TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

First artists have been announced for Wickham 2020. (Thur 6th to Sun 9th August)

These include Stanley Jordan (playing a Hendrix set), Eddi Reader, Will Pound, The Bar Steward Sons of Val Doonican  and the Young 'Uns.

Early bird tickets can be bought at a discount here  (https://tinyurl.com/y58zx54t).

Wendy and I will probably be Stewards there again, so hopefully, see you there!

In addition to the acts mentioned above, Show of Hands have been confirmed today.

My better half and I will be there for the third year in a row. I'll look out for you!

Afraid we will be in Spain that week, :( just back in time for Cropredy though  ;D

Waterboys have now been added for the Sunday night.
I was feeling a little underwhelmed by what had been announced so far, but this has made up for it.

Van Morrison just announced for Wickham.
Wasn’t expecting that!

Wickham say they are not postponing yet. They will await any government announcement.

Paul

yes i saw that email... seems a little strange- im sure they will have to do it anyway... Just holding onto the cash for as long as possible i suppose.. I mean do you think many want to go even then?

Their survival probably depends on it being cancelled for them (by the government) rather than cancelling it themselves...

just seen an update from Wickham they are still not postponing and will make a final decision by 1st July

yes i saw that... and thought what? They cannot possible run it....I wouldnt be suprised if we see a second peak over the summer as well.. :-X

They are doing away with the big tops, but still I don't see how they will be able to manage it. 2 metre grid on the ground.

I suspect we will hold our tickets over to the following year.

Paul

Finally confirmed as cancelled this year.

Looks like this is still running. Would it be a good replacement for my normal Cropredy weekend away?

It is a very different kind of festival to Cropredy. Smaller. Multiple stages. Less folk centric and possibly less of a community atmosphere. But I have always enjoyed it and it is a stellar line up this year though unfortunately I won't be attending.

The organisers have beeen quite bullish about it going ahead. I am surprised they are prepared to take the risk without insurance but perhaps they have some alternative contingency.

Thanks. When you say “smaller” is that just the attendance or is it the camping/ arena? Can’t imagine several stages on a smaller site?

That's pretty much what it is, capacity is roughly 7-8000 (not sure which, maybe fewer this year for distancing), and a number of stages around the site. Great atmosphere, though. Here's a site map from a couple of years ago to give you some idea :

It is a very different atmosphere, as has been said.

We went last year. We aren't this year.

Or perhaps the year before?

Indeed.

Is it more of a Latitude type of event? More people
“Going to a festival for the vibe” rather than the music?

I went the year it was held on the coast at Stokes Bay and enjoyed it immensely.

Apart camping in the incessant wind, couldn't fault the set up and running. The only gripe appeared to be that they used professional security instead of stewards and they "over-policed" the no alcohol in the arena rule which lead to some ill feeling.

No I wouldn't say so. There are inevitably some people who are there just for a day out, particularly on the Saturday but audiences I have been part of over the years for the likes of Roger Chapman or The Young Uns or Tom Robinson or Dreadzone to name but four diverse examples have always been very into the music and hugely appreciative. I have seen a lot of terrific stuff there from Steve Earle to Gilmore & Roberts to Edward II and discovered a lot of new favourites too, most notably Tankus The Henge on their debut appearance who were jaw dropping and totally took the audience with them. Because of the multiple stages there is sometimes even too much to choose from.

My only criticism is that there is always a bar next to the Village Stage that plays its own (recorded) music rather loud and there can be some annoying sound bleed, especially if it is an acoustic act on stage.

Thanks for all your advice and knowledge. I have taken the plunge and booked.

I have just booked to go this year..  its a fabulous line up and they say they can run it under the current guidelines even if the restrictions are not relaxed.  They also say they are unaffected by insurance issues.

I went in 2019 for 2 days and really enjoyed it.  I badly need some festival magic and I hope this will provide it  {:-)

Anyone else got tickets?

I can’t understand why they aren’t affected by insurance issues…??

We will be there, look forward to seeing you!

I wondered (perhaps too cynically) that they feel that if they have to cancel they can go bust and avoid too much liability as they don’t have to maintain the long term relationships with locals and suppliers like Fairport have to?

