IT’S CERTAINLY been a busy year for Redditch and the town’s surrounding areas with an endless supply of social events that kept calendars full the entire year through.
The year began with the lighting of a candle by 91-year-old Nazi death camp survivor Iby Knill, to mark 70 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau at the Holocaust Marker on Church Green on January 24.
Spring came early in Beoley with St Leonard’s Church hosting the Snowdrop Festival over Valentines Day weekend where Rev Paul Irving was on hand to give a special marriage affirmation.
March saw shockwaves sent through the borough’s education system when both Tudor Grange Academy and Ridgeway Middle School were given the go ahead by the Regional Schools Commissoner to adopt the two-tier schooling system.
Despite a 3,000-strong petition to prevent the proposals at Tudor Grange, the schools were permitted to take children from the age of 11 instead of 13 in September 2016 from feeder primary schools, which would have pupils up to Year Six.
In April homeowners in Mount Pleasant outraged at the street’s parking fiasco saw it turn brutal when bailiffs turned up at local man Az Rahman’s door – demanding more than £2,000 in unpaid fines before towing his car away when he said he could not afford to pay.
The parking situation is still ongoing with county councillors working to ease parking restrictions in Evesham Street and Ludlow Road and hoping to eventually introduce residents’ parking permits.
April also saw Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid back protests against the building of 2,800 new Redditch homes on greenbelt land by the village of Bentley.
The start of summer saw an abundance of community festivals blooming throughout the borough, with Alvechurch Festival getting the party started on May 24 at the village’s football club in a celebration of Mod, Ska and Northern Soul music.
The festivites continued into June and July with the historic Feckenham Wake bringing a fleet of classic cars, falconry displays and hot air balloons to the village on June 20 while Redditch Music Festival hit all the right notes on July 18 in the bandstand on Church Green.
August brought the annual Morton Stanley Festival which threw drum ‘n’ bass and a bit of brass into the mix on August 23 while Alcester’s first arts festival took over the market town a week later on August 30 and 31.
September was perhaps the busiest month of 2015, with the culmination of summer celebrations at various events across the borough.
The season-long Redditch bandstand festival reached its climax on September 19, with no-less-than 11 acts entertaining guests and Wilson’s fun far on hand for youngsters while September 25 saw residents mark the 35th anniversary of the tragic death of John Bonham.
But it was Studley’s first beer festival that brought summer to an end over September 26 to 28 with more than 50 beers on offer for guests to enjoy.
And the decadence didn’t stop there with October heralding Alcester’s Food Festival.
Silence fell across the borough in November as residents assembled at memorials to remember the fallen in moving services on November 8 when only three nights before the skies had been illuminated by fireworks.
Santa Claus came to town in December with the community embracing the festive spirit with various charitable fund-raising activites and the town’s second uniform swap shop kitting out the children of Redditch families thanks to Councillor Joe Baker.
