Pilton Green Man Festival 2009 rocking at the heart of a strong community

I just got back from playing my soprano sax with Captain Banjo's Street Band at the Pilton Green Man Festival 2009. It was a fantastic community experience and got me to thinking about what it takes to make a successful community and how some towns and villages achieve success whilst others always seem to miss the mark.

Pilton, Barnstaple in North Devon perhaps will never be chosen to adorn the cover of a chocolate box, although Pilton Street certainly has its own character and some strong historical architecture.

Certainly, Pilton has none of the prettiness of thatched cottages and gently flowing streams found elsewhere. There are no gentle green pastures or woodland walks - that I have discovered - although Pilton Park is very pleasant.

Yet what Pilton lacks in picaresque qualities, it makes up for in the wonderful characters and personalities that take part in the many cultural and social activities around Pilton Street, most of whom seemed heavily involved in Pilton Festival 2009.

At the heart of successful community activity so often is a good pub. The Reform Inn, Pilton, Barnstaple is old fashioned, traditional and pre-eminently a 'local'. It serves good Barum Beer (produced by Barum Brewery only yards away behind the pub), has its own cricket team and is used, among other things, as a practice venue for Captain Banjo's Street Band every Thursday evening. (However, it doesn't have any folk music sessions at the moment, as far as I know).

Whilst in this pub I have met an enormous number of interesting people.

The landlady plays the violin (shown in the photo with her sister), Captain Banjo (photo of Dave with banjo above) is legendary for his work pulling his street band together from largely inexperienced musicians.

It was the original owner of the Barum Brewery behind the Reform Inn that founded Lord Basil’s Invitation XI cricket team (team shown photo right).


The stilts walker (photo left by the Reform Inn bar), who did such a great job collecting for the North Devon children's hospice, learned his stilts skills reaching up to high places in the building trades.

Nayomie Karen (photo on the right) , who I watched improvise a fantastic dance routine to some of Captain Banjo's tunes on the Sunday after the Pilton Festival is an immensely talented actor and dancer.

Tim, the fire stick juggler (photo below) is a young architect with a great future ahead of him.



Which all brings me to thinking that perhaps it is people not places that make a great community and if I was choosing somewhere to live, perhaps the local pub and not the estate agents is the best place to make a decision and perhaps the Reform Inn, Pilton Street, Barnstaple is not a bad place to start.

What do you think? Are you part of a great community? Were you at Pilton Festival? I'd love to hear your views and opinions, just click on comments below :-)

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott - who may have found his bohemia!