12:33pm Thursday 2nd September 2010
By Joe Ware
Chippenham’s River Festival proved a hit at the weekend with 5,000 people taking part in the activities including a raft race and parachute jump.
Fifty swimmers took part in an open water swim, 16 home made rafts battled to be crowned King of the River and the parachute regiment’s Red Devils free fall display team dropped in.
Organiser John Clark from the Chippenham and Village Area Partnership was delighted with the event.
He said: “It was absolutely brilliant.
“There was a lot more going on than last year.
“The river swim was the first time there was organised swimming on the river for decades and we had one guy come all the way from Stoke-on-Trent to take part.
“This year we also had the Invensys Rail raft race which was won by the Baxi Bullet team with Chippenham badminton club Aeronaughts coming in second.
“I was also made to walk the plank by our Jack Sparrow impersonator.
“It was a bit of a surprise and I didn’t have any dry clothes to change into but thankfully the weather was beautiful so I was able to dry off.”
He added: “We had loads of kids attractions, twice as many as last year.
“There were inflatable zorb balls that you can get into and walk around on water, a 50ft bungee cord trampoline and plenty of stalls and exhibitions from groups interested in the river and the environment.
“A real crowd puller was the parachute team who were terrific.”
Mr Clark said the aim of the festival was to celebrate Chippenham’s ‘forgotten’ river.
He said: “The aim is to celebrate the river as part of a vision for the town.
“It is so little used and appreciated. We want to show off all the exciting things that can be done along or around the river.
“We would love to get things like punting, boating and riverside cafés up and running in the future.
“Chippenham has almost forgotten it has a river.”
He said the 2010 incarnation of the festival was an improvement on last year.
He said: “Last year was the first time.
“This year we did a better job on the publicity and it proved really popular.”
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