Westbury Festival to go ahead this summer

ORGANISERS of the Westbury Festival have confirmed that this year’s festival will go ahead, moving to a new month of July, instead of the traditional September/October.  

There were concerns that the festival would be unable to go ahead this year due to a lack of volunteers. Now, organisers are planning nine days of activities and events, to take place this summer, from Thursday 20th July until Saturday 29th July.

Chair of Westbury Festival, Ian Cunningham said, “This year’s festival has been shortened to reflect our reduced team of volunteers, and we are holding it slightly earlier, in the summer, which could give us the opportunity to do more outdoor activities.

“The debate to move the festival happens each year and in fact the only reason we set the original date of late September/October was because Matravers used to be a major contributor and many events took place in the school. It’s been a few years since Matravers have been involved.

“The shorter format reflects the reality of a much-reduced committee; stalwarts have got older, moved away and, in common with many groups, we have found it hard to get volunteers who can commit the time throughout the year that putting on multiple events requires. We still get generous ad hoc support during the festival, but the festival dates themselves are the tip of the iceberg in terms of effort. Some bigger towns pay staff to organise their events, but Westbury has always been organised by unpaid volunteers.

“We are also trying to increase our impact by providing our support to other events. This year, we again hope to provide music at a Westbury Festival stage for the Soapbox Derby, and we have been instrumental in getting the exciting new Countryville event (with the Wurzels) off the ground, which aims to provide a super event for Westbury and the area, as well as raising much-needed funding for the Westbury and Warminster Youth Club.

“I have been chairing the festival for 10 years now and I had just about convinced myself to stop last year – but a couple of old friends of the festival persuaded me to do one more, to try and see if we could sign up some new blood, so here we go again.

Could you perform at the Westbury Festival?

“If any group wants to provide an event (arts, crafts, music, talks) we are interested, but they really must be able to support themselves. The festival will provide publicity through our website, Facebook, brochure and general promo, and ticket sales if needed (we take no money other than our providers processing fees for non-commercial events). You will need to provide, photos, descriptions, and volunteers to run your event.

“We also may not be able to support events which clash in terms of date and type with our own events. We can by negotiation and committee agreement offer to underwrite some costs for appropriate events, but we need to know your details before the end of March.”

If you are interested in providing entertainment, or you would like to run a talk or hold a craft session, please get in contact with Ian on chair@WestburyFestival.org.uk