Music in the Meadow Unchained!
All BletchFest’s events have taken a fair degree of planning and organisation but it’s fair to say that Music in the Meadow, as an outdoor festival, has as many challenges as any. This year’s event seemed to be a real test of endurance, determination and persistence. The withdrawal of one of the bands as the event was launched back in early May meant that an alternative had to be found at short notice. Fortunately there are a growing number of local bands all showing an interest in performing for BletchFest so a really top notch replacement was found without too much delay.
One of biggest challenges came when we discovered five days before the event that Godstone Road was set to be closed overnight denying vehicle access to audience, performers, staging, sound and food providers! Of all risks that outdoor festivals carry emergency roadworks was one we had not factored in! For 48 hours we contemplated having to cancel the event but the persistence and determination of parish councillor Barbara Wantling, a member of the BletchFest committee, managed to persuade those responsible to change their schedule enabling access to and from Grange Meadow allowing Music in the Meadow to proceed after all.
With the weather kind to us a crowd in excess of 200 people, families, friends and music lovers were able to enjoy the musical talents of three local Surrey bands all with their own distinctive style performing a mix of covers and original music.
Music in the Meadow is an inclusive event and we were pleased to welcome some music students from Bletchingley Skills Centre and the Orpheus Trust to enjoy the music and at the same time raise some funds for these worthy local charities.
Titanic Dance Band lived up to their billing and got people up on their feet as they played familiar tunes from the 60s onwards. Breathe Band are a hugely creative group playing original tunes that become instantly familiar favourites. This was reinforced as a number of music lovers bought the CDs and downloads offered after Breathe’s set. Mooshwa Pooshwa closed the event with their quirky mix of covers and original tunes displaying great musicianship and entertaining the audience as night began to fall.
This year’s Music in the Meadow fulfilled its promise to be more than the average beer or pop festival as it sets up to showcase local talent that goes a little beyond the average musical festival offering with great music to suit popular tastes giving the opportunity to discover music you didn’t know you liked along with the music you knew you would! We already have a number of bands offering a variety of genres of highly entertaining popular music wishing to perform for next year’s event ensuring Music in the Meadow will never be a stale event!
Next up in the BletchFest calendar is our Blues Festival in Bletchingley Village Hall on November the with the exciting British Blues Casting Corporation headlining. Subscribe to our mailing list at - www.bletchfest.org/subscribe-here - to receive advance notification of ticket sales and availability.
Photos courtesy of Collette Barber and others
