Salut! Live

In my piece for The Times, I talk about the threat to Cropredy and the loss of other events including Towersey, where this summer's 60th festival will also be the last:

Towersey and Cropredy are not alone in facing bleak times. The Association of Independent Festivals says more than 40 UK events have been postponed, cancelled or lost altogether this year. Faced with a surged in operating costs, at least 170 have disappeared in five years.

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But back to where it began. After the Fairport tour mentioned above, Simon Nicol set out his thoughts more fully in this Facebook message:

Greetings friends, old, new and/or young,

I’m taking the unusual step of writing to you personally to keep you informed about Cropredy 2024. You’re used to us reminding you about the festival’s progress but this time I’m writing about longer term considerations.

These are very hard times for the UK festival industry. In 2023, thirty-six smaller events were either cancelled or endured financial collapse. We’ve stewarded Cropredy for the thick end of fifty years so we feel the crashing disappointment and pain of our fellow organisers.

So far this year the number of cancellations has already reached thirty-four, some of them a lot bigger than Cropredy. We’ve seen swingeing increases in the costs of staging the festival – everything from infrastructure to artist fees, diesel fuel, lighting, PA, and so on – without compromising health, safety and comfort.

Crucially, our festival has no sponsorship: Cropredy has to pay its own way. The fact is there can never be a ‘bad year’ for Cropredy - anything which isn’t self-supporting could mean the end of the line. Simple as that. Which is where you come in.

How you can help

We want your help to secure the future of Cropredy, an event which means so much to so many.

Whole tribes have been created in these postcodes and many families bring three or even more generations together. Some of our key people were first here as toddlers and have lifelong treasured memories to prove it.

Many of you regular Cropredy-goers will have a neighbour, workmate, cousin or sibling who you’ve regaled with stories of great bands unexpectedly discovered or happy encounters at the bar. They’ve watched you pack for the journey and seen you return - sometimes muddy perhaps but always lifted and recharged by the sense of community of those three days in the field.

Perhaps you’ve told them how great it was this year and how much they’d love it. Perhaps they think they’re too old or it’s ‘not our sort of thing’. But if every couple of you regulars push that little bit harder you might persuade them that this is the year to bite the bullet. In other words, help us by introducing new friends to Cropredy.

Your loyalty to Fairport, to Cropredy, and to our collective community is unmatched; and it’s far and away the achievement I’m proudest to have been part of. So I’m appealing to you personally to do a little recruiting between now and August. Bring a friend; make a friend and bring them!

Of course, some of you reading this may be Cropredy virgins yourselves. So if you haven’t been to our festival I urge you to take the plunge and join us this year. It really is a question of use it or lose it, I’m afraid.

We have an absolutely incredible line-up of acts and they’re all set to blow you away. So don’t miss Fairport’s Cropredy Convention 2024 and do what you can to persuade a newbie to share the joy with you.

See you for another amazing weekend, OK? I can’t wait!

Love and thanks,

Simon

* Cambridge Folk Festival: July 25-28 (01223 357851)

   Fairport’s Cropredy Convention: Aug 8-10 (0844 581 1396)

   Towersey Festival Aug 23-26 (0121 472 6688)

   Sidmouth Folk Festival Aug 2-9 (01395 577952)

   Underneath the Stars Festival: Aug 2-4 (01226 n767872)