Jesmond Community Festival

Jesmond Community Festival 2025

The 2025 Jesmond Community Festival comprised 82 events, exhibitions and competitions, slightly more than the previous year’s 80, but total attendances (around 9,650) were less than in the previous year (12,250). 4 other events were cancelled or postponed, for a variety of reasons (including the death of the Pope). Once again, the programme lasted for 30 days, with at least one event taking place on 26 of those days.

Many events were outdoors, including two events on the Green in front of St George’s Church and model train rides in Exhibition Park. As last year, Guided Walks were particularly popular, with most being full to capacity; and the Teddy Bear Trail was another success, this year with a travel theme. Jesmond Community Orchard hosted both its own Open Day and an Italian Picnic. Family storytelling and music, presented by Chris Bostock and friends, took place on the Green outside Holy Trinity Church. Nevertheless, the weather was not always kind, and the attendance at a number of events was reduced by poor weather.

Events under cover included a cartooning workshop in St Hilda’s, a clothes swap in the Methodist Church, a film in Holy Name Church and afternoon tea in Holy Trinity.

The range of musical events is astonishing, with everything from full-scale choral concerts to performances by West Jesmond School pupils in Jesmond Library and by Semitones (a small local instrumental group) in three local care homes and the library, plus organ recitals, folk music, mandolins, fiddles, ceilidhs, recorder, jazz events and a live DJ in Jesmond Pool (not in the water!).

Event organisers catered for a range of ages and interests, including children’s crafts, and “Wellbeing for Life”, for older people, both in Jesmond Library, a flexible venue which also hosted musical events, talks and a children’s art exhibition. The Northumberland Club provided free taster sessions, and there were also opportunities to take part in croquet and cycling, or try out the sauna in Jesmond Pool. Many events are free to participants, and others try to keep costs as low as possible.

The Glorious Gardens Group organised its annual competition to conclude during the festival period, while there was also an opportunity to take part in Jesmond Community Forum’s annual photographic competition.

Many Jesmond residents remember fondly the parades down Osborne and Acorn Roads, that were a feature of early Jesmond Community Festivals, but were ended by rising costs. This year we experimented with an alternative way of starting the festival, a group of Launch Events taking place in Holy Trinity Church, the Cricket Club, and St George’s Church and Green. The latter, linked to a commemoration of VE day, was a success in its own right, but the linking of the three venues didn’t work particularly well, and methods of publicising the festival to a wider audience still need further thought.