In 2009 we had a wonderful festival in the hamlet of Steeple. For reasons which had nothing to do with the festival, we had to find an alternative farm site for 2010. Pity but .....

as fortune would have it ......
we have another really lovely farm this year for the festival in Langton Matravers with larger areas for the two stages and the bar / food area. There is also, very close by, another smaller barn for workshops and kids' events.

The team
Cath	Mick
Phil	Old Man Paul

Last year's story...

"One day when I had forgotten about maybe organising folk festivals, .... Phil Watkins offered to show me a farm in the Purbecks...

Phil? He is one of the directors of Funnybone Ltd - (owners of the Pig and Whistle pub which includes Centre Stage where we run the folk club) and is by profession an events manager. To be honest I thought we were wasting our time but it would be a nice trip so why not?

Beautiful landscape, remote location. Great land for camping. Barns which could be adapted for concert stages and a bar. Phil seemed to know the ropes re licence applications and was very confident we would get one.

After having started the process of planning festivals more than once and finding no end of obstacles, everything seemed so straightforward: Phil could do the difficult bits and I could sort the music!

Mick Callagahan, Phil's business partner, and Catherine Burke from the folk club committee, came on board and suddenly this festival - a collaboration between Bournemouth Folk Club and Funnybone - came together. Mick ran the bar and the food provision. Cath managed stewards, fringe events and was the key person in publicity.

We have a commitment to making the festival eco-friendly and we hope to invlove groups like PEAT (Purbeck Envionrmental Action) and Transition groups.

Paul Burke
May 2010