Roll on 50th Stainsby Festival

Organisers of Stainsby Festival which celebrates its 50th anniversary next year are appealing for memorabilia such as tickets, programmes, posters and photographs, personal reminscences and testimonies.

Fans at the event filled a blackboard with suggestions for acts and ideas of how to make the golden jubilee festival a memorable event.

Chairman Tony Trafford said: “Some of the ideas we’ve already thought of, some we haven’t and some are really out there!”

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Rainy nights hit walk-up ticket sales for some of the sessions at the 49th festival. Tony said: “It didn’t dampen anybody’s spirits who were already there - the atmosphere was great and no-one went home early.”

Top acts Steamchicken and Jasper In The Company Of Others were among Tony’s highlights. He said: “However, the headliner bands aren’t the whole story and there was some beautiful music from people like Edwina Hayes, Sarah McQuaid, Kabantu and Against the Grain.”

Becky and the Sharks from Glossop won the singers competition which was judged by Sarah McQuaid. Last year’s competition winner Danny Wyer performed with his band the Rogue Embers.

One person suffered hypothermia but other than there was little which required medical attention. Tony said: “The biggest trouble was children with grass cuts from trying to make whistling noises with blades of grass - someone had obviously set off a craze at some point!”

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The shuttle bus was a casualty of the weather on Sunday teatime when a wedge of mud dried on a step which folds down when the bus door opens - fouling the safety contact which cut out the engine when it went into gear. Tony said: “There was a busload waiting to get back to Chesterfield. A couple of our team volunteered to rush those catching trains into the station whilst the AA was called. Before he could get there another of our crew had solved the problem.”

A highlight of Sunday night was the burning of the wicker man, a ceremony which had been absent for a couple of years.