Time to have a look around the site…
We found a bar and ordered the Ice Breaker…
Carl loves ice cream vans…
We had a lovely chat with the sponsor of the festival and ‘Happy Monkey Drinks’ boss…
The festival was busy…
Toploader were performing so we popped into the arena to watch them…
There was a great atmosphere but we couldn’t stay too long as it was time for us to go back stage…
Wise words…
Time for Abbie to introduce us…
Great pics!
Stage Invasion…
The gig was brilliant and what a crowd!
Many thanks to Kevin Rogers & Roger Cuthbert for their fantastic photographs!
After the show we signed t shirts for the trust…
And spent time with the family and their friends back stage…
Everyone flowed back to the dressing room amid rumours of more ale…
A great gig for a great cause…
What a day!
sipadvisor 