Middlewich Folk & Boat Festival

Any news yet of the line-up for 2010? Will there be favourite artists from the past, as promised, to celebrate 20 years of the festival?
What about the festival fringe? What venues will be used?
Will there be a return to using a marquee for the main stage, as I have read in some listings for the festival?

This thread on the Mudcat forum may be orf interest:

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=127333&messages=10#2855636

hot off the press    The London Philharmonic Skiffle Orchestra will be at the 2010 festival

Looks good.

To continue what has, so far, been a solo spot on this forum, can I ask what special events are being mounted to celebrate the anniversary of the festival? Are any of the bands from the last 20 years being invited back, as promised?
And what is happening on the fringe this year?

A few queries:

Will the fringe be organised by the committee or will musos & singers sessions be DIY?

What venues can be used?

Will the campsite be available for non-ticket holders to just pay for camping?

I note there's  queries from others besides me on this forum, some going back several months, which haven't been answered.

Does the management/ fest committee look here?

Well, judging from the response so far, I'd say that's a no, Mr H.

Well Dave, congrats on being such a provocateur on Mudcat, even if it wasn't intended (I'm still trying to decide) ...

Why the fuss about the Fringe? What's different this year? Ever since I've been providing web services for the festival, there has NEVER EVER been any information released about the Fringe until well after May 1 and, more often than not, not until June 1 ...

Previously that was all down to Lizzie, who was also never able to finalise any Fringe activities until everything else was in place, so why imagine there will be much difference this time?

The venues may have been known in advance, but the performers' schedules were only ever a last-minute thing ...

Furthermore as I understand it, there is a difference this year in that one or two of the regular pub venues may not even be open for trade, come the festival — as a complete 'foreigner' to Middlewich I'm unable to confirm this, but you could, surely?

As a non-MFAB person (non-committee, only an employee), I can only tell you some of what I've been informed (if permissible to be made public) or what I perceive to be going on and some of it might even be hearsay — I also find it frustrating that this forum is so underused by everyone, not only committee members! But guess what, one has already commented in this thread!

And finally, I would appreciate you not posting any of this discussion on Mudcat, or information copied straight off the website — it's copyrighted! Anyone with an interest can be directed here please?

Welcome! As far as I'm aware it will be organised much as in previous years, so no, it won't be left as DIY ...

With reference to my earlier message, this information has yet to be released and, as already stated on the website, probably won't be for some time yet — it's still only March! I have never yet been given Fringe information to publish until nearly June ...

I'd say definitely yes — it normally is and I have heard nothing to the contrary for this year ...

Gadge,

Thanks for that. No, I wasn't trying to be a 'provocateur' as you put it. If I was making mischief I'd be a bit foolish to  put a link to my mischief making Mudcat postings on this forum.
Let me explain.
Year after year, despite the fact that I have not been on the festival committee for many years now, people ask me for information on the festival and, in particular, the fringe.
I'm fully aware of the difficulties of getting fringe information out until very close to festival time. But you may or may not know that the Middlewich Festival fringe is possibly unique in that it is run by the festival committee and not on an ad hoc basis by others not connected with the main festival.
This policy is, and always has been. liable to change by the committee, which could at any time decide that they do not have 'enough manpower' to put on fringe events as well as main stage events.
That, after all, is what we are told  happened with the 2009 'Winter Warmer' which was, according to the information I have, cancelled for that very reason.
All that was required from the festival committee was a simple statement  to the effect that they were, indeed, going to put on fringe events this year and people would have gone away rejoicing.
But such a statement was not forthcoming and the only information I was able to obtain was from people at fringe venues who reported that they had not been approached by anyone from MFAB.
Similarly, if the festival had announced that it was unable to spare resources for the fringe, then Mr Happy and people like him would have been happy to step into the breach.
Again, no such announcement was made.
And that's all there is to it.
If I could give you just one piece of advice to pass on to the festival organisers it would be this: read your own forum.
I apologise for infringing your copyright by cutting and  pasting what read like the text of a press release on  Mudcat. I was trying to be helpful. Rest assured it won't happen again.
As for posting links to this website, I did that and was told by everyone that they were following the links  and finding nothing but woefully outdated information - a situation which only changed very recently. So I won't be doing that again, either.
But thanks once again for your own input.

