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An account of the Festival of Villages in June 1975 from the Debenham Parish Magazine by Sue Holifield | |
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Debenham was one of 16 villages chosen by the British Tourist Association to represent different regions of England. There are various references to this event elsewhere online but somebody has incorrectly reported that the event was organised by a newspaper (The Daily Mail??). This misconception probably arose from a feature on Debenham that was published in the Sunday Times' 'Scene' supplement in May 1975. The event was part of a bigger and more prestigious, pan-European initiative by the Council of Europe, who designated 1975 as European Architectural Heritage Year. |
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Group at Debenham Festival Street Fair which was part of the Festival of Villages in 1975, Architectural Heritage Year. | High Street |
Left to right: David Gooding (son of Daphne Gooding and Derek Gooding who were the Community Centre caretakers) (in green shirt), Geoff Cannon (centre - in red shirt, son of Bernard Cannon who was the youth club leader), Ann Gibson , Joan Cannon , Chris Holifield (in grey jacket and
crash helmet). Sue Holifield also took part in this, but is not in the photo. |
Geoff and Chris were dressed as futuristic characters from 2075. They were part of a team representing Debenham Youth Club and were collecting coins to contribute to the 'Mile of Pennies' that was being laid along the High Street to raise money for the rebuilding of the Community Centre which had just burned down. The older youth club members were dressed in 2075 costumes and the younger ones as if they were from 1875.
Additional information supplied by Sue and Chris Holifield. Chris is wearing my Sue's wellies, which he had sprayed with silver car paint. Years later, their mum ([Kay Holifield]) was still wearing the boots, which still bore remnants of the silver paint.
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Stagecoach at Debenham Festival, European Architectural Heritage Year 1975. | By Deben |
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Additional information supplied by Sue Holifield - The women sitting on the stage coach are models who took part in a fashion show staged by the British Wool Secretariat. The stage coach (which we believe was sponsored by Debenhams department store) took them
on a tour of the village prior to the event, which was one of the first held during the festival weekend. The fashion show was held in Debenham Modern School on Thursday 19 June 1975. It had been scheduled to take
place in the Community Centre, but was relocated after the Centre was destroyed by fire on 1st June 1975. |