The amazing music festival on your doorstep – Wittfest 2026 – will be on Saturday 4 July this year. Its a beautifully organized festival in the huge carpark of the Travellers Rest pub, Witton Gilbert, with a great line-up of bands, a fantastic high stage and great sound.
Tickets are £20 – funds go to the excellent village association Children’s Hopes and Dreams (CHAD) which supports a host of great activities and organizations, and the pub.
You can get early bird tickets for this local Durham music festival at £15 each on 2 May from 2pm till 5pm at the Travellers Rest (Front St, DH7 6TQ)
The organizers will be organizing a similar festival at the Kings Head in Lanchester on Saturday 1 August. Early bird tickets are also available for this, also at £15, at the same time and place.
The Wittfest is highly recommended, featuring a great set up, lots of seating, room to dance, plus several bars.
As usual, the bands in 2026 will be excellent. The lineup is
Tributes are being paid across Witton Gilbert village for 17-year-old Shay Bladen, tragically killed in an accident at the Sniperley Park DH1 homes development site.
He lived in Witton Gilbert and was a construction worker working for a subcontractor for Esh Group, which is carrying out groundworks on the private housing development site which is in the Witton Gilbert parish.
Shay was seriously injured in the head and neck when a concrete pipe fell on him before 1pm on Thursday 16 April. North East Ambulance Service was called to Sniperley Farm Road shortly before 1pm and sent an ambulance crew, a specialist paramedic, two clinical team leaders and a duty officer to the scene. It requested support from the Great North Air Ambulance Service, which attended by road. An ambulance rushed him to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Newcastle but sadly he died on Friday night.
His heartbroken parents Lee and Samantha said he was ” Shay was the most genuine, loving, caring lad you could ever wish to meet, he lit up every room making everyone smile even on the worst days.”
He loved boxing and the gym and also “loved work and his job and just constantly being on the go. He was a genuine friend to many and the most amazing, caring, big brother to Ellis and Edie. Shay also loved spending time with his long-term girlfriend Libby.
“As his parents, we couldn’t be more proud of the hard working, determined young man Shay turned out to be. We love you and seeing how highly everyone speaks about you just shows the type of person you were.
“Our handsome brown-eyed boy – forever 17.”
Shay Bladen day
Village organisation Children’s Hopes and Dreams (CHAD) will name the village day on Saturday 30 May the “Shay Bladen Village Day”. John Nixon says: “We have a full afternoon of events for the kids and it’s all free so get yourselves down.”
Condolence on Facebook include: “Unbelievably heartbreaking. Love and condolences to Shay’s family. A village in mourning taken far too young. Life is so cruel sometimes”. “My heart goes out to you and your family”. “Can’t put into words how devastating and heartbreaking this is. My heart goes out to Shay’s family”. “I’m so sorry for your heartbreaking loss. Sending lots of love and strength.”
The funeral notice (below) says Shay will be celebrated at Durham Crematorium on 15 May at 11:30am, donations in lieu of flowers to local boxing clubs. “Everyone is welcome afterwards to Witton Gilbert Club, May Lea DH7 6RH”.
Police and Health and Safety investigate
The nationwide Health and Safety Executive is investigating alongside Durham police and inspectors visited the site on the day of the accident. Police Detective Chief Inspector Andy Crowe said: “This has been a truly tragic incident and I would like to offer Shay’s family and friends the sincere condolences of everyone at Durham Constabulary.”
“We are carrying out a joint investigation with our colleagues at the Health and Safety Executive to determine the exact circumstances as to how this tragedy unfolded.”
An Esh Group spokesperson said: “We are extremely saddened to learn that our subcontractor’s employee, Shay Bladen, has passed away following the serious incident on site at Sniperley Park in Durham. We extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends who are in our thoughts at this tragic time.”
Since the incident occurred, the contractor has worked alongside the police and the HSE “to assist a thorough investigation”.
A spokesperson for developer Bellway said the firm was “extremely saddened” to hear of Bladen’s death.
Here are some of the church services for the coming week, Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter
At St Michael & All Angels, Witton Gilbert
Palm Sunday (29 March): 9.15am – Procession and Parish Eucharist with reading of the Passion led by Revd Bill Jackson
Maundy Thursday (2 April): 6pm – Passover Meal with Eucharist followed by Stripping of the Altar, led by Revd Bill Jackson (Booking essential for the meal)
Good Friday (3 April): 10am – CHAD Easter Egg Hunt led by Revd Caroline Dick
Good Friday (3 April): 2pm – Liturgy led by Revd Bill Jackson
Easter Sunday (5 April): 9.15am – Parish Eucharist led by Revd Michael Peers.
St Michael & All Angels, Coach Lane, Witton Gilbert, DH7 6SX, see website.
Witton Gilbert’s local live music festival, the Wittfest, is back on 5 July 2025.
It will be at the carpark of the Traveller’s Rest pub. The first band starts at 12 or 12:30pm.
Tickets are on sale behind the bar at The Travellers Restpub at £15 each (card or cash) or message John Nixon and Jon Reynolds on Facebook. People aged under 16 years can come free of charge.
Here are the live bands that will be delighting the crowds with great music this year.
The festival raises money for Witton Gilbert’s own community group CHAD Children’s Hopes and Dreams. All of CHAD’s activities are funded through local contributions and events such as the Wittfest.
UPDATE: After massive success, enjoyment and rain, Wittfest 2025 is already booked for 5 July 2025 and the first 3 bands are lined up. Put it in your diaries.
Coming up this Saturday, 13 July 2024, is Witton Gilbert’s local live music festival, the Wittfest!
It will be at the carpark of the Traveller’s Rest pub. Doors open at 11am, and first band goes on at 1pm.
Entry is by wristband and tickets are on sale behind the bar at The Travellers Rest pub at £15 each (card or cash) or message John Nixon and Jon Reynolds on Facebook.
Children under 16 are free, although the festival is quite crowded.
The festival raises money for Witton Gilbert’s own community group CHAD Children’s Hopes and Dreams. All of CHAD’s activities are funded through local contributions and events such as the Wittfest.
This is a Witton Gilbert fund-raising organization which supports lots of community and charity activities for children in the village and further afield.
Some of the activities for summer 2024:
Free football coaching on the field, usually every Wednesday evening through August.
A qualified CrossFit trainer puts on four sessions.
Supporting the much loved Woodland Wonders children’s holiday sessions with lunches and other support.
According to Jon Reynolds, one of the organizers: “We put a Halloween party and Christmas party on at the club, all free. We also do other things during the year like the pantomime horse race”. The horse race is an annual event since 2021 and the date is to be confirmed.
Jon added: “Last year we put guitar lessons on and supplied the instruments, but that is yet not confirmed for this year.
“We also designed a programme with suicide prevention charity If U Care Share to go into year 5 in Witton Gilbert Primary School for six weeks to prepare the kids for going to the “big” school. This went down really well with the kids and parents so we are raising money to do this again and want it be a yearly thing. This cost us £3,500 for the first year but will only cost us £2,000 moving forward as it is all designed.”
Children’s hopes and dreams was originally set up nearly 30 years ago in memory of a local serviceman, Michael Stephenson, who was in the Royal Marines and died from a heart embolism at the age of 23 years. Here is a story in the Northern Echo.
Since then they have organized a football tournament in his memory for many years and have continued to raise money for different causes, including the primary school, local playgroups and the Treetops children’s ward, at the University Hospital of North Durham.
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