The sky over Rushcliffe Country Park was full of an amazing range of brightly coloured kites on Sunday 1st September as the Kite Festival was revived once again. On a gloriously sunny and quite windy day, the park was host to hundreds of local families and visitors from further afield who all came along to watch the amazing display of kite-flying by members of the Midland Kite Fliers Club.
There was also the chance for people to fly their own kites, or ones they made themselves with support from Barbara Breakwell and members of the Parish Council Events team.
The Midland Kite Fliers all arrived full of enthusiasm and promptly at 12 noon, started flying their amazing range of huge kites, including a giant scuba diver, a shark, superman, butterflies and a bi-plane, along with various multi-coloured stunt kites. As the public began to join in, lots of smaller kites joined in the fun. Unfortunately at least one kite escaped from its owner – but got caught on a tree next to the kite field and continued to fly for the rest of the afternoon on its own! It may still be there!
Rushcliffe Play Forum kindly donated the supplies for the kite-making activity, so from 12 noon until 4pm, there was a constant queue of enthusiastic children waiting to make their own kites to a pattern donated by the Midland Kite Fliers Club. Looking up at the skies, most of these proved successful at flying, too. After four hours and some 300 kites made, the kite-making table had to reluctantly close as the event and supplies drew to a close.
The village mascot, Ruddy Duck, also made a trip to the park to see the kites. He was mobbed by lots of local children all wanting to say “Hello” and have their pictures taken with him – so much so he didn’t even get to fly a kite himself!
One of the professional kite fliers described the day as “a thoroughly epic event” and the first time in a decade so many kites had been flying over Nottingham at the same time. There was also a comment from one of the Park Rangers that it was the busiest the park had been all year.
As the Events Team packed away, it was great to see so many people still enjoying the late summer weather and the fun of flying their own kites.
A huge “thank you” is due to Barbara Breakwell (who suggested the one-off revival) and the Rushcliffe Play Forum, along with the Park Rangers and Parish Council staff who helped move equipment to and from the site, and the Events Team for their hard work on the day. The Events Team are now looking forward to our next event: Ruddington Xmas Fayre on Saturday 7th December, 12 noon to 5pm. Watch out for more details coming soon in The Rudd and follow us on Facebook @RuddPCEvents and Twitter @RuddFayre for the latest information.
Councillor Sue Matthews, Parish Council Events Committee