Crediton Festival 2009
The town of Crediton organised a very ambitious programme of festival events between May and early July 2009 to mark a special anniversary. An organising committee had worked for many months, liaising with voluntary organisations, sports teams, the town council and local churches to create over 60 events. The occasion was the 1150th anniversary of the installation of Eadulf as Bishop in A.D. 959, Crediton having been chosen as the site of the Saxon Cathedral for the newly created diocese covering Devon and Cornwall. Although church activities naturally featured strongly in the programme, there were also many sporting, social and cultural events and Crediton Photography Club agreed to contribute to the effort by creating a photographic record of as many of these as possible.
Over the ten-week period, 14 club members took several thousand pictures of events as diverse as a 10Km run, an open air staging of Shakespeare’s “Pericles”, a Viking re-enactment and a visit by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Working in small groups, all these images were then pared down to a main collection of just over 600 photos representing about 36 events or activities. This collection will now form a visual archive, to be presented to the Crediton Area History and Museum Society (CAHMS), showing a cross-section of life in the town at the beginning of the 21st Century.
From this portfolio, a small selection have been printed and
mounted, to go on temporary display in the reception area of
Crediton Hospital from 1st September 2009 for one month, and
afterwards at other suitable locations. It is hoped over the coming
months also to produce an AudioVisual presentation incorporating a
representative selection of these images.
Fortunately, the pictures which do not feature in the main archive will not by any means be wasted, as the organisers of individual events have in many cases been provided with a set, for the enjoyment of participants and their families.
This has been a major project for a small club, but all the photographers who took part agreed that it had been very enjoyable. It had occasionally taken them out of their “comfort zone” in photographing unfamiliar subjects, sometimes in tricky conditions. Above all, though, it had been good to join in the community spirit and to meet so many friendly and helpful people…even axe-wielding Vikings!