You're quite right Dave, members of the Festival Committee should read our own Forum on a regular basis - if only there were more hours in the day (and I know you'll think that's a pathetic excuse).
To pick up a couple of points: the 2009 Winter Warmer was not cancelled due to lack of manpower. We decided very early on that we weren't having one as the effort involved for the small amount of money raised didn't make sense. Nothing to do with manpower, and in fact we have slightly more this year than we had last year. There's never been enough people ever since I've been on the Committee, but that's a problem for virtually all voluntary organisations.
Sorting out fringe venues is, as you will appreciate, extremely difficult this year with pub closures and changes of management, but we're getting there. Venues like The Boars's Head, which you mentioned in a post on Mudcat, have known since MFAB2009 that they would be an integral part of this year's Fringe. We haven't discussed anything in detail, partly because they've kept telling us it's too early to do that.
I've tried convincing all Committee Members that they should look at the Forum regularly (although my own performance in this respect doesn't help).  We all have an awful lot to do, with most people having a day job as well, and so some things will inevitably slip. Board members also spend a fair amount of time answering queries from people who have contacted us through the website - possibly the quickest way if you want to find out anything.
Anyway, thanks for your comments. I really will try to visit the Forum at least once a week from now on. And I'll try and persuade others to do the same.

Hi Tim,

Thank you for your reply.
My apologies to Gadge who, I hadn't realised, is only responsible for running the MFAB website (and doing a fine job of it), rather than being a member of the committee.
Tim, I realise the problems that the organisers of MFAB have (I should do, having been one of those organisers for quite a bit of the life of the festival and starting at the very beginning).
As you'll have realised, my concern was with  lack of information about the fringe. People were asking me about it, and I was unable to find any information to give to them. As pointed out in my original post, the Middlewich fringe is in a very unusual, if not unique, position in that it is run by the festival committee, a situation which gives the committee the option to decide to leave it to fend for itself if it so decides. And there has been speculation that this might have happened this year. I'm glad, needless to say, that the speculation has proved groundless.
I must  stand corrected over last year's Winter Warmer. The information I had was given (and received) in good faith.
The Middlewich Folk & Boat Festival, I firmly believe, is the best thing to have happened to this town in the last thirty years. It has put the town on the map, more so than any other event (and there are, now, quite a few throughout the year), so I hope you'll forgive me if I get a little defensive about it.
I wish you all the very best for a brilliant 20th anniversary festival.

I look forward to seeing details of the official festival fringe soon.

The Fringe page has now been published with up-to-date information, however the usual disclaimer applies in that changes/additions may yet be made ...

Please note that the map has been updated too, however because I lack good quality pictures of some venues on the list, it has not yet been possible to provide further information of these!

And finally, the Fringe Event Guide will be available to buy at the various venues, by the end of May.

Discussion of MFAB 2010 continues on Mudcat. And, no, it's not in the least provocative - just entertaining, helpful and friendly in the old MFAB tradition.

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=129741&messages=19

Regarding Mudcat, I note with interest that there is one member expressing disappointment that the MFAB Fringe Programme isn't more widely available, viz:


In answer, I'd like to advise that the programme has been available to buy locally for £2.50 (see previous announcement), but as an apology to those further afield (like Mo), it is the committee's view that making the programme available for purchase online would likely result in it being published widely, so it will not be available for download! You will hopefully appreciate that the income from programme sales is important to the festival and that such potential losses are unacceptable ...

As for the vagueness of the website, I'm wondering what was meant by this rather vague comment?  ;)