2020
Bodmin riding FESTIVAL
WHAT'S ON
Friday 3rd - Sunday 5th July 2020
Festival CATCH UP
If you missed the exciting events shared live on our Facebook page during the Festival, you can catch up with the highlights here. Click the links in the titles to visit the Facebook or YouTube page for each video.
A short clip of Merv Davey opening the festival with Blewack Koynt, more commonly known as the Bodmin Riding Tune.
A Welcome from our Chair, Hannah Irwin
Just a quick hello from the festival committee, and an introduction to our small, alternative celebrations to mark Bodmin Riding 2020.
intoBodmin & the Kernow Bedroom Choir:
Cornwall my Home | Little eyes | South Australia | The White Rose
We've been following our friends intoBodmin and Dan Woodfield's incredible work creating a virtual choir for these strange times. Who better to perform for our online Riding Festival than the Kernow Bedroom Choir! Have you been taking part? You can find a link to each of the Choir's tracks created during lockdown above. We're hoping that the Bedroom Choir might join us in person for a 'real world' performance at the festival next year!
A big thank you to Bodmin Youth Band for Kindly making a special recording for the 2020 Riding Festival. Bodmin Town Band have been ardent supporters of the Riding Festival for many years. We hope you enjoy hearing what the youth of Bodmin are capable of.
KBSK - Festival Rewind | children's dance
One of the most iconic elements of Heritage Day is the Children's Dance, which many of you will have taken part in over the years. We can't wait to see the children of Bodmin dancing through the streets again, but in the meantime our friends from KBSK Performing ARTS have created this special 'Festival Rewind' featuring footage from Bodmin Riding 2019 - and they've managed to keep dancing at home too! Thanks to Adie and the team, and well done guys!
The Helliers - Hunting on the Moor
When something beastly plagues Bodmin Moor only the Helliers can stop it. Using their beast-hunting skills, the young warriors must track it down before it reaches Bodmin. But can they defeat this strange creature before it offends the townsfolk? Join the hunt and celebrate an "alternative" Bodmin Riding Day from the comfort of your own home.
The Ragadaziow - Highlights from 2019
A look back at some of the Ragadaziow's antics leading up to the Trial of the Beast during the 2019 celebrations. The Ragadaziow meet annually on Bodmin Riding day to perform the historic procession of St. Petroc’s bones through the town, but proceedings are interrupted by news of a rampaging Beast threatening to upset the ceremony. The Helliers are called upon to find and capture the Beast and present him for trial, and the Ragadaziow’s procession and the Helliers’ hunt for the Beast continues throughout the day. The Beast's trial is due to begin on Mount Folly at 15:49, but will he be found guilty of any crimes?
Woodfield Davey Trethewey - Special performance for Bodmin Riding 2020
40 mins | A specially created performance by well loved folk musicians. Daniel Woodfield, Cas Davey and Richard Trethewey. The trio play a range of both traditional and contemporary Cornish folk with their own unique and sometimes jazzy twist. Expect driving rhythms, soulful singing, beautiful melodies and awkward silences because of the lack of live audience!
Daniel Woodfield - Whistles, Tenor Sax, Vocals | Cas Davey of Davey Mandolins - Guitar | Richard Trethewey of The Rowan Tree - Fiddle, Cittern, Vocals
As they were unable to perform as part of the festival this year, here's Paul Scoble at home on the hand bells, another recording made especially for Bodmin Riding 2020.
BODMIN RIDING ALTERNATIVE CELEBRATIONS!
This year's Bodmin Riding Festival will be marked with a series of alternative celebrations which include a Beastly competition, a community award and an assortment of online offerings. Keep an eye on this page or on our social media to keep up to date with our online and offline celebrations.
RIDING REBEL AWARD
Nominate your Riding Rebel favourite by email or via social media by the extended deadline: 2nd July. Winner announced 4th July.
We need your nominations for our new Riding Rebel Award. The Riding Rebel Award for 2020 is designed to celebrate and say thank you for the contribution of someone in our community who has gone above and beyond to help others during these challenging times. We’ve watched with pride at the extraordinary things Bodmin residents have done to support each other and we wanted to mark that with our award, which we’re opening up to the community for nominations. These can be made on social media or by emailing us at before the deadline.. There are so many worthy nominees we’re already aware of, it is going to be an enormous challenge for the committee to choose just one, but we’ll be announcing our 2020 Riding Rebel on Saturday 4th July.”
FIND THE FESTIVAL ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Join the celebration on social media! Follow us on Facebook and click 'interested' or 'going' in our Facebook events to be notified of updates as soon as they're posted, or find us on Twitter @BodminRiding
BEASTLY COMPETITION
New deadline: 5th July | Winner announced after the Festival
Categories: Children / Adults / Business
Submit entries via email, Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #BodminBeast2020
Don't forget to put your beasts on display in gardens or windows over the Festival Weekend!
Residents young and old are being asked to create their own mythical Bodmin Beast. The town has numerous historic associations with creatures from myth and legend ranging from dragons to piskies and of course the iconic beast of Bodmin. There is no limit on how creative you can be. With a prizewinner in each category, we want to see an amazing beast from your imagination. It could be made from clay, knitted, drawn or junk modeled - we know some people are going to have spare toilet rolls lying around at home! We can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with. We’re asking people to share their pictures with us on social media using the hashtag #BodminBeast2020, or you can send pictures by email to by the deadline, and we’ll share our favourites and announce the winners after the festival.
We also want everyone to put their creation proudly on display for the festival weekend, Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th July. Whether this is a mini-beast in your window or a sculptural scarecrow in your garden, hopefully they’ll bring a smile to peoples faces.
ONLINE CELEBRATIONS
Saturday 4th July will see the festival move online for a small celebration on the usual date of the main ‘Heritage Day’ event. We all deserve some form of community celebration, so over on our Facebook page we will be looking back at memories of the festival from years gone by, along with announcing winners from our Bodmin Beasts competition and Rebel Award, plus sharing new contributions from Bodmin’s incredible community groups and businesses created especially for the virtual festival. With content already being created by popular community youth dance group KBSK, award winning Bodmin Youth Band and various local businesses, anyone else keen to contribute is encouraged to get in touch with the committee on
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
We have great opportunities for businesses and local organisations to get involved in the Festival, ranging from zero cost to saviour status! When we've finalised the offering you'll find the details here, but for now, you can take a look at the 2019 sponsorship pack to see the kind of things available.