Wickham wanderer returns

If you’ve never taken the kids to a festival before, Wickham is a great place to start and ticks all the right boxes.  We’ve just returned from a great weekend with our friend Rachel and her daughter Emily – their first festival.

We arrived Friday afternoon with the intention of setting up camp before Husband Andy arrived after work.  All us girls had to do was park the camper and put up the awning – simples.  Well it was blowing a hooley and raining so we decided to open up the bar instead and have a drink while waiting for the weather to improve.  We waited and waited and several drinks later ventured out into the elements to get on with it.  Have you ever seen two giggling women and two teenage girls trying to put up an awning in a monsoon?  I swear half the campsite was watching and having a right old laugh.  Finally Andy came to the rescue and sorted us out.

The campsite is right next to the main festival arena and included free hot showers which are a real bonus.  The toilets were kept clean all weekend with plenty of loo roll, soap and running water, though Emily still thought they were disgusting and often returned to base camp with a graphic description.

Off to the wrist band exchange where we met the friendly box office staff.  In fact all security, stewards, campsite staff and everyone we met were really friendly and helpful all weekend.

Friday night was spend familiarising ourselves with the site and trying to keep dry so we spent most of the evening inside the huge big top main stage and the ever popular Groovy Movie Picture House.

Next morning, after a very long lie-in in the quietest festival campsite we’ve ever slept in, we opened up the awning to be greeted by some very scary looking men with completely blacked out faces.  They came over to introduce themselves and to tell Andy how hilarious it was yesterday afternoon watching us girls trying to put up the awning.  It transpired that they are a great bunch of guys and girls from South Wales called The Widders.  They travel to many folk festivals in the UK and abroad performing traditional folk dances.  We spend quite some time on the campsite watching them ‘black up’, getting into their colourful purple and black costumes with magnificent feathered hats and listening to them playing and singing.

Wickham is predominantly a folk festival and there were plenty of other dance groups to watch over the weekend.  There were also plenty of Irish and Scottish bands to jig along to.  Although Wickham only has one music stage, inside a massive big top, the stage crew were brilliant and the turnaround between bands was very quick and seemingly effortless making for a constant flow of music.

The whole festival site is easily accessible for buggies and wheelchairs and is predominantly flat ploughed corn fields.  After all the rain on Friday night we were expecting plenty of mud but the ground must be well drained as the whole site remained mud free all weekend, apart from some very tiny isolated spots.

Saturday was spent soaking up the atmosphere, watching families enjoying picnics in the sunshine, children dancing with painted faces, teenagers laughing and wearing trilby hats or flower garlands round their heads and the girls doing ‘pat a cake’ in time to the music.  We had a lovely cup of tea and a slice of cake at The Tea Shop, a converted traditional red double decker bus – no Pimms or Cider bus here. Everyone was very relaxed and the vibe was good – perfect for any family.

There was plenty to do with something for everyone.  The new EA Hub, which is popping up at lots of festivals now, with the opportunity to play on the latest consoles and handhelds and all for free.  The Hand to Mouth Theatre, drum and dance workshops, Ticklish Allsorts Children’s entertainment, The Man from Story Mountain and of course the great Groovy Movie Cinema Tent.  Inside the Craftscene marquee you could make sand sculptures and paint your own plaster ornament amongst other things – at £2.50 a go this was a bit pricy, especially if you have more than one child.  It would have been nice to see one of the more ‘earthy’ craft tents, maybe run by the local Scrapstore, who make things from other peoples junk and only charge a small fee or ask for donations.  There – my whinge is over.

By early Saturday evening the urge to play some sort of musical instrument overtook me, again, and I decided to go in search of a tambourine as this is the extent of my musical talent.  Scouring the many craft, clothes, and jewellery stalls I spotted the object of my desire and for £7 became the proud owner of a lovely shiny green tambourine – for a short while until the girls pinched it.

Inside the big top we bagged our spot for the evening and saw some cracking bands.  The Men They Couldn’t Hang was one I’d wanted to catch for a while and they didn’t disappoint, with a huge following.  Next was Hazel O’Connor, that brought back some memories, Salsa Celtica and finally the great showman that is Kid Creole with his entertaining Coconuts.

The girls had a hot chocolate with whipped cream and flake on our way back to base camp which meant that I was now back in charge of the tambourine.  The Widders were sat outside singing when we got back and although I contemplated joining them I thought better of it and we all fell into bed exhausted.

Sunday was the day that we were really looking forward to as The Levellers were headlining.  After a late breakfast at camp we set off for the main arena which by now was becoming very busy.  The sun was shining and we headed into the shade of the big top.  The girls went straight down to the front of the stage and stayed there for hours.  Oh to be young again and not need the loo every hour!!!  A fantastic days music followed with 3 Daft Monkeys, Show of Hands, The Undertones, The Peatbog Faeries, one of my favourites,  and of course The Levellers.

And so another great festival comes to an end and we’re all high on the sound of bagpipes, flutes and fiddles.  The Widders are unrecognisable without their black faces and the tambourine is packed away ready for the next time.

• Earlybird tickets are now available next year’s Wickham Festival, at bargain rates. Click here for info.
• The mad Millicents are off to Bristol Balloon Festival  this weekend with 10 week old baby grandson Jayden, so watch this space.