6 – 9 August - Blind Lane, Wickham - Weekend Tickets from £150
The outskirts of historic Wickham village provide a picturesque setting for one of the safest and most relaxed festivals of the summer.
Billy Bragg has become a festival icon for his involvement with Glastonbury’s Leftfield stage but that does not mean you have to endure the slog of the UKs biggest festival to enjoy the singer songwriters unique brand of folk punk. The 57 year old will bring his politically evocative set list to the main stage with a headline performance on the Friday night, much to the delight of the 20,000 people expected to attend the four-day festival.
Other artists booked to appear include Tom Robinson; Andy Fairweather-Low and many top folk and Celtic music stars including Seth Lakeman; Eliza Carthy; Kathryn Tickell & The Side; Show of Hands; Roy Bailey; Martin Carthy; Edward II; and, from Ireland, ex-Waterboys star Sharon Shannon and Luka Bloom. World music artists include The Spooky Mens Chorale from Australia; De Temps Antan from Quebec; the world-renowned piper Carlos Nunez from Galicia in Spain; and Banjo-Vie from France.
The Wickham Festival features live music on three stages plus a host of other attractions including the ‘Groovy Movie’ solar-powered cinema tent; a digital funfair; storytelling; puppet theatre; dance displays; playbus; laser arena; Punch & Judy; shanty singers, bouncy castles and childrens entertainers. There’s a Late Night Festival Club; traditional crafts fair, exotic foods fair; real ales festival and, new for 2015, a Bedouin tent, chill-out zone, open mic stage, sessions tent, hot tubs and open-air sauna!
Wickham Festival Organiser Peter Chegwyn said that this year’s line-up is the strongest yet in the Festival’s 10-year history and ‘earlybird’ ticket sales had broken all records. “Wickham is the biggest live music with camping Festival in Hampshire and also the most friendly, relaxed and safest Festival with not a single incident of trouble last year. The Festival is believed to generate over £5 million for the local economy with people travelling from all over the world to attend.”
Full details of the Festival and the complete line-up of performers can be found on the Festival website at www.wickhamfestival.co.uk and also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WickhamMusicFestival. Wickham Festival can also be found on Twitter at @festivalwickham
Day and Weekend season tickets are now onsale from the Festival Box Office telephone 023 8071 1818 or online via the Festival website, also in person from the Ferneham Hall in Fareham; The Mayflower Theatre in Southampton; and Wickham Wine Bar in The Square, Wickham.
