At a meeting on Thursday evening, held appropriately at Dredgerman's Court, Art Hewitt, Festival Coordinator, and the members of WOFA, thanked the many local residents and businesses that had supported or taken part in, the very successful 2007 Whitstable Oyster Festival.

As this was also Art's last public appearance before leaving his post it was also an opportunity for the guests to thank him for the fantastic job he had done over the last three Festivals.

Art spoke of his hope that the Oyster Festival would, in the partnership between Canterbury City Council and the people of Whitstable in the form of WOFA, continue to evolve whilst remaining true to the foundations on which it was based. He now felt that the Festival was embedded back into the heart of the town with the residents, particularly this year, having realised that once again the Festival belonged to them.

Art thanked the support he had received from the Council's Creative Development team and the local knowledge he had gained working alongside the members of WOFA.

Brian Baker, WOFA's Secretary, said that although Art was moving on, the infrastructure that he had built was remaining. WOFA members would be sitting on the interview panel for the Coordinators position and would be building on the links that Art had made. In the time that Art had been coordinator attendance figures had increased year on year, more events aimed at the local community had been instigated, and the awareness of Whitstable, Whitstable Oysters and the Whitstable Oyster Festival had grown to new levels, both nationally and internationally.

Brian went on to thank Art for all he had done and, on behalf of the Wofa members, presented Art with a pair of silver oyster shells and a theatre voucher. Additionally, WOFA member and artist, Jon Bird, presented Art with a picture he had painted depicting Art relaxing in a Whitstable beach-hut.

Labels: Art Hewitt, Whitstable, Whitstable Oyster Festival 2007, WOFA

# posted by Wofa News @ Friday, September 07, 2007 0 Comments Links to this post