Lots of reasons to get out and about

O ne of the things I love about this time of year is that there is so much to do in the city if you like to get out and about.

It’s been a great summer of events so far, helped by the good weather we had in June and July.

Thousands of people enjoyed three days of live music at the Willow Festival and the Heritage Festival was popular with families looking to learn about the city’s past.

Other hits included the Portuguese Festival and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s Big Day Out on Cathedral Square, the Latvian Festival and of course the Pearl Izumi Tour Series cycle race through the city centre.

We mustn’t forget the Armed Forces Day events too, a highlight of which was a concert featuring the Marham Bluebirds Military Wives Choir and the City of Peterborough Concert Band.

We may be in the last few weeks of summer, but our events programme continues in earnest.

We’re well known nationally for our fantastic beer festival, which attracts thousands of people every year from far and wide. The bar opened at the 37th CAMRA Beer Festival on Tuesday and drinks will be served until Saturday, if you fancy a visit.

There have been some great events in the past few weeks during Travelchoice Month – our annual event to get more people out of their cars and walking, cycling and using public transport. There’s still more to come and on Bank Holiday Monday there will be an outdoor cycle cinema showing of The Lego Movie at Hampton at 7.30pm.

The month will culminate with Party in the Park on August 30, which will include a cycle-powered music stage, funfair, double decker play bus, BMX stunt show and more at Central Park.

September gets under way with The Peterborough Arts Festival organised by Vivacity which will include performances by street theatre artists in the city centre on September 6 and 7.

On the Saturday evening French performance troupe Transe Express will entertain with an interactive street parade and the following night the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will perform at The Broadway Theatre.

The weekend after the Arts Festival the Classic and Vintage Vehicle Show will roll onto The Embankment. It’s the first event of its kind in the city and already more than 250 vehicles have signed up to exhibit.

And then without further ado, the Italian Festival will return for its sixth year September 20 and 21. New for this year are performances by a Sicilian brass band and Italian pop group, boxing demonstrations and a display of Italian cars.

Also returning is a pop-up restaurant on Cathedral Square on the Saturday night.

Next on the calendar will be the Perkins Great Eastern Run, the Diwali Festival and of course the Christmas lights switch-on – not wanting to wish time away!

On the subject of the Perkins Great Eastern Run, tomorrow marks 50 days until the half-marathon on Sunday, October 12.

It’s always a popular race with people locally and further field, as it takes quite a scenic route through the city and is a great race for beating your personal best I’m told because it’s such a flat course.

If you want to enter then do so before September 26, as entries after this date will be charged a late entry fee.

For more information visit www.perkinsgreateasternrun.co.uk f you’re picking up your GCSE results today, then I hope all your hard work has paid off and you’ve got the grades you were hoping for.

Our A-level students did remarkably well last week and achieved some of the city’s best ever results.

More students than ever achieved the higher grades and the overall pass rate went up too.

With the numbers achieving the higher grades reducing nationally, it shows that in Peterborough we are once again bucking the national trend and our investment in education and our commitment to improving standards is paying off.

I