WARGRAVE FESTIVAL 2026
Step into a world of magic, music, and community celebration
This year’s Wargrave Festival is about storytelling, especially from childhood, and the theme ‘Once upon a Village’ that all in the community can relate. This year, along with all the events taking place, St Mary’s is bringing back some much loved favourites and introducing a few new events.
Brass on the Grass
Sunday 14 June – 6:00pm
Tickets: £12 adults, children free
It's back! The ever-popular event Brass on the Grass will be held in the Vicarage Garden.
The amazing Reading Spring Gardens Brass Band will be producing a fabulous sound for our picnic with their 25 players, and a great repertoire.
Come and immerse yourself for an evening of great tunes, in a beautiful setting. Bring your own chairs, blankets and picnics and enjoy an evening with family and friends. The Festival bar will be open for the evening so that you can buy your favourite refreshments.
Capacity is limited so only 200 tickets will be available. Be sure to snap yours up early to be part of this event. We look forward to welcoming you.
For more information about Reading Spring Gardens Brass Band, click here.
Academy of St Martin in the Field
Monday 15 June – Arrive 6:45pm for 7:30pm
Tickets: £40 Silver Patrons | £60 Gold Patrons
VIP Tickets: £130 inc. dinner at The Bull PLUS best seats
After mesmerising audiences at the last four Wargrave Festivals, we are very excited to bring you this magical experience and what is sure to be the most glorious performance in St Mary's Church by the world's finest Classical Chamber Orchestra under the leadership of Tomo Keller.
This year's concert programme commences with the first movement from the most famous orchestral piece in the world – Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, whose dramatic opening four notes launch music of relentless drive, tension and triumph.
The first half continues with Mozart's Flute Concerto in D major, performed by soloist Michael Cox. Anyone who tunes into the Proms will be familiar with Michael's iconic moustache as the camera closes in on his flute playing!
The second half offers an opportunity for two younger musicians to show their talent in Vivaldi's Concerto for Four Violins in B minor, a dazzling, fast-moving work full of rhythmic energy and playful dialogue between the soloists. This performance will include Elif Cansever, who has already visited Wargrave twice for the Annual Concert, and Matteo Cimatti, an Italian student of Tomo Keller.
The final piece in the programme is Mozart's great "Jupiter" Symphony (No. 41), a joyful, majestic work that combines brilliance, drama and exhilarating orchestral power, and which the Academy played to much acclaim at a previous Wargrave concert.
Programme
Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 (1st Movement)
Mozart – Flute Concerto in D major (Soloist: Michael Cox)
Vivaldi – Concerto for 4 violins in B minor
Mozart – Symphony No. 41 in C major "The Jupiter"
Folk Festival Night
Tuesday 16 June – 7:00pm - 10:30pm
Tickets: £12.50
Come along to the St Mary's Church Centre for an evening of traditional and contemporary folk songs - and some country songs thrown in for good measure! Local group 'French Collection' will again be hosting and performing and there will be invited guests to make for an entertaining evening.
The Folk Night has been a festival favourite since 1991 and has always been a sell-out and so we look forward to another great evening of music and fun! There will be a bar selling beers and wines, an essential ingredient in our folk club setting!
Butterflies
Wednesday 17 June – 9:30am - 11:00am
Tickets: £3 adults, children free
Come and join us at Butterflies in St Mary's Church Centre - the place to be for parents and babies! We will offer a fun and friendly space for your little one to play and for you to meet other parents. During the event, which is suitable for children from 0-3 years old, we will share our favourite stories and make some fairytale biscuits.
Flower Festival
Thursday 25 June – 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Friday 26 June – 2:00pm - 5:00pm
Saturday 27 June – 2:00pm - 5:00pm
Thursday Preview: £10 (includes a glass of bubbly)
Friday and Saturday: £3; accompanied children free
2026 sees the return of a Flower Festival in St Mary's Church.
Much-loved books will be interpreted through flowers, plus tales will also be told through displays of crafting, painting and stitching. From the Bible to Beatrix Potter, stories that have entertained and inspired will be represented.
Refreshments available in the Church Centre.
A Preview Event with live music will take place on the Thursday evening with a glass of bubbly included in the entry ticket.
Festival Service
Sunday 28 June – 11:00am - 12:00pm
Celebrating the last weekend of the Festival, the Bishop of Reading, the Right Reverend Mary Gregory, will be the speaker at the Festival Service. Bishop Mary was consecrated as Bishop of Reading in February 2025 and has an interesting and varied background. She joined the Prison Service after university, serving for ten years as an officer and, latterly, as a governor. It was here that Bishop Mary first developed her interest in reconciliation, coming to understand that the first movement of reconciliation is personal: that we are to be each reconciled to ourselves. Seconded to HMP The Maze in the weeks leading up to the Good Friday Agreement, Mary was also exposed to the complexity and urgency of reconciliation between polarised communities. Following her ordination and parish ministry, she became Canon for the Arts and Reconciliation at Coventry Cathedral, where she developed an understanding of reconciliation as being borne of 'rich storytelling and courageous listening' and of the place of the imagination and creativity in conflict resolution, kingdom change and spirituality.
A Fun & Faith session will be organised for primary school pupils and this will be held in the Church Centre.
This will also be the first festival for our vicar, David Chislett, who came to St Mary's in August 2025.
Come and join us in celebrating and marking the last weekend of the festival.
Ticket Day Saturday 18th April 2026
9:00am - 11:00am Scout Hut, Recreation Road, Wargrave, RG10 8BH
(Tickets will be available to purchase online from the Festival Website from Monday 20th April.
Please note that tickets purchased online will incur an additional transaction charge)