I think that Peter, the organiser of the festival, would be rightly appalled that such cynicism was aimed at him!
He works extremely hard to put on this festival and is an absolute gent!

Peter is absolutely adamant that they will not be cancelling and can go ahead on the current regulations if needed.  

He works very hard to run the festival and absolutely values the continuing support of locals and suppliers.

I am very pleased to stand corrected.

I think Peter is probably in a position to "insure it" himself. IE he will take the hit personally.

Paul

Fairport have announced that they are appearing at Wickham this year.

Paul

Deacon Blue announced as the remaining headliner.
Happy with that!

Does anyone know what the camping is like? Website says it’s the same as previous years but no more detail than that. I normally camp 8n Field 2 at Cropredy; is there anything similar?

It has improved greatly in recent years. It used to be straw fields, and sometimes muddy and sloped. The field they used two years ago was much more level, and grass. The downside was it was a fair bit further to walk, however there is a minibus.

No guarantee they will use that one, but we are hopeful.

Paul

Wickham has just made me realise how professionally and brilliantly organised Cropredy is!

We pitched our tent there yesterday (Wednesday), but we live nearby so drove home to sleep in our own beds. Headed over there today at around 5pm (music was due to start at 6pm and the first act we wanted to see was at 7pm). Weather was wet - this has been forecast for at least a week - and traffic was reasonably heavy, as you'd expect at the beginning of a festival.

First problem was that the entrance to the area where we had camped (and had planned to park our car) was blocked off. No information and no stewards to ask. Nothing. We were in a long queue of traffic so carried on and eventually came to the "Day Parking" field. Drove in there and our car got bogged down in the mud before we had even found  a parking space. Had to wait 2.5 hours before the single tractor - who was constantly pulling other cars out - could get to us. He towed us to the car park entrance ... where we found that they were still letting cars into the field! They hadn't even put down any straw, so goodness knows how they will get out.

While waiting for the tractor, we had plenty of time to read Facebook and Twitter, only to find a litany of problems - the main stage couldn't be used because of the weather, so the whole schedule was rejigged; all Covid precautions seemed to have gone out the window; there weren't nearly enough toilets in any of the fields, and the ones that were provided did not have toilet paper, hand sanitiser or lighting; the mud in the arena (again, no straw) had got dangerous and many people were falling; the shuttle bus was ending early; disabled people were having real issues negotiating the site; the bars, which had been advertised as cashless, would ONLY take cash; there weren't nearly enough stewards, and the ones there didn't seem to know what was going on, etc, etc.

The official festival accounts were blaming the weather, but the simple fact is that the rain had been forecast for some time and they just didn't have any plans in place to deal with it.

After getting towed out of the mud, we decided to quit and came home. We've paid a lot of money to sit in a muddy field for 2.5 hours and not hear any music :-( Let's hope that the rest of the weekend is a bit better.

As a steward at Wickham I’d agree with 99% of the above sadly. There were also a host of other problems ,  some behind the scenes, some visible to attendees. What they have in common is that none were COVID-related, all were foreseeable and avoidable and other festivals, not just Cropredy, manage them perfectly well.  More rain is forecast for today and tomorrow so I fear ground issues aren’t going to get any better. The rest, who knows?

I love Wickham (not there this year) but rain has always been their Achilles heel. It always causes chaos and they never seem prepared for it. What a shame.

Some of these comments are a bit unfair considering the efforts they have gone through to keep the festival going in spite of massive obstacles.
To say that they should have planned ahead more is simply ridiculous.
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t yet found the tap that turns off torrential rain.
Also, the incompetence of the contractors responsible for the main stage could not have been foreseen.
For God’s sake give them a break and be thankful to be at one of the few festivals which were brave enough to take the risk!

This morning’s statement gives some idea of what they are up against.

