2008 Festival
Regrettably there will be no Festival this year!
Whilst we have attracted some new members to the Festival Committee, both I and Sarah Matthews - who have tended to assume most of the operational responsibilities - are unable to be involved this year for personal reasons, and the other members of the committee (quite understandably) felt that we might be better to postpone until next year when we will be at full strength (and hopefully have regained some enthusiasm for putting in the work and effort involved!). There is a school of thought too that the Festival has become taken for granted over the years, and we very much hope that the absence of a Festival this year will increase expectation and enthusiasm in the village generally for the 2009 Festival!
Peter Mullin Festival Chairman
2007 Festival
Last year the Festival Committee set out new objectives and approaches to create an event that it believed would both appeal to all of the people of the village and generate funds for worthy causes within it; and we were delighted to announce that, for the first time, we were joining forces with the Church, and that the Church Fete was held on the Saturday afternoon of the Festival (14th July). The Church kept the proceeds it raised from the Fete and enjoyed the benefit of access to all of the infrastructure that the Festival had invested in for the weekend.
Again we had a pretty good weekend of weather for the Festival (apart from a bit of a shower on Sunday afternoon – but it wouldn't have been proper 2007 live music without a good soaking, would it? ), and the feedback we received was that the weekend was enjoyed by everyone who attended. In particular both the Poet Laureate on the Friday evening and holding the Church Fete on the Saturday afternoon seemed to work extremely well, and opened up the Festival to many people who had not attended in the past.
2007 Income
| Beer and Wine Sales | £2,140 |
| Burgers and Ice-cream | £800 |
| Auction and Raffle | £6,000 |
| Advertising | £665 |
| Other activities | £286 |
| Ticket Sales | £3,660 |
| Total Income | £13,551 |
| Expenditure | |
| Total Overheads | £12,121 |
| Net Margin | £1,430 |
As can be seen from the final Account for the weekend, we generated almost £1,500 margin, and this will go to a worthy cause within the Village – as soon as this is finalised we will publish details.
As always, any event like this requires much hard work and effort, and I would very much like to thank the many people who helped and contributed over the weekend. Huge thanks to all the musicians, all of whom played for free on Sunday; huge thanks also to Ben Cox who managed Sunday's sound and lighting and also supplied all the sound equipment; thanks also to James "Roadie" Weatherall and Oka who let us use their van to transport it all; and, of course, to Mike Verran who provided us with a superb two-trailer outdoor stage for it all to happen on.
