The Great Swing Picnic

20th July £3 - £139.00

Update 09:00am Sat 20th July

Yes its just typical isn’t it!…We plan a fabulous outdoor summer event and the weather gods don’t want to play ball!

However, in true British spirit, we’re not going to be dampened by the likelihood of some warm summer showers or we would never plan an outdoor event! 

The event will go ahead as planned, with the latest Met Office forecast showing the chance of showers through the evening, lessening as the evening progresses. 

The event is still planned to open at 6.30pm, but we advise to arrive at 7.30pm, when the highest chance of showers has passed. Our first band will now start at 7.45pm

So: Come dressed for  being outside and for showery weather, bring hats, umbrellas, coats, ponchos and chairs to sit on.

Those with table tickets have a sunshade over their table, but, bring a brolly too if required.

Hunker down, have plenty to drink with a damp sausage roll and remember the moment!

If the showers are worse than expected, then we’ll have Northwood House open for you to dive in to for some cover, with the ballroom and dining room available with some tables if required.

The music will be outside on the lawn (don’t worry the bands are under cover) with dancing in front of the marquee stage where we will put down some astro turf to keep it clean and safe…wear some sensible shoes though rather than high heels (same for the ladies too! ha-ha).

The first Swing Picnic…we may remember for swinging in the rain, but at least we’ll remember it!

£3 Parking on our top field, enter at the rotunda. Leave your cars their overnight if yo like.

 

 

Join us for one of the most upbeat and fun events of the summer on the Northwood House Lawns…introducing The Great Swing Picnic!

If you love a great night out, gather some friends and dress yourselves up in style for this fun-filled frolic picnic event this July! We bring you a vintage-themed night of entertainment, headlined by one of the best swing and jive bands on the national circuit…the incredible Boogie Bumpers!   This professional seven piece band recreate the energetic musical eras of the 1930s, 40s and 50s which will have you up dancing with your friends until the cows come home! Covering classic tracks and artists from across thirty years of incredible music of a bygone age, this is an event not to be missed!

Getting the Swing Picnic off to a lively start, we’ll be joined by the Island’s own vintage dance supremos, the six piece Gramophone Fun Band, headed up by the legendary  JC Grimshaw and Paul Armfield who’ll be getting you warmed up with their own unique style of vintage swing and gypsy jazz dating back to the 1920’s and 30’s! What a treat for music lovers and those in search of a very sociable night out here at Northwood House, one of the Island’s most popular event venues of the last few years.

Dressing up and making a real effort is kind of  the thing for the Swing Picnic…that’s what makes it Great! Just think Great Gatsby, Prohibition, Peaky Blinders, Downton Abbey or anything from between the 1920’s -1950’s goes. Be a style icon for the night and just go for it, you’ll be in great company!

Early Bird tickets are now sold out…but standard admission tickets are now available.

Great Swing Picnic standard admission tickets are now available to purchase below at £25.oo each, including two bar drinks tokens.  (Early bird tickets sold out on 5th June 2024, sorry!)

Obviously it’s a outdoor picnic event, so bring what ever you need in the food department along with you, but please leave the booze and other  drinks at home. This is a licenced venue where alcohol has to be purchased from one of  the lawn bars to be consumed at the event. However, the good news is that all tickets include 2 bar tokens, where any single token can be exchanged for one of the following drinks:

• 1 x pint of premium draught lager, IPA or cider 
• 1 x medium glass of house wine (175ml)
• 1 x  spirit and mixer from the optics (25ml measure)
• 2  x soft drinks (pints of coke/lemonade/soda & lime, fruit juice and mixer/ bottle of Fever-Tree tonic water/bottle J20/Appletise)

Or club together with friends tokens for the following:

• 4 tokens for a bottle of wine or prosecco up to £24 in value, a 4 pint pitcher of lager, IPA or Cider, or a 3 pint pitcher of Pimm’s & Lemonade)

You can also pay for bottles of wine in advance and collect directly from our Rotunda wine station inside the main entrance building to save a queue at the main bars.

Please also bring picnic blankets and chairs with you for your own comfort…although you can purchase one of a limited number of outdoor 4 person garden table tickets with four chairs and a parasol if you don’t want the hassle.

A 4 person garden table ticket  comes with a bottle or prosecco or house wine to share with your guests and costs £139.00 including 8 bar tokens to share between the group.

If you don’t want to bring a picnic, hot food will be available from our food partners “The Garden” who’ll have a full menu of great food available through-out the evening from their pop-up stretch tent restaurant on the lawn.

Other event information

Please bring a printed copy of your online email booking receipt with you as your ticket, which will be checked off at our box office against the order database.

This is an outdoor event, dress up in style, but also for the weather. Late evenings can still be chilly in July.

The event will continue, even in light to moderate rain and showers, so please bring brollies and waterproof attire ready to sit it out in true British spirit. Also see cancellation section below.

Children from the age of 15 may attend with a standard ticket but must be accompanied by and parent or guardian at all times. Drink tokens can only be exchanged for soft drinks,  but must be obtained by an adult (no children under 18 may queue at a licenced bar, even for a soft drink).

A strict challenge 25 licencing policy applies. Bring a valid photo driving licence or passport if you look 25 years or younger and likely to be asked for ID.

Standard security protocols apply including SIA bag and picnic basket searches at the box office and in the venue where alcohol and drinks will be removed from attendees if they’ve brought them to the event. These will be available for collection at the end. Thank you in advance for respecting this rule.

Right of Admission reserved by our SIA Team and good behaviour while in our venue s expected at all times.

A zero-tolerance drugs policy is applied by our SIA team. The issue will become a police matter if attendees are caught taking or dealing illegal drugs on the premises.

Please respect our neighbours and leave quietly at the end of the event.

Car Parking- evening and overnight

We appreciate that many people attending The Great Swing Picnic may want to drive and leave their cars overnight. If so parking is available on our Ward Avenue event field.

Evening Parking 6pm-12am: £3.00

Evening & Overnight parking (6pm-11am next day): £5.00

Please purchase in advance in the ticket section and you’ll be checked in by our stewarding team.

Event cancellation

If for any reason the event has to be cancelled in advance of the event (up to 6.30pm on Saturday 20th July- the opening time), a full refund will be made to all ticket holders with 7 working days of the cancellation.  This could be for severe weather, contractors or third parties letting us down at short notice, ferry cancellations (for our band’s crossing), legal interventions, force majuere and other reasons out of our control.

If the event is cancelled with in the first three hours of opening  for any reason, a 50% refund for the proportion of the cancelled event will be issued with in 7 working days, less the £12 value of the drinks tokens included in each ticket. i e event cancelled at 8pm: £25 ticket-£12 tokens= £13 x 50% = £6.50refund

If the event is cancelled after the  first three hours of opening for any reason, no refund can be given, sorry.

Customer ticket cancellation

Tickets can be cancelled up to 7 days of the event start time (so up 6.30pm on 13th July) for a full refund, but after that time no refunds can be issued. You are welcome to find an alternative person to take your ticket after this time though.

To cancel you must send an email before the stated time to administrator@northwoodhouse.org  stating your request for a refund and forwarding your e-ticket. This will processed within 7 working days.