Saul Festival

[Tim Lewis]

A few photos from last weekend

 

http://www.pbase.com/timlewis/saul_2008&page=all

 

Enjoy!

 

Tim

[NBMike]

Nice Pics. I wish I'd gone but the birth of D-in Laws twins scuppered that idea.

[Chris Pink]

Well, it's too wet to get out and get on with t'woodwork so....

 

....a moan;

 

We went to Saul Canal Festival, we went late in the afternoon because I had seen the website and it said 'pay on the gate stay until late', it also mentioned a number of 2nd class but interesting folk bands on in the evening.

 

When we got there we were told by someone on the towpath gate that not only did the advertised price of £6 not get us into the folk music, that was £25 and there were no tickets. This was not mentioned on the website. I asked at the ticket office who said "we won't tell you if there are any tickets for the evening music until 6pm" and when pressed said they would be "around £16".

 

I was so disgusted with this we went off to Purton to visit Harriett instead and a walk along the Severn.

 

I support the aims of the Cotswold Canal Trust and would have happily paid £6 each for the 2 of us for the Saul Festival if they had been upfront about the prices. ie I would have turned up earlier making it a day. But on the posters and flyers, even in the programme it didn't mention the price of the evening concerts.

 

One of the reasons I don't go to Glastonbury (and others) is the proliferation of 'festival within a festival' culture with backstage entertainment for those in the inner party so even if they had been upfront about the prices i would not approve of running 2 festivals within one.

 

And £16 to see the Oyster Band and Show of Hands in a wet field.......

 

So come on Cotswold Canal Trust, be a bit more open about your prices and make up your mind whether you are running a canal festival or a folk festival or combine them properly.

[keble]

A few photos from last weekend

 

http://www.pbase.com/timlewis/saul_2008&page=all

 

Enjoy!

 

Tim

Great photos. We really enjoyed the festival this year (and the rain kept off, mostly)

Highlight for me was Terry and Monica Darlington giving a talk on the new "Narrow Dog ..." book - very entertaining speakers.

 

The talk was given on the barge Sabrina, during a howling rain squall. At one point Terry was reading a passage about waves crashing on the waterway - at that moment rain poured into Sabrina's auditorium from the deck above - very effective!

[Tim Lewis]

A few photos from last weekend

 

http://www.pbase.com/timlewis/saul_2008&page=all

 

Enjoy!

 

Tim

 

Reply To Chris:

 

I have been to several Saul events in the past so was aware of the set up but reading your post made me look at the event web site and I must agree with you, it does not make it clear that the main folk event is an almost separate event with its own charges.

 

However I would say that I think that having the two events on at the same time is a good idea. The canal event on its own is not big enough to warrant the excellent evening atmosphere. There is a brilliant real ale bar, food and ‘ethnic’ street which are shared by both the folk and canal event participants. The music in the bar makes it worth going on its own!

 

It is a shame about the weather this year though. I was at a separate event on site on the Saturday night and I can imagine that the rain made the outdoor area very miserable and the bar very crowded!

 

Tim

Edited July 9, 2008 by Tim Lewis

[Chickadee]

Bit late I know but only just plugged my camera into the computer since Saul. It was ok, not the most fun i've ever had but mostly due to the weather. The day times were great the evenings were ok. Some of the entertainment in the bar was bazaar to say the least!

 

These are all click to make them bigger...

 

[NB Alnwick]

So come on Cotswold Canal Trust, be a bit more open about your prices and make up your mind whether you are running a canal festival or a folk festival or combine them properly.

 

I have to agree with Chris on the pricing issue - we paid full whack in 2006 but were disappointed by the sound quality in the main tent. Some of the performers (Derek Brimstone and Les Barker particularly) struggled to compete with the intrusive and continuous public address announcements. This year we went down with the intention of helping and therefore did not have tickets for the main tent but, even so, we found it difficult to find out how we could obtain them and how much we would have to pay so, in the end we didn't bother and just made a donation to the Cotswold Canal Trust instead.

 

Volunteering was fun - Jane sold ice cream and I worked behind the bar. Some of the acts in the 'Drum & Monkey' bar were very enjoyable; food was plentiful and relatively cheap and almost everyone I spoke to (which from behind the bar was quite a few) said that they were really enjoying the event in spite of the rain.

 

A major disappointment was that for 'Health & Safety reasons' the pedestrian swing bridge into the R W Davis yard could not be used by the public so, unlike previous years, the boat yard was 'out of bounds' to all except those of us who were moored there. Phil Trotter had provided his own private beer tent in the boat yard with two excellent firkins of ale for us to enjoy but on the afternoon of Saturday, 5th July the wind was so strong that the tent was caught by a gust and cart wheeled into the canal (complete with the baulks of timber that had been attached to hold it down) whereupon it quickly sank to the bottom and disappeared beneath sixteen feet of water! The photograph below shows the R W Davis team looking on as the Severn Area Rescue Association display team set about trying to recover it. Phil Trotter, managing director, is the one wearing the hat! The tent was recoverd complete later in the day and re-erected so that we could finish the beer . . .

 

Edited July 19, 2008 by NB Alnwick