THE annual Gunnislake Festival Week took place recently with a wide variety of acts and entertainment provided.

The festival got off to an interesting start with a village market, Art Cafe and local history walk, plus the GLAD (Gunnislake Amateur Dramatics) production of Trapped, the tale of two men enclosed in Drakewalls mine in 1898, which received plenty of praise and adulation for the way the performers told such a moving story.

Sun shone on the first village picnic held on Sunday, with the procession led by town crier Hilary Fairhurst, while folks dressed as nursery rhyme characters were joined by members of The Rubber Band, for their walk from the primary school to King George Field.

Prizes were awarded for the scarecrow competition as follows: 1st — Lucy, Mary and Steve from the Post Office for ‘Olaf’: 2nd — Polly, Dan and Paula for ‘Emporor’s New Clothes’; Joint 3rd — Penny and Emma for ‘Bo Peep’, and Alan and Claire Webber for ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’; Most Amusing Scarecrow — Caroline Lake with ‘Little Red Climbing Hood’.

During the afternoon, there were demonstrations of Taekwando and Zumba as well as a Punch & Judy show and singing from Chimney Rock, which could be heard echoing around the valley.

The remainder of the week saw amateur art, poetry and photography competitions and exhibitions. There was a wide range of paintings, acrylics, watercolour paintings, drawings and poetry all created by the locals of the village.

St Anne’s Church was the scene for plenty of the rest week’s goings on. Led by local historian and keen community helper, Kate Threlfell, a community music event occurred where visitors sung along to old classics such as ‘South Australia’ and ‘Sunrise Sunset’. Following that some even decided to belt out some solos.

All in all, an excellent week was held, with the weather staying good for the most part. Thanks were expressed by the organisers for everyone’s contributions and are looking forward to running it again next year.