Miscellaneous - Nr.Thame, Oxfordshire, 21/8/2014...25/8/2014

  by Nick Dent-Robinson

published: 6 / 9 / 2014

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Nick Dent-Robinson enjoys Oxfordshire's week long Towersey Festival, which celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, saw performances among many others from Eliza Carthy, Richard Thonpson, Seth Lakeman and the Bootleg Beatles

Towersey Festival (near Thame in Oxfordshire) celebrated its 50th anniversary from 21 – 25 August with almost 10,000 visitors watching a wide variety of acts - from Richard Thompson to Seth Lakeman to the Bootleg Beatles - in a range of on-site venues. Back in 1965 the first Towersey event attracted a mere 100 people but, as Festival Director Joe Heap commented, the event has grown gradually, almost organically, since then and it has retained its original rural charm. Joe said, “I think my grandfather, who was one of the founders of the festival, would still recognise it. Towersey is still very much a community-focused event with a strong emphasis on quality music but with poetry, film, comedy, art and sculpture all featured plus plenty of things for children too." “This year it has been amazing and we were blessed with pretty good weather for four of the five days. Richard Thompson, the Bootleg Beatles and Seth Lakeman all sold out. And the one-off concert marking 75 years of Topic Records hosted by Eliza Carthy and featuring Lau, Blair Dunlop and Fay Hield drew really enthusiastic crowds too. And local folk star Megan Henwood was popular. Towersey always has a great atmosphere but this year, with it being a Golden Jubilee event, there was a true sense of occasion and celebration. People travelled from all over the UK to be here and from Europe too. Many have been attending since the 1960s or 1970s!” Now Joe and his team start planning Towersey 2015 - but they have quite a challenge to follow this year's spectacular success. Apart from the very friendly, unthreatening and family-focused atmosphere, Towersey is different in many ways. There are so many kinds of excellent music to be heard all around the event. Plus, just strolling through the showground and the camp sites it is striking how many good quality amateur musicians there are amongst Towersey's visitors, each of them happily strumming or piping away, just for the joy of it. There are also many fascinating stands - including some selling all manner of musical instruments and doing brisk business too. That is something you wouldn't encounter at many of the more hard-nosed major festivals. Also the detailed planning at Towersey is very good. There are ample toilets, many with actual water-flushing facilities, the box office staff are efficient, the car parking easy plus even the security guards are friendly and helpful. Towersey is definitely a good venue for the festival novice. I look forward to revisiting next year, from 28 – 31 August 2015. Visit www.towerseyfestival.com for more information.

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