Thanks for your interest in this, as Backwoodsman has said, fledgeling folk festival.

We've posted a number of updates on our main homepage
Kettering Arts Centre home page

If you follow links at the top of that page through the drop down menu on the "music" tab you can see the pages for Harry Bird, Megson and the Festival.

We are on a steep learning curve both in terms of this festival and as an Arts Centre generally, but our approach is to try to make something happen. So far we've had 14 events in our first year and thousands of people have enjoyed some really good events with some nationally and internationally known names. The folk festival marks our first birthday.

We went with some friends to the last Spratton Festival, were disappointed when it didn't happen last year, and when we secured Megson for a concert thought "Why not make a weekend of it?"

We were delighted that Potbelly Brewery came on board to support us on the bar side of things, we've got a decent sound system and other facilities, and a town centre location which provides good access, parking, and food options.

Even more importantly we've got a really good lineup. I'm guessing most people won't be familiar with our Saturday headliners Harry Bird and the Rubber Wellies, but they are amazingly engaging and just play with such a hugely likeable joy- i think everyone will love them!

And many of the key bands and solo artists from the Northants/Rutland/Lincs scene are supporting us, too.

On limited (ie next to none) resources, with a good team of volunteers we've put on some great events so far. Literally thousands of flyers have gone out, most of them targeted or given personally (eg at our other events), our website is getting 60ish hits a day, we've got a decent sized facebook group (and the bands have been doing their bit, particularly on facebook, too), and a 200 strong email list of people who've attended other events and given us their emails.

But we still meet people who don't know about our efforts to bring affordable culture to Kettering (with no grants...) That's really important to us, so we've priced this as low as we can to make it accessible to all (not least thanks to the many bands who have been generous to us in their demands).

OAP's, Unemployed, Students, Under 18's can enjoy a day of great music for only £5.50, or both days for only £8.50. Full price tickets are £11 for a day or £17 for the weekend. A choice of four of Potbelly's renowned Ales can be enjoyed for only £2.50 a pint.

So now it really is a case of asking you all to come along and support it and help us with word of mouth/persuasion!

Longest first post ever?