Express & Star

Volkswagens descend on Himley Hall for festival

Thousands turned out in their Volkswagen vans for a new Black Country festival.

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Himley Hall and the Dubs Collective organised the Part in the Park (VW event). Pic of organiser: Darren Jones from Stourbridge..

Crowds gathers at Himley Hall to mark the first Dubs Collective Party in the Park event.

Organisers brought everything from live music, to breakdancing acts, to BMX champions in to entertain the more than 4,000 visitors.

Event co-organiser Cheryl Drew, 51, from Stourbridge, said: "It is amazing, it has been extremely hard work for a first event but it has been amazing. We have had 2,500 camping and a couple of thousand of day visitors.

"We are so overwhelmed with the support from the Volkswagen community and the local community as well.

Himley Hall and the Dubs Collective organised the Part in the Park (VW event). Pictured is: Joanne and Colin Martland from Willenhall with Barnabe and Mavis and van Cookie..

"This is the first event we have done. Darren and I are both lovers of the Volkswagen world, so we purchased the T5 about five years ago and absolutely loved going to festivals and the festival life.

"Through that we made good friends with Tom Dibb, a festival musician. We discussed the fact that in the Black Country there were no real places for someone like Tom to perform. So we set up a club called Dubs Collective, which regularly meets."

Both Cheryl and partner Darren Jones decided to put on the event for the Dubs Collective group, which now has more than 4,000 members on Facebook, but also for the local community.

Two of those attending, Joanne and Colin Martland, from Willenhall, decided to take along their beach decorated van, named Cookie, for a spin.

Mark Winterbottom, from Bushbury, also arrived to set up shop with his dog Molly and his 1972 Volkswagen camper van Rusty.

Himley Hall and the Dubs Collective organised the Part in the Park (VW event)..

The Peaky Blinders-themed Party in the Park weekend-long event saw a whole host of entertainment keeping guests happy – including Lee Musselwhite, the current British flatland freestyle champion, performing for guests with his team of professional jump riders.

Cheryl added: "We have had a Peaky Blinders breakdancing crew. We have also had live music and arts and crafts.

"It is a large community from Dubs Collective and but we have collected a lot of new members along the way. Next year we plan on doing an 80s themed event."