A big thank you to all those who helped to make Moulsfest and The Moulsford Mudder a huge success last weekend in raising awareness and funds for Inspire Children and Youth Trust, the charity supported by the Moulsford South Africa Tour 2024.

Excitement mounted as the event drew near, with marquees, bunting and sound systems being put in place.  The roar of a tank filled the air as it was driven in to be crawled over by excited children for the afternoon.

The Moulsford front field was transformed into a festival arena, with Year 7 & 8 boys in place to run their stalls and entertain  festival-goers with traditional crowd-pleasers such as Splat the Rat, a coconut shy, Little Welly Wanging, Pineapple skittles and many more.  The pocket money stalls (especially the sweets…) were a huge hit, and the opportunity to throw a wet sponge at unsuspecting volunteers in the stocks proved irresistible!  Alongside the stalls, inflatables entertained all ages, including the hugely popular Hungry Hippo Dash.

To keep everyone fed and watered, a fabulous barbecue was run by Moulsford staff and parents, with a fantastic array of delicious food.  Alongside the main bar, the Gin Bar run by The Keep in Wallingford proved very popular, as did the superb cakes generously made and donated by Year 7 & 8 parents.

Music filled the air, kicking off with ‘From the Ashes’, a local band from the Astons comprising rock legend members from both the Moulsford staff and current and former parents.  They were joined by (not so surprise) guest singer Mr Beardmore-Gray for an excellent rendition of ‘Sit Down’ by James.

They were followed by TikTok sensation The Curable who then gave up the stage to Moulsford’s home grown band ‘Gie it Laldy’, now in Year 6, with Benny, Oscar, Xander and Joss reprising their rock band status to a packed home crowd.

New for Moulsfest 2023 was the Colour Run for the Under 6’s, which proved very popular and extremely colourful!  While ‘From the Ashes’ continued to entertain on the big stage, with another number from Mr B-G (‘500 Miles’ by the Proclaimers), the older children (and the little ones with remaining energy), prepared themselves for the ever popular Moulsford Mudder. 

As the afternoon came to a close, the mud gates were opened and with over 140 participants, The Moulsford Mudder, now in its 8th year, got underway. As ever the challenge, from the children’s point of view, was to get as muddy as possible in the time allowed whilst having lots of fun. We can confirm that all participants met that challenge as the images on the school Flickr album will attest.

The support of the whole Moulsford Community continues to  be at the core of all things charity at Moulsford and after a brilliant start to the year, we are really looking forward to building awareness as well as fundraising for our other school charities over the coming months.

Huge thanks go to all the Moulsfest organisers and parents who pulled together this fantastic event, as well as the Moulsford staff, for providing an afternoon of fun and entertainment for all, in pursuit of a superb fundraising effort for Inspire.  Particular thanks go to Lauren Bateman, who has just taken on the role of Moulsford’s Events Coordinator, and was rather thrown in at the deep end! 

Many thanks also go to Knight Frank and Nick Warner from the Henley office, who so generously sponsored the event. Finally, a special mention must go to Alex Bonney for masterminding the event so successfully, and Molly Crosse and Sarah Toolan for ably supporting her.  All three dedicated so much time and effort to provide such a fun event for the whole Moulsford community to enjoy, as well as raising vital funds to support Inspire.