News

We were all disappointed when we had to cancel the 2020 Nailsworth Festival. However, it does mean that we will have longer than usual to plan the 2021 festival and to make sure it provides a fitting community celebration once we have returned to something closer to normality. We are confident that we can do this and have been cheered by the enthusiasm of this year’s planned performers to come and contribute to our festival in 2021. The dates next year are  22nd – 29th May. In the meantime, please stay safe and stay healthy.

We have issued the following press release:

Following recent government guidance the Nailsworth Festival Committee has decided to cancel the 2020 Nailsworth Festival. 

The committee met on Monday 16th March and reluctantly made the decision to pull out of the Festival, as a result of latest government guidance for people to avoid unnecessary social contact over the coming months. The committee would like to thank all Festival supporters and sponsors and to reassure people that the Festival will return 22nd-29th May 2021.

We are all very sad about this outcome but we are reassured by the fact that it will play a part in holding back the virus and that we are protecting the long-term survival of the festival.

STOP PRESS

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And here’s what appeared in the February edition of the Nailsworth News:

Nailsworth Festival
16th-24th May 2020

The Committee are currently finalising the line-up for the 2020 Nailsworth Festival and most of  the events have been agreed. So here is a taster of what is to come. As ever, the Festival will kickoff on Saturday with free entertainment and market stalls in the town centre. Evening events will run across the week with the welcome return of the Sacconi Quartet, but this time with the addition of soloist Freddy Kempf. We have some interesting ‘in conversation’ events setup: one with Rod Hansen, the Chief Constable of Gloucestershire Police and another with Festival Patron, Sue Limb, discussing her work with BBC Radio. Chloë of the Midnight Storytellers returns to the Festival, celebrating 20 years of telling tales for grown-ups. There will be drama with Jenny Wren Productions presenting “Bletchley Girls”and finally for fans of country blues, Sadie and Michael Roach are performing together at the Festival, following  of their album “Tryin’ Times”. If you would like to become involved with the Festival or explore sponsorship options, please contact the Committee using the following email: [email protected]

A full programme of activities will be published in future editions of Nailsworth News and on the Festival website:  www.nailsworthfestival.org.uk. You can also follow the Festival on Facebook and Twitter.

Fun was had by all on Festival Saturday. Here are just a few images which we hope capture some of the atmosphere. Many thanks to all the performers who contributed to the entertainment and to the enthusiastic audience.

There are pictures from several recent festivals on our Gallery page.

We have now opened booking for 2019. Please see our booking page for details of how to book.

The line-up for the 2019 Nailsworth Festival has now been finalised. As ever, the Festival will kick off on Saturday with entertainment and market stalls in the town centre. There will be a wide variety of musical acts appearing in the evenings during the Festival. These include: the Real People, an indie rock band; the Elias String Quartet; country blues from Brooks Williams and opera from Opera Anywhere. There will be talks from Sabet Choudhury of BBC Points West and John Bradshaw, a world expert in animal behaviour. On the second Saturday there will be the welcome return of the Lip Service Touring Company, with a new production.

The full programme of activities will be published on this website soon and in future editions of Nailsworth News. (Update: as of March 2019, the full programme is available.)

Just a short message from the Webmaster here …

Well, we are all done-and-dusted for 2018, apart from the John Furnival Exhibition which continues until mid-June. The festival committee will be meeting in a few weeks to review this year’s festival and formulate plans for next year, so, if you have any suggestions for events at future festivals, now is the time to put them forward at [email protected]

We expect the 2019 festival to take place in the week leading up to the late-May bank holiday weekend.

We were pleased to see so many people at this year’s festival events, especially on sunny Festival Saturday when there was the alternative attraction of a Royal Wedding taking place. There are pictures on our Gallery page.

We originally posted some preliminary images here, produced “on the hoof” on the day.

However, we now have a much better selection from this year’s Festival Saturday on our Gallery page.

 

Each year we publish photographs taken at the festival, mainly at the open-air events on Festival Saturday. We have now converted some of these galleries to a more smartphone-friendly form

Festival Saturday 2017

Festival Saturday 2016

More on our Gallery page.