Folk Festival Off To A Flying Start

August 7, 2007, 9:37 am

Folk fans from around the country flocked to Sidmouth as the annual folk festival began.

Thousands of people are expected to attend the 10-day event, one of the biggest of its kind in the country.

Sunday night, award-winning Devon folk duo Show of Hands headlined the opening night of the event, which was sold out well in advance.

Phil Beer, of Show of Hands, said the event just keeps getting better each year.

He said: “It is the grandmother of all festivals. I don’t know if it was the first folk festival but it’s probably the festival people look forward to the most. All the old school fans like it - and so do the new ones.”

Session musician Phil Atkinson has been coming to the festival for 20 years.

Phil, from Manchester, said: “It is gorgeous this year - the weather is good and the people are just arriving so it is going to be another few hours meeting old and new friends.”

Lucy Crickmore, 24, travelled from Brighton for the festival on the advice of relatives.

She said: “It is my first time here - my aunty and uncle, from Honiton, came last year and said how good it was, so we thought we would come for it.”

Jenny Stanfield, 68, from Northamptonshire, first came to the festival four years ago.

She said: “When we first came we did not realise it was on and we liked it so much this year we decided to have our holiday at the same time as the festival.

“It has a great atmosphere and it’s lovely to find music all around in the pubs and parks.”

The festival was launched with a Ceilidh at the Anchor Garden, with the all-string Devon-based band Spinach 4 Norman.

The evening events began with a display by City of Exeter Pipes and Drums, while over at the Bulverton Marquee, a Salsa workshop took place.

This article was taken from: This Is Exeter