By Michelle Binks, organiser

It is with great sadness that I announce that DOWNSFEST will not be held again. The DownsFest ambition was to bring entertainment to the community in a festival environment supporting local acts and giving the opportunity of a ‘Glastonbury’ experience whilst raising funds for St Peter and St James Hospice. DownsFest is a self-funding scheme and was run by a core team of three, who have collectively dedicated over 3,100 hours of their own time, planning and organising the 2022 event.

In 2019, the festival ran at a loss but we decided to try once again, as well as fundraising for St Peter and St James Hospice. In 2019, we gave £1,000 to the hospice and this year we managed to raise funds to pay for a days’ nursing at the hospice. DownsFest fixed costs were over £30,000 to put on! Sadly, the ticket sales failed to cover these costs. We had some great sponsors but not enough for such a big undertaking. We did not take any payment for our time, in contradiction to some online rumours.

We did extensive research in the area and DownsFest was one of the cheapest events to attend in the locality, especially with the full day on stage performances and circus programme once inside. We have realised we have achieved something amazing with DownsFest 2022. And we got some great feedback from our festival goers this year.

I am so proud and sincerely grateful to all the help and support given by my DownsFest team: Kelly and Nick who were my backbone, and to Sarah as stage manager and Phil, music director and photographer Chris. Also, thank you to all the volunteers that helped over the two days.