Battersea held what was perhaps its most successful ever Pumpkinfest last Saturday.The whole village was decorated with pumpkins and cornstalks; there was a parade, food, music, petting zoo, rides through the forest on a miniature steam train, rides through the village on a wagon, a haunted barn, a pie sale, pumpkin carving, both participatory and performance-based, and a creative array of pumpkin-related children's games. A wind-up catapult flung pumpkins in more or less one direction, three strange winged figures on stilts stalked through the crowd along with a top-hatted unicycle rider, and it appeared Queen Victoria herself moved in a stately manner across the field. If you'd substituted livestock for all the dogs, it could have been a mediaeval fair. Volunteers, many with pointed hats…
