Festival strikes the right chord for charity (From Swindon Advertiser)

Festival strikes the right chord for charity

8:06am Monday 10th September 2007 in

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THE Knott opened with Politics for Lunch, but festival visitors were already spoiled for choice between chocolate fondue and balti wraps.

The Sugarhill festival - featuring Neville Staple from The Specials and The Beat - was a sweet weekend treat of local and national bands, travelling eco-warriors and even town criers from Dorset.

Organisers had decided to dedicate one of the three main stages to Swindon talent after seeing the Shuffle music festival in July.

Forty bands played in Swindon between July 19 and 22 and collected cash for Prospect Hospice. And there was more fundraising for the charity at Warren Farm in Liddington as the bands struck the right chords.

Despite a chill in the air hundreds of people pitched up tents on the rolling hillside, boasting great views of a spiralling crop circle.

Inside the festival boundary there was everything from recycling artists Spoke in the Wheel building a wave out of tent poles, to homeopathic experts explaining the best way to heal a hangover.

And by Sunday their advice was in hot demand as revellers looked back on a lively evening featuring the Specials and a host of other bands.

Julie Maidens, 36, is a veteran of several Avebury festivals and even moved to Wroughton to be nearer the vibe.

She said: "I really like the atmosphere here, it's compact and you get the impression not too many people know about it."

Festival fans often say that in its first year a festival is bright but disorganised, the second is well run and popular, but the third has often become too mainstream.

Julie's son Travis wants to come back next year when Sugarhill is at its peak.

The seven-year-old said: "It's really fun here, there is face painting and lots of music."

There was also plenty of noise from town criers Chris Brown and Mell Gudger.

Normally they keep the peace in the Dorset village of Wimborne, but the prospect of a new festival was too good to miss.

Chris has cried at Glastonbury in the past and rocked up to the Liddington venue with a case full of vinyl records.

He said: "It's a great variety from my normal role in Wimborne, you get to visit different parts of the country and obviously meet new people."

Some of those people are old friends, having spent years following the festival circuit.

One such regular is Corky, a 37-year-old Glaswegian who refuses to use his surname.

He said: "This is a great little festival, much better than Glastonbury. There's nothing corporate here yet, it's about music and dance and friendship."