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Ely Folk Festival 2002 Review

by John Blackwell

One of our traders in the on site craft fair.The Seventeenth Ely Folk Festival was one of the best on record. The sun shone for the whole weekend and considering that this is still a new site for the committee everything ran remarkably smoothly.
Friday began with our letting the stage open to our music competition winners, three young people with a huge talent, followed by Brian Peters & Gordon Tyrrall, Last Night’s Fun, Christine Collister and a finale from the London Lassies. However, this wasn’t the end of the evening as we were treated to our now traditional late night ceilidh from the Wide Glide Band
Last Night’s Fun stayed with us all weekend and were to be found variously roving the eating facilities, leading sessions in the bar tent or just generally being around – thanks guys!
Saturday started gently enough with Sheila Lum’s Tai Chi in our dance marquee. However this was followed by shed loads of Morris sides being bussed into Ely centre for a processional along the High Street – I still wonder if Ely knows what hit it! This proved to be an enormously popular event with very many Morris performances, sometimes backed by the hairy, loud and distinctly dangerous looking Saor Patrol. Saor Patrol joined us all the way from Scotland; they are distinctive in their traditional costume, painted faces and loads of hair and totally unforgettable! The concerts continued through the afternoon and into the evening with contributions from, Emma Williamson, The Bushburys, Bob Fox, Peters and Tyrrall, Firebrand and Waterson Carthy. The whole day being nicely complemented by workshops, meets, story telling, the club tent and French Dance from Xim.

 

All is peaceful at the close of the day.Sunday was again a gentle start with Sheila Lum, at least for those not needing a few extra hours wrapped up in tents or caravans – for whatever reason! We saw on stage, Saor Patrol, Emma Williamson, Cross o’th Hands, Hot Tamales, the best of the club tent acts, Kevin Dempsey, The Old Rope String Band and Tanglefoot. Again, the day was complemented with workshops, meets, displays and more delightful storey telling from Heads and Tales.
As I said at the beginning, the weekend was brilliant with the best possible weather, a great new site for the EFW and many colourful traders. But, it was the people that made it – a friendly open atmosphere with plenty for the kids to do, a safe site and plenty of good music, not to mention the real ale.
Finally a huge thank you to everyone that made the event so successful, from our sponsors and Rugby and Football club colleagues through to the committee, past and present, all artists, dancing or performing and specially everyone that visited the festival. Thank you and see you in 2003!

John Blackwell
EFW Committee

Morris dancing in Ely Town Centre, now a regular and popular feature Our main marquee main stage.
A well known children's entertainer and regular visitor to Ely Folk Festival