Lake Odyssey 2011

Lake Odyssey Review

Saturday 16^th July saw the grand finale of the Lake Odyssey 2011 project at Chew Valley Lake. The local community came together to celebrate local history through the arts. The day was the culmination of months of preparation by Chew Valley School and the cluster of nine local primary schools who explored various aspects of the 1950’s.

Although the day began rather damp underfoot with intermittent showers, the well prepared crowds arrived in a cheerful spirit to support pupils performing and by the end of the afternoon the sun was out. All had come to experience the small festival that was Lake Odyssey 2011.

Highlights from the main stage included class four from Bishop Sutton Primary school performing a song they composed themselves about what Chew Valley Lake means to them. We also saw fantastic rock and roll dance performances from year 7 and 9 Chew Valley students alongside a brilliant dance performance from a group of year 10 boys which really impressed the crowd. Cameley Primary School performed a puppet show for crowds complete with an 8ft Elvis puppet! The Chew Valley Youth Theatre closed the events on the main stage with a performance inspired by the opening of Chew Valley Lake and the legend of the Stanton Drew Circle. 

In other areas of the site, there were performances from the Chew Valley Folk group and Mandelinky in the acoustic tent which went down well with audiences eager to shelter from the rain! The acoustic tent also showed films from East Harptree and Pensford Primary school – one a piece about Nobby the snail man who wandered the Chew Valley area in search of snails to sell to restaurants in Bristol and the other a time travel adventure that sees two Pensford pupils travel back in time to the 1950’s where they meet their grandparents as young people. The art exhibition marquee saw a fabulous display of sculptures made by year 6 pupils from across the nine primary schools. These sat alongside other artworks including exquisite batiks,  Jackson Pollock inspired spatter paintings from East Harptree Primary School and a beautiful lake inspired 10 metre artwork from Ubley Primary School. The Lake Odyssey Event also hosted an arts and crafts tent where visitors were encouraged to get creative and make badges and make toys that would have been around during the 1950’s. The Community Farm based in Denny Lane were also on site to let the local community know about their ventures in the Chew Valley area. See www.thecommunityfarm.co.uk for more details.

Our thanks go to the Heritage Lottery Fund and Bristol Water for supporting the Lake Odyssey 2011 project. Thanks also go to all 200 pupils who took part on the day and to all those who came along to support them. More photographs from the day can be found at www.chewvalleyschool.co.uk