Despite the rain showers, a big crowd of festival goers braved the weather to enjoy this year’s Wyrley Festival Of Fun at Witton Lakes.

There was a constant flow of people at the festival, which has grown in size this year – with activities stretching all the way from St Margaret Mary Church on Perry Common Road, through the park, to the Wyrley Birch Estate.

For the first year, St Margaret Mary Church were hosting a wide range of activities inside and outside the church, with different types of stalls, some selling great food, raffles and a very busy bouncy castle.

Over the road in Witton Lakes, the Giant Car Boot Sale, formed the gateway to an array of activities in the park.

There was a Hog Roast stall and then just a short walk around the corner, there were inflatable rides.  If you walked a short distance, you came to more stalls, followed by the very popular Owl Man – showcasing his beautiful birds of prey and discussing the conservation efforts being made to protect these magnificent creatures.

The Climbing Wall was a big hit, as was the Velvet Community Orchard and Tearoom – which was absolutely jam-packed all afternoon.  Here everyone enjoyed seeing the fully-functioning orchard, which has for the past few weeks, been providing all sorts of fresh fruit and vegetables for the Elim Food Bank in Kingstanding.

Back out of the Orchard Gates and over to Kayaking on the lake – as it would have been a shame not to use the magnificent lakes as part of the event.  Then, last but certainly not least, further towards Wyrley Birch, there were Donkey Rides – with donkeys: Morris, Pedro and Robbie, working hard all afternoon.

The Donkey Rides were really enjoyed by young Matilda Yeo, age 2, who said “I’m really enjoy riding the donkey” while taking a very relaxed approach to riding Pedro and not wanting to stop eating her lollypop.

Pedro’s handler Rob Harris, of Mike’s Donkeys, had travelled all the way from Hampshire to be at the festival, bringing with him Pedro, Morris and Robbie – who were all very well behaved.

“It’s been an excellent event and we’ve been really busy all day.  The donkeys have enjoyed themselves, having a day out” said Rob.  Asked what they eat, Rob said “They are vegetarians, enjoying hay, grass, apples and bananas.  For a treat at the end of a busy day, they get an ice cream and one of the donkeys is quite partial to a glass of stout.

The popular festival was planned by a partnership of local organisations, including Elim Life Church Kingstanding, Friends Of Witton Lakes, Perry Common Community Watch, St Margaret Mary Church, Urban Devotion Birmingham and Witton Lodge Community Association.  The festival was funded by Heart Of England Community Foundation, the Friends Of Witton Lakes and Perry Common Community Watch.