HOME FARM FEST 2016: Congratulations to festival newly-weds

THE Home Farm Festival near Yeovil had an extra special celebration at the  weekend when newly-weds Richard Francois and Carol Millward enjoyed their wedding day party at the music fest – the place where they first met in 2014.

Richard and Carol arrived at Home Farm in Chilthorne Domer on Saturday (June 11, 2016) afternoon following their wedding service at Yeovil Registry Office in style in a carriage drawn by two magnificent horses.

The couple had asked guests for no gifts, but for them all to buy a ticket to attend the Home Farm Fest music concert which was now in its 11th year and raises funds for the Piers Simon Appeal and School in a Bag project.

Wedding guests waited as the happy couple arrived and then enjoyed a private reception in a converted barn at Home Farm which had been playing host to a range of musicians during the day on the Avant Garde stage.

The couple were clearly delighted to see so many friends and family enjoy the festival and they had held a joint Stag and Hen party on the opening night of the three-day Home Farm Fest on Friday (June 10, 2016).

“We didn’t want any presents,” said Carol as she and her husband walked around the festival site on Saturday evening in their wedding attire. “But we’d asked people to buy a ticket for the festival which raises such a lot of money for a charity which does such great work.”

Richard said: “We’d like to thank everyone who has given us their best wishes and said congratulations to us as we’ve walked around the festival. It’s been great.”

Later on Saturday evening Richard had his hairy back waxed to help raise more money for the charity, while Carol and friends went round selling special wedding cupcakes – with the last two being sold to the Mayor and Mayoress of Yeovil, Cllr Darren Shutler and his wife Anna.

The School in a Bag project has come about from the Piers Simon Appeal which was formed soon after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed including former Preston School and Yeovil College student Piers Simon. The SIAB initiative sees schoolbags filled with everyday education items such as pens, pencils and paper – plus eating utensils – and are sent out to poor and orphaned children around the globe.

Founder and chief executive officer of the Piers Simon Appeal and School in a Bag, Luke Simon, said he and all of the team would like to congratulate Richard and Carol on their wedding and wish them all the best for the future.

“Having a wedding party at the festival is, as far I’m aware, a first for us,” he added. “We obviously look forward to seeing Richard and Carol here again for next year’s festival.”

Richard and Carol were at the festival again on Sunday (June 12, 2016) for the final day and they were wearing matching Home Farm Festival hoodie tops with Just Married on them.

PHOTOS - ABOVE: All taken on Saturday, June 11, 2016, at Home Farm in Chilthorne Domer - home of the Home Farm Festival where newly-weds Richard and Carol Francois first met in 2014.

PHOTO - ABOVE: The happy couple (centre) held a joint Stag and Hen party at the Home Farm Festival on Friday (June 10, 2016). They were joined in the photo by the Mayor and Mayoress of Yeovil, Cllr Darren Shutler and his wife Anna, plus the town crier Bruce Trigger.

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