Two Reasons Amongst Many to Enjoy Bedford this Spring Saturday

There are always good reasons to get into Bedford on the weekend, but I want to highlight just a couple of special events that you can enjoy today. I had the honour of introducing the Don Bosco Band from Bamberg yesterday at noon in Harpur Square to mark the opening of the Bedford - Bamberg Spring Fest. This ever-popular event continues today in the Harpur Suite, with free entry throughout, from its noon opening to closing time at midnight.

There are 40 different German beers on offer, including a great many from our twin town of Bamberg itself, which is a real brewing hothouse. There are also German wines, schnapps and a German barbecue, with entertainment at intervals from the Don Bosco Band in their Bavarian dress. Even at shortly after noon yesterday it was great to see a growing number of people enjoying the festivities and a real buzz in the Harpur Suite, which is transformed into a Bavarian Bierkeller for these couple of days. I bumped into former Councillor and tireless community campaigner in Goldington Tony Ruffin while I was there, and it's Tony in the photo with me here.

Also taking place in Bedford today is the 149th annual Bedford Amateur Regatta. Crews come from all over the country for what is the largest single day river regatta in the country. The regatta is always a wonderful spectacle, right in the heart of Bedford on our beautiful river and I strongly recommend getting along and cheering on the crews. There's more information on the Amateur Regatta's website here: http://www.bedfordregatta.co.uk/index.htm .

I'll be assisting with the prize-giving later on, and I'm looking forward to what will no doubt be another great event on the river. A huge amount of work goes in to putting on this event, with volunteers giving up huge amounts of time and energy to enable it to happen. There's more information about the event, its status and its history in this interesting post from the blog of Kiosk At the Park of Russell Park: http://kioskparklife.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/racing-on-the-river/