JennyO wrote, 'I like the idea of the Folk Club format in a festival. It can give people unfamiliar to those an idea of how they work, and the atmosphere is more intimate, It was a good venue too, with good acoustics.'
Again, we were scheduled to run the Festival Folk Club on Sunday afternoon. Audience were once again conspicuous by their absence. We suggested to the other artists that we should just swop songs rather than do spots. This worked really well. We all did our allotted time and every member of the audience got to sing, in some cases more than once.
Now I don't particularly like running these things. Liz and I are not MCs and generally MCs are not booked to do 40 minute sets in concerts, but…I would welcome some insight into what kind of festival should basically forgo running these events and simply allow the venues to be taken over by a non-paying fringe. If this doesn't make any sense (and it doesn't to me) then why are these events that the festival runs, so poorly supported. Personally, if I want to get into a room, I do as mother taught me, say 'Excuse me!' and then politely shove my way in.
Bromyard is a festival that I attend as a punter if I'm not booked, it is lively and inclusive. I'm truly sorry that others do not share this experience. – Paul