Glenn Miller Festival

Twinwood Festival, incorporating the Glenn Miller Festival of Swing, Jazz and Jive! is an annual vintage music festival, held at Twinwood Arena in clapham, Bedfordshire.

A Brief History

The Glenn Miller Fesetival is held at the former RAF Twinwood Farm Airfield in Clapham, Bedfordshire, England. On August 27th 1944, Glenn Miller & his AAF band performed an outdoor concert at RAF Twinwood. The stage was a flatbed trailer, and the audience, which consisted of the R.A.F. personnel who worked at RAF Twinwood sat on the grass not far from the Twinwood Control Tower. Later on that year on December 15th 1944, Glenn Miller boarded a Norseman aircraft, from RAF Twinwood and he was never seen or heard of again. The disappearance of Glenn Miller from RAF Twinwood Airfield sparked a mystery that has fascinated the world ever since.

After WWII, R.A.F. Twinwood was decommissioned and the site lay almost untouched. Many years later, in the year 1989 the company Twinwood Events was formed and work started on the restoration of the Twinwood Control Tower to convert it into the Glenn Miller Museum. In the year 2002 a celebration Glenn Miller concert was held to mark the completion of the restoration. The success of the Glenn Miller concert led to the birth of the annual Glenn Miller Festival, which was held over the August bank-holiday weekend, which is no coincidence as this weekend often falls on or near the 27th August, when Major Glenn Miller performed at the venue.

The Festival now

Over the years, the Glenn Miller Festival had grown, and in 2007 the name was changed to ‘Twinwood Festival, incorporating the Glenn Miller Festival’ in order that a slightly wider genre of music could be performed at the festival, and it is now one of the biggest vintage music festivals in Europe. Many well known swing, jazz & jive bands and orchestras form the UK and Europe have performed at the festival including: The John Miller Orchestra, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, The Syd Lawrence Orchestra, Chris Smith & his String Of Pearls Orchestra, The Jive Aces, Blue Harlem, Bill Bakers Big Band Sticky Wicket & his Swing Band, The Kings Cross Hot Club, the RCA band, Mike Sanchez band and hundreds of others!

Festival organiser Alice Wooding has said

“we strive to provide a quality event, quality facilities and quality music, which is the reason for the success of the Twinwood Festival and its rapid growth”.

In 2008 the Twinwood Festival has four stages, each with a large sprung wooden dance floor in front. In addition to the live bands that perform continuously throughout the three day festival, there are other events and attractions including Vintage Fashion shows, 40s hangar dances, jazz bars, a choice of late night dances and entertainment, a large traders village, a vintage hair & beauty salon, a therapy & relaxation suite, RAF displays, classic vehicles, museums, dance lessons and workshops, a large selection of food stalls and atmospheric bars, including the Officers Mess Bar, good camping and parking facilities.

Twinwood Festival incorporating the Glenn Miller Festival 2008

Featuring over 50 live performances from the best 1940s & 50s inspired bands and orchestras. Hosted by John Miller (Glenn Miller’s nephew) With The John Miller Orchestra, The Syd Lawrence Orchestra, Mike Sanchez, The RCA Band with Elvis in Concert, The Jive Aces, The Metrotones, Big Boy Bloater, Mark Keeley, Paul Ansells No 9, The Avengers, The Revolutionaires, The Jive Romeros, Oceans Seven, Lola Lamour, The Mainline Big Band, The Red Stripe Band, Oo Bop Sh’Bam, The Swing Commanders, Ian Calford & the Railmen, The Swingtime Sweethearts, & many others! DJs include; Terry Elliott, Chris Reynolds & Ricardo Gazzini. As well as the bands there are Fashion shows, hangar dances, jazz bars, choice of late night dances and entertainment, traders village, hair & beauty, therapy & relaxation, RAF displays, classic vehicles, museums, dance floors, dance lessons and workshops, great food and bars, good camping and good parking facilities. Tickets are from £7 to £50

References

[http://www.twinwoodevents.com Twinwood Events website] [http://www.twinwoodairfield.co.uk Glenn Miller Museum website]