Festival Hailed a Huge Success

On Saturday, the Heart of the Forest Festival, in Measham, drew its biggest crowd yet as some 8,000 people descended on the village's leisure centre for a day of entertainment, which included marching bands, birds of prey, steel bands, motorcycle stunts and an RAF fly-past. It started with a colourful parade through the village of 800 people in carnival costumes, accompanied by music from the Coventry Corps of Drums, Birmingham's Premier Samba Band and Donisthorpe Scout Band. One of the draws of the day was a martial arts routine performed by Chinese Kung Fu masters the Shaolin monks, who were invited after organisers discovered they had set up a base in the village while touring Europe.
Organiser Bob Bissell said: "It was quite a sight as they performed in their bright orange suits – their performance was spectacular.
"The whole day went so much better than I had expected. We have never had anywhere near that number of people here for the festival before."