At last all of the ex pat Brits will have something to celebrate on the Queens Birthday Weekend, with a huge Festival celebrating all that is great about the United Kingdom called UK Fest which is proudly presented by International Express, British Football Week and British Balls Magazine.
Mornington based Events Promoters Peninsula Events Australia, which is owned by UK born Paul Harvey, are determined that the Queens Birthday Weekend (Sunday June 8) will be celebrated properly, the British way.
UK Festwill be staged at the Peninsula Community Theatre in Mornington, the area being a hotbed for ‘Poms’ and just 60 mins from Melbourne CBD. The multi purpose venue enables the Festival to be able to be held both indoors and outdoors, which will create a cosy atmosphere giving it that authentic ‘British’ feel.
The focus of the Festival will be British Food, Alcohol, Sport, Music & Culture as Paul Harvey explains, “If you look around Australia every other nationality has its own Festival except us Brits, so I thought it was about time I put that right hence why we have created UK Fest. You will be able to sit down and eat traditional British food, wash it down with a pint whilst listening to great British Music. There will also be heaps of traditional English games for both young and old to get involved with and lots more, it promises to be a really exciting day”
UK Fest will be held from 11am until 5pm on Sunday June 8 with a limited capacity of 1200 people with the day’s festivities appealing to all ages. The same venue will then host ‘Live After Dark’ from 6pm until 11pm, which is a chance for the Young at Heart Brits to let their hair down British Style with live entertainment from the 80’s through to today with only 400 tickets available
Tickets are on sale from Thursday April 24 via the credit card hotline 03 5975 3779 www.peninsulaevents.com.au or selected ticket outlets Treats from Home, Melbourne, Robs The British & Irish Butcher, Dandenong & One Stop Bar Shop Mornington.
Just a reminder that if you haven't got your tickets yet for UKfest, to get onto it fairly quickly, as there's been a recent rush on ticket sales and due to this it looks like there not going to be too many available at the door.
Absolutely agree. It was a good idea but got lost in the delivery.
I wanted to leave as soon as I arrived.
If that took 3 years to sort out then maybe they should give it 10 years for the next one..
To be honest it reminded me of home in the fact that it was such a rip off - maybe that was the aim ? How can you justify $25 (yeh I got sucked in) for 4 tents and some crappy morris dancers which I've never seen before even back home. I thought things might improve but unfortunately I was later exposed to old wartime music which is probably better suited to a nursing home.
What happened to popular music ? - why not play that ? The UK has been the best at popular music and comedy for years - anyone heard of the Beatles ? Queen ? Maybe show the Office of black adder episodes on a video screen or even great sporting moments - Eng vs Aus rugby, cricket...
Where was the 'traditional' fish & chips - you know peeled spuds (not frozen chips) and a nice wack of greasy battered fish with mushy peas ? The best grub there was the Indian and that wasnt cheap.
UKfest people I dont know you or what your incentive was for this festival. All I can say is that it was marketed very well but was a huge dissapointment. Do you honestly call 4 tents a festival ?
Please justify the $25 entrance per person and also the extra cash grabber at the car park.
We attended the "UKFest" on Sunday June 8th, and found it to be the biggest waste of money we have ever spent. To charge an entry fee of $18 per person creates a certain level of expectation that, quite frankly, certainly was not met on the day. Having lived in the UK for 30 years of my life, I failed to see any real authenticity or effort in relation to many of the "exhibits". The British style "pub" was simply a large room with two union jack flags on the wall, a sad and lonely karaoke machine to one side, and a hole in the wall to receive over-priced frozen fish and chips and cans of beer. The main hall resembled an elderly citizens club with a complete lack of atmosphere, no decorations and even a completely un-related Australian company trying to sell real estate in one corner. Where was the covent garden style market selling "Fashion, Gifts, Jewellery, Beauty, Sport & Travel Products"???? I will give credit to Rob's butcher store as he at least went to an effort to serve up authentic English fare, but where were the tables and chairs to eat our lunch?? Upon arrival, the blonde lady who manned the entrance area even attempted to charge us an entrance fee for our 15 month old baby!! Even the "bouncer" who stood beside her scoffed and informed her that was not appropriate and she should not charge us for our baby. The same blonde lady was quite rude to us upon leaving as we politely offered our opinion of the day. I was horrified to hear the F word used twice by this lady, in front of ourselves and others with small children around us. Completely unsatisfactory. If this event claims to be 3 years in the making, I would suggest that 2 years, 11 months and 3 weeks have been spent twiddling their thumbs. Maybe the final week little effort went in to creating a 2nd rate, over-priced festival.
I would really like to know the procedure for refunding our entrance fee!!!
I would also be interested in hearing other opinions of the day. We totally agree with the comments from "WelshInMelbourne"!!
__________________ Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall forever) "A friend of mine once sent me a post card with a picture of the entire
planet Earth taken from space. On the back it said, 'Wish you were here'" - Steven Wright "If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried." - Steven Wright
im in total agreement with you,what a total waste of our time and money!
the woman you where talking about was very rude to one of my friends too,we asked if we could have a pass out and she said im not giving anymore out and e said we were told that as we have a gold ticket we could have one as we would need to take the kids home and she said BEFORE YOU START GETTIN ABUSIVE WITH ME,WE DONT HAVE TO GIVE YOU A PASS OUT and barged right past us,the security guard then gave us a stamp and said take no notice she`s been like that all day.well im sorry but she shoudnt be working with the public.x
Just been to the organisers website and found theis lttle gem
"Peninsula Events would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came along to support the Inaugural UKfest on Sunday, we hope you enjoyed the day's festivities with your families & friends. In order for us to evaluate & develop the event, we would like to hear your feedback on what you liked, what you didn't like OR if there's anything you'd like to see included in the future, so we can ensure that the event develops into everything you hoped it could be & more."
