Stainsby Festival returns with award-winning Granny's Attic headlining first concert

Stainsby Festival will welcome award-winning Granny’s Attic as the headliners on Friday, July 15, with Bonfire Radicals and Glastonbury performers Praying For The Rain topping Saturday and Sunday’s concerts respectively.

Music workshops, a singers competition, children’s entertainment, craft stalls, film and a real ale bar featuring beers from Derbyshire’s microbreweries will add to the fun.

Volunteers are looking forward to getting the festival back on track after the Covid pandemic put large-scale gatherings on pause.

Festival chief Tony Trafford said: “Boy, it’s great to be back. Given that we’re so very happy to be able to run at all, we’ve opted to run this year’s Stainsby as the one everybody already knows and loves. We couldn’t start planning this one as we normally do in October, until we were sure Covid restrictions had come off this February, which means it’s been one hell of a scamper to even do what we normally do.

"In one way this is the festival we tried to put on in 2020. It’s also the festival we tried to put on in 2021. We’ve stuck by the performers who’ve stuck by us when we couldn’t run. In the same way many of our ticket holders have stuck by us and rolled over their tickets not once but twice. So third time lucky - for all of us!

“I’m particularly pleased that Plumhall and Bonfire Radicals are major new additions to our line-up this year. I saw the Radicals earlier in the year and they certainly have the Stainsby pizzaz and Plumhall come highly recommended by other trustees, so I’ll be all ears.”

Since the last festival, the volunteers who run the event have had double cause to celebrate. Tony said: “The recent big news was the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service being given to the festival. Everybody’s delighted and we’re all a bit made up about it. It’s a terrific acknowledgement of all the effort and hard work that’s been given by dedicated volunteers over the last fifty years and an example for those who follow in the future. It’s also a bit of a shock that we are considered “respectable” enough for royalty suddenly!"

And a public appeal to safeguard the festival’s future by raising enough money to buy its greenfield site has reached its target. Tony said: “During the pandemic one of the big boosts to our confidence was the fantastic support that our Dream of Fields Appeal got from our supporters. Since its launch in 2014 we’ve made steady progress, through a general appeal and projects like the Llama Karma Lottery and the Drum Trek organised by Paul Dear. The finishing post suddenly came in sight with the response to The Glorious One Hundred initiative to close the final gap - a magnificent response in the teeth of a national and international crisis! It means we can move ahead on the sale now as fast as the lawyers can go.”

On the downside, Tony said: “The sale of Stainsby School to the highest bidder by the National Trust, instead of the community project consortium we were part of - led by the parish council - was a bitter disappointment. That’s one dream that turned into a bit of a nightmare. We’ve managed to cobble together some temporary storage for now and we may be able to make more long term solutions once we buy the fields.”

Stainsby Festival will be held on Brunts Field, Hawking Lane, Stainsby, near Heath, from July 15-17, 2022. Tickets are available online at www.stainsbyfestival.org.uk