We're very sorry about the rain and mud last night but pleased that so many of you still enjoyed some fantastic live music.  We're working our socks off to improve the ground conditions for the rest of the weekend.  We do have a problem with the main stage though as we have been badly let-down by the supplier who has failed to deliver the right size stage within the agreed timescale and who has also failed to deliver a safe and structurally sound stage as yesterday's weather showed.  We will let you know this morning whether the stage can be made safe to use - we have an independent engineer attending to assess it.  Please be assured the Festival will continue - the Big Top Stage is absolutely fine and we are installing big TV screens so people outside the tent can see the stage clearly.  Festivals do suffer from bad weather - look at Glastonbury - but after 18 months of almost no live music we are determined to give you the best weekend possible even if it is not quite what you and we would like.  Please bear with us.  We're doing our best and will keep you informed of developments.

It’s not ridiculous to suggest that a festival should be prepared for torrential rain, particularly as has been pointed out above, they have form in this area. The incompetence of the stage supplier has yet to be proven. And, as I said, there are a lot of other problems that shouldn’t have occurred - wristband exchange, communications, marking out of fields, not enough disabled camping. I could go on.

Torrential rain and farmland equals mud!
Have you never seen what happens at Glastonbury or the Isle of Wight?
If you can’t cope with a bit of mud, maybe festivals are not really for you!

"A bit of mud" is hugely trivialising the reality of the situation - it was positively dangerous, with reports of people on crutches falling over. We saw one man in a wheelchair having severe difficulty in getting out of the car park. The age profile of people attending Wickham is also a lot older than those at Glastonbury or Isle of Wight.

We sat in our car for 2.5 hours waiting to be towed out by a tractor - and other had longer waits - instead of seeing the bands that we had paid to see. that's not just "a bit of mud".

The weather forecast over the last week or 10 days had said that there would be heavy rain, yet there was no sign of any preparation for that - there was not even any straw, let alone the plastic walkways that you see at Cropredy, Cambridge Folk and other festivals. The site is also quite steeply sloped - that made the going underfoot actually dangerous, not just inconvenient.

And the rain cannot be blamed for the lack of any Covid precautions; the shortage of toilets (and the failure to put toilet paper or hand sanitiser in those toilets); the lack of information; the choice of a sub-contactor who could not build a stage; the lack of properly-briefed stewards; the overcrowding in the camping field; the long queues for wristband exchange.

Your patronising (and frankly ludicrous) suggestion that "maybe festivals are not really for you" suggests that perhaps you have never attended a professional, properly-organised and SAFE festival yourself.

I have been to at least a hundred festivals, including the infamous flooded Glastonburys of the late 1990s and I know what a good and a bad festival looks like. If you’re at Wickham and everything’s going well for you that’s great, I’m very happy for you. Many were not so lucky. And as I keep saying and you keep ignoring, there were are remain many other issues.

I have also been to hundreds of festivals starting with Reading in 1975.
I have been through far worse conditions to this, so kindly stop making ridiculous assumptions!
The organisers have managed to keep the festival going against all the odds.
The problem with the main stage has meant that it cannot be opened and they were faced with the two options; carry on in a reduced manner, or send everyone home.
Fortunately they decided to carry on.
I would be interested to know why you doubt that the contractors are to blame for the problem with the stage. Inside information or just another baseless assumption?
Along with most of the crowd I am grateful for the gargantuan efforts everyone (including the many volunteers) has made to keep the festival going.
There will always be those who moan about things without trying to see the bigger picture.
Anyway, I have far better things to do, like basking in the sunshine on a straw covered dry patch of land with a pint of Meon Ale, listening to excellent music in the knowledge that I am attending a festival in  2021.

I can remember Talking to people at the cricket club not so long ago whom had been to Wickham the week before and there had been similar problems  involving a lot of mud.

It's called making a professional Risk Assessment with mitigation measures defined and in place, Bill.

The weather cannot be unexpected, given what happened in 2017.

Not having a crystal ball or time machine I am unable to comment about the festival in 2027😉

An interesting Saturday spent at Wickham for the first time. The music was fantastic, with the Young ‘uns and Seth Lakeman standing out for me. I haven’t seen Seth for a few years, and the inclusion of an excellent keyboard player/backing singer (I didn’t catch her name) certainly gave a very full rounded sound to his songs.

