Barrio Report - Filipino Festival at Lampton Park, Hounslow

I attended the 21st Barrio Festival at Lampton Park, Hounslow West London on Saturday 16th July, the setting for the festival was one of the hotest days this year, at a very scorching 35 degrees, and by Filipino standards pretty normal weather.

Parking facilities for those travelling by car or Coach was available at a cost of £5.00 for a car, I saw at least 10 coaches, from various areas of the UK, people had travelled from as far as Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and Scotland, it was great to see so many Filipino families with their children all sitting out in the shade, having Food and generally enjoying themselves.

My thoughts.

I arrived at around 12.30pm, just about the hotest part of the day, the Festival was being monitored by an outsourced security firm, most of the security people tended to be Africans, and were wearing orange t shirts, although ABS-CBN T.V.Service from Manila were present throughout the day, I was rather dissapointed that they chose to fence off the main stage area, this was I managed to ascertain, to be a privilidge entry area, they were trying to get as many people as possible to sign up for a 6 channel t.v. package in the UK costing £27.00.

This then entitled visitors to gain entry to the inner sanctum as I call it, where guests could sit down nearest the stage, the main crowd had to stand behind high fencing, which Again I thought was rather sad, as it was very difficult to see the stage or those performing on it.

At first glance, I thought the entertainment started off well, however it quickly became apparent to me, that it was going to take the form of typical Filipino T.V. Style entertainment, variety shows, actors who sing, singers who act, that sort of entertainment, and the usual whining of someone with a microphone blasting out in Tagalog, there was very little english spoken which is of course only natural considering the crowd were most probably all Tagalog speakers, I was suprised to note how few White Western British faces I could see, having walked around the grounds extensively, looking at the hoards of tents selling everything from Chicken Adobo right through to the chance of a property in the Philippines, the noticable absence of British white people made me think that it was not as well served by the husbands community as I thought it would be.

However I did link up with a British guy from South London, and we tended to chat for most of the afternoon, as we tucked into some nicely provided cans of Fosters lager, from his circle of Filipino freinds, who he employed as painters and decorators

at around 1.30pm, just as the cheeky girls (usual sexy dancing) were on stage, someone must have made a mistake and put on the Philippine National Anthem, Lupang Hinirang, this of course looked truly out of place, as the girls just carried on with their sexy up and down display, then a Female official from the Philippine Centre, the organizers, came on and "threw all of her toys out of the Pram" by stating the following

The Philippine National Anthem Lupang Hinirang should not have been played just then, it has come to our attention that some
one is desicrating the Philippine National Flags, you must remember how lucky you are to be here in the United Kingdom, I have been here for 23 years, and I am a Filipino, she then punched the air once a again and jumped up, to the prounoucement we are all Filipinos here in the UK, you are all lucky, I am lucky, but we must not forget who we are...we are Filipinos

I looked around to see what effect this had with people, in my view, people didnt really make any comment, and look totally disinterested as if to say "Why are you getting all up tight, in any event we are in UK and we dont have to do as you say anymore" that level of control that Filipinos are used to, has by now of course dissapeared with time, no longer do they have to take notice of someone shouting "You should remember where you come from, and how lucky you are " well thats my thoughts on that.

The day went well...although the entertainment still smacked of variety show Philippines, and long periods of ranting in Tagalog, something of which I found irritating since we had to keep asking our Filipino freinds what was being said, something of which was rather funny considering it felt like we were in the Philippines, you could have forgiven us for thinking we were in our own Capital City, but having said that, it was a day for them and not really for us, its interesting, that at no time, did the word Foreigener ever get used in relation to the Filipinos, a marked difference between our treatment in the Philippines, we all assume of course that anyone who is here in UK is here because they have a right to be, and it was mentioned by one Filipino that here in the Uk, you feel a part of the country regardless of your ethnicity.

Filipinos in general did love the food, many food outlets were present, and a new restaraunt has opened in West London, called Josephines, at 4 Charlotte Street London W1, I have to say that the Filipinos, were great, in all things, the group I was with, provided the beer constantly, and in the times that I put my hand in my pocket to put a few quid in tthe kitty, they would not accept it, that is something that made me feel a part of the occasion, and maybe they were glad to see that we had showed up as well.

It was nice to see so many families there, all sitting under the trees, eating, drinking, and generally lying around, some playing football, others throwing hoops. everyone seemed to like the occasion, Western union were there, also providing money transfer services as were 1st Remit and Metro Remit, suprise suprise, wherever Filipinos are...someone is sure to think of providing remitttance services, Western Union appeared to be offering a cheap rate on the day for sending money.

There were many other vendors and organizations selling everything from Books "how to get to UK" i thought that was funny since they were already here..but you never know.

All in all a great day out, and for all those people who told me they were meeting there for a photo, sorry folks, no one contacted me apart from Keith who couldnt make it, and Paul Thomas {Oiishi) who was on official business after the London Bombings, well done Paul, thanks for all the good work your staff are putting in down in Westminster.

To those who go on Sunday I hope you had a good day.

Will be sending Pics to those whose e mails I have.