GOTG - what's it all...
About
Groove on the Green has been running for over 12 years in the village of Walgrave. It was originally set up as a small, family fun-day organised by local people, for local people. Its aim was to benefit the local clubs, charities, organisations and services that all help to make Walgrave a community to be proud of. This is still very much at the heart of all we do.
Our offering has grown over the years, as has its popularity. A line up of local bands perform throughout the day and long into the evening, accompanied by a a variety of professional food offerings every year and well stocked bars serving cold draft beers and cocktails! We also have many stalls and attractions, including, the now infamous, dog show and lots of exciting games and activities for all of the family to enjoy.
We hope to see you at this year’s event.
Why would you want to Groove on our Green? Well, to put it simply, why not! It’s fun and a great day out!
The added bonus is that by supporting and attending this event, you will help raise funds that can be used to support many local groups and organisations to keep running and serving our local community. We want to help these organisations not only to survive but to thrive. Services like the local pre-school, Muddy boots, who provide an excellent environment for our youngest community members or the local church who are a constant pillar for many of the local residents. We think organisations like these are a hub of our community , so, we endeavour to keep GOTG alive and kicking for as long as possible to help these vital support networks continue to exist and succeed. To do this, we need your support simply by attending our little festival and enjoying what we have on offer.
Run by volunteers
Our committee
2022 has been a pivital year in the history of GOTG. With a reformed committee, we successfully achieved charity status and set out to offer a grants scheme for local charities, groups and organisations to benefit from. Providing a platform for fundraising has been at the heart of GOTG since day one and we only want to build on this year on year.
Having charity status means we are now governed by the charity commission. All decisions are made as a committee and are guided by commission regulations. This is done with the best interest of the local groups and organisations involved each year and also prospective grants scheme beneficiaries. We hope to continue to offer valuable funds to help as many local organisations as we can. We know how hard these organisations work to keep our community as good as it can be.
- Gareth Whatmore – Chair
- Jennie Evans – Vice Chair
- Craig Evans – Treasurer
- Suzy Keeping – Member (Music)
- Simon Burchell – Member (Hospitality/Coordinator)
- Matt Shortland – Member (Marketing)
- Jo Shortland – Member (Stall & Vendors)
- Joe McMannas – Member (Hospitality/Coordinator)
- Jonathan Cuppa – Member (Sponsorships)
- Sarah Jones – Member (Coordinator)
- Joe Skinner – Member (Finance)
Get involved
Can you help?
As a charity run by a volunteer committee, we endeavour to make this a event one not only to be proud of but a event that is recognised as a leading social gathering for Northamptonshire. We also keep our local community at the core of every decision we make to keep providing a platform for fundraising. It’s important to us to not only keep pushing ourselves to make it bigger and better every year, but we also need to keep to our values and heritage in supporting our community. Having been running for over a decade we have progressed the event to a scale that is not only viable, but profitable. This means that we can keep on providing a grant scheme and hold enough funds to host the event for the following year.
We continue to seek new opportunities and build the event every year. This takes place over many meetings throughout the year and every meeting is held accountable by our mission. This is something we take pride in and if this sound like something you would like to be involved in as a volunteer, sponsor, stall holder or food vendor – then let us know!
Proud to support out community
GOTG grants scheme
Despite the challenging climate, we are delighted that Groove on the Green 2023 still managed to be a profitable weekend of fundraising. In addition to a few thousand pounds raised directly by charities and community groups who joined the event, we also raised a healthy surplus through sale of wristbands, takings from the bars and donations from our amazing, generous local sponsors.
Massive thanks to our main event sponsors, Impact Recruitment and Matthew Oliver Windows, as well as our bar sponsors O’Riordon Bond Estate Agents and Khaldere Ltd. Not forgetting the many generous small businesses and individuals who sponsored our beer barrels – we really appreciate your support.