Oakley Church of England Combined School
Love, Honesty, Respect
OakFest '24
Save the date - Saturday 8th June 2024.
The stage is booked, the marquees hired and The Band With No Name have confirmed that they will once again close the show.
Spread the word to friends and family - see you there!
OakFest'23
Well that went rather well didn't it. The sun shone and our school field was packed with festival goers for the day of live music and fun and a record breaking £15,708.10 was raised for the school, Oakley Pre School. Oakley School will be using the monies raised to promote music across the school and to carry out refurbishments in the school grounds which will hopefully include the long anticipated refurbishment of the outdoor quiet area.
The support from our sponsors, the musicians and the audience is tremendous and over the eight festivals we have now raised over £88,000 for the school, Oakley Pre-School and St Mary’s Church which is a fantastic achievement for our little school. The festival has grown incredibly since the early days of our wobbly little stage with tarpaulin roof to the professional stages and superb sound system provided by our friends at Class Act, Westcott we now have.
Special thanks yous must go to our wonderfully generous sponsors: Windmill Windows who sponsor the main stage and roadside signs and have already said they will sponsor us again in 2024; Lovell Fuels and Turfsolv/Superleggera who sponsor and provide the acoustic stage, Westfield Fasteners of Long Crendon, Finesse and Oakley Wood Timber for sponsoring the other main areas. New supporter, Martin & Co Estate Agents boosted our publicity with sale boards in the local area.
Yet again the superb talents of the wonderful musicians kept us entertained and dancing, and Festival Spirits supplied and managed the very popular bar. Our deliciously posh ‘OakFeast’ barbecue was managed by Charlie Hunter with meat donated by Waterperry Farm Shop with the magnificent barbecue/smoker lent to us by Boarstall Meats. FOS ran a beautifully traditional tea tent which included tuck shop (sponsored by Stage Coach Thame). Sponsor, Rugby-Tots and Premier Sports both ran free sporting sessions on the recreation ground and our friends at Living Willow held willow weaving workshops inside our beautiful willow dome.
The date has been set for 2024 so put Saturday 8th June in your diary when we will do it all again. Oakley favourites, The Band With No Name, are already booked to close the festival in true OakFest fashion so do stay to the end if you can. Bring a deckchair or blanket. Be entertained. Have a fun-filled day! Friends and family all welcome. Unfortunately, as the festival takes place on school grounds no dogs, other than assistance dogs, are allowed to join the fun.
Tickets will be available now from the school office, on line via the website www.cuatoakfest.co.uk or on the day – enquiries to 01844 238364 email office@oakley.bucks.sch.uk in the spring.
We look forward to welcoming you back to the best little music festival in Oakley!
OakFest'21
Wow, what a fabulous day we all had and the crowd was bigger than ever.
Thank you to everyone to helped in every way to make the day so special and such a success.
Once again our sponsors and musicians were so very generous - we couldn't do it without your incredible support.
We are thrilled to let you know that we have raised an incredible £13,826.30 for Oakley School, Oakley Pre-School and St Mary's Church. The school will use its £12.5K share to promote music, the arts and languages across the school. Thank you again for everyone involved in any way who made this fantastic result possible.
No date has been set for the next OakFest but watch this space for an announcement.
Please visit the OakFest website for more information and photos from the day.
Photographs courtesy of Gemma Swaisland
Fundraising Total for OakFest'19
Special thanks must go to the team that make it all possible – Pete, John, Kelly, Lee, Amy, Darren and Iris who work their special magic and keep me calm. There are so many other people who are preparing long before the day, come along to help with set up, volunteer on the day and turn up on the Sunday morning to clear down, thank you all so much. It is a joy to see everything come together and create such a wonderfully uplifting event for our school and village.
Thank you too to our fabulous sponsors, without you we couldn’t start to put on the event, your generosity is very much appreciated. Also to our generous activity leads giving their time to keep the little ones entertained.
Lastly I am indebted to our most talented and generous musicians who come along to entertain us throughout the day. Please come back.
Saturday 8th June 1.00pm to Midnight -
11 hours of fabulous live music
2019 will bring our 6th OakFest music and beer festival, the biggest fundraising event for our school with £45K raised to date.
Last year's funds were spent on wonderful new Smartboards for our classrooms, a set of laptops and a laptop charging trolley plus many other ICT and Science resources. This year our main focus will be on the much needed refurbishment of our outdoor areas.
If you are interested in being involved in any way from volunteering a few hours before, during and after the event to sponsoring one of our bands or marquees please get in touch.
Ideas and suggestions on how we can improve our little festival are always welcomed; just email me via the school office - office@oakley.bucks.sch.uk
Finally, please put Saturday 8th June in your diary and join us for another great day of music.
Iola Seaton-Reid