Folk Association of South Hants

 

Festivals

FASH seeks to encourage greater participation in folk activities and one way that this happens is through the many festivals around the country. Festivals are amazing; they usually have a diverse range of people, of all ages, enjoying themselves making music, singing, listening or dancing.

The list is far from exhaustive and there are many other festivals further afield. Most of the Folk Festivals in the UK are listed here. Sadly, EFDSS, who used to have a comprehensive list, no longer seem to be listing Folk Festivals.

 

All these festivals vary. Some are all about Morris dance displays with perhaps a ceilidh one evening, others are all about dancing, or listening to bands on stages. There are also festivals which have a wide range of workshops, dances, concerts and displays. Some festivals are in towns with hotel accommodation, others have camping.

Because there is such a wide variety, we have been encouraging folk to write a description of any festival they enjoy. We have published a number of these articles in Solent Waves (see here for more details on this monthly newsletter) and have included them for anyone to see. Please note that each is the view of the person involved, rather than FASH or its officers, or the festival organisers, but since they are all, to varying degrees, complimentary, this hardly matters. They vary in how old they are, but as the festivals tend to follow a similar pattern from year to year, they will still be reasonably accurate.

Eastbourne International Folkdance Festival (replaced by May Heydays - see above) 2013 review - festival link

Wickham Festival 2012 review - festival link

Warwick Folk Festival 2009 review, 2014 review - festival link

Upton Folk Festival 2009 review - festival link

Chippenham Folk Festival 2008 review, 2016 review, 2024 review - festival link

Towersey Village Festival 2007 review - festival link

The Village Pump Folk Festival 2014 review - festival link

If anyone cares to write about any other festivals, then it would be great. Please send them to the Editor or see our contacts page