Parking was a complete debacle; I’ve never been anywhere where you had to be towed on by a tractor to park! We declined, and drove on to the community centre down the road. I can only imagine the queues and confusion at the end of the night. Talking of which, there were no floodlights, etc post show, which made leaving the arena rather adventurous.

I did feel for the crew and volunteers who had to deal with numerous problems, and did a heroic job under the circumstances. However, a lot of the problems caused by the mud could have been anticipated and mitigated (never seen those problems at Cropredy in 30 odd years). Toilets were predictably grim (toilet roll and sanitiser run out), if you could negotiate the thick mud to get to them.

Covid precautions were non-existent (tents were crammed, no masks, no tests/checks) but I guess ultimately you have to make your own judgement on what is safe.

It did make me appreciate just how much preparation and planning goes into Cropredy to make it run without a hitch and unfortunately Wickham (at least this year) felt more like a village fete, albeit one that charged £75 for a day’s entertainment.

Just heard from my mate who is there (or more accurately, was), and he is utterly damning.

It is also a bit naughty that they are deleting any negative comments as soon as they appear on Facebook. I was surprised at how amateur it felt when compared to Cropredy. Off to Beautiful Days in a couple of weeks for the first time, let’s see how that stacks up!

Meanwhile the thousands of us who are still here are having a wonderful time and can appreciate the Herculean efforts involved in keeping the festival going!

I went this year and to be honest, it was poor. I wouldn’t go again. I go to a lot of festivals and have never felt so glad to leave one as I did this one. It was just dire. Their echo-chamber of a Facebook page tells you all you need to know… not that I was inclined to leave a comment. I did see the messages with people’s concerns along with criticism all deleted and the page sanitised. No thanks.

I wasn't there this year and clearly there were problems but I would like to say that I have been many times in the past and that has not been typical of my experience except in the one other year when they got deluged by rain (not normal rain but a month's worth in one day). They seem to have been a bit overwhelmed this year but still managed to put on some sort of festival. I would advise against judging it on this one experience.

Of course I never camp and rarely book until there is a reasonable certainty of fair weather so that might make a difference.

Isn't the whole point about management of 'this kind of thing' that one learns from past experiences?

Using stubble fields for a festival site is a mudbath waiting to happen.

The one time I wen to Wickham the live-in field was stubble, you could feel the ground move underneath you as it was still soft underneath a firm crust. Luckily there was no rain during the festival to make it too soft to drive out.

oh God yes that is etched on my memory forever! 4 foot deep mud.. having to be towed by tractor onto the motorhome field in the pitch black after having queued for hours.. damage to the vehicle... t left sitting in a literal sea of mud surrounded by 4 ft deep ruts! it was awful..... Seems they have learnt very little from that time....

Saw Doctors have now been added to the already excellent lineup for 2022

https://www.wickhamfestival.co.uk/

The Friday looks very good - I'd especially love to see The Longest Johns, Skinny Lister & Yves Lambert - but sadly I'm already busy that day. Not very impressed with the rest, TBH.

BTW the website was painfully slow on Chrome, esp. when I tried to look at who was on each day. It worked much better on Microsoft Edge.
 

Yes, many rose-tinted bespectacled views of Cropredy (v Wickham) here, particularly with regards to last year's (2021) Homeric Episode, but this is primarily a forum for rose-tinted bespectacled Cropredy goers, is it not ?! 15 years a regular at Cropredy between '94 and '09, I never saw those organisers having to deal with the repeated sustained rain we had at Wickham last year ! I'm with Poor Will, who like us, saw it through, with many positive observations and criticisms. The Saturday at Cropredy in 2008 saw just one day of constant rain, and egress became a trial to the far fields beyond the Canal. Vehicles were left to be towed out on the Sunday morning that year. Perhaps Peter at Wickham left it indecently late to cancel 2020, and punted too heavily on the 'Festival Stage' last year. The arena sites are so very different, and short of the fringe fests at Brasenose and Red Lion, one has more opportunity to wander into a more eclectic selection at Wickham. Wickham just bears the brunt of the early August rains, so I would not recommend it to Cropredy goers ! ::)