Folk Festival to Return to Chippenham’s Streets

After two years of being restricted by the global pandemic, Chippenham Folk Festival returns in person this Spring with three internationally renowned headline acts among its highlights.….

Over the past five decades, Chippenham Folk Festival has become a mainstay of the local events calendar, with people travelling from destinations far and wide to sample some of the greatest British and international folk artists.

For many local residents, it is what the second May Bank Holiday weekend is reserved for. However, as with events around the world, the festival has been hit by the effects of the global pandemic. In 2020, there was no festival, and in 2021 the team could only run a pared back virtual version of the event.

This year, however, plans are in place to bring it back to Chippenham’s streets and venues to give people a much-needed lift. The festival is planned for 27-29 May 2022, so get the date in your diary.

What’s on?

A host of acts have already been booked with the line led by the three headlining artists:

Belshazzar’s Feast

Acclaimed musicians Paul Sartin (oboe, violin, swanee whistle and vocals) and Paul Hutchinson (accordion) are notorious for their superlative ability, wit, rapport and depth of experience, creating a concert to remember.

3 Daft Monkeys

With a fiery helter-skelter blend of influences from east and west, 3 Daft Monkeys inject a unique wildness into their music, producing a symphonious cacophony of styles.

Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman

Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman have long established themselves as one of the UK folk scene’s rewardingly enduring partnerships. Always bold and innovative, they mix traditional song arrangements with their self-penned material that reels from the bitter to the sweet, the wry to the sad, the political to the passive

There will be many many more exceptional acts in venues around the town during the course of the weekend.

As well as these fantastic concerts there will, as usual, be:

folk dance events
ceilidhs
family events and workshops
free events and morris displays through the high street
arts and crafts
street market.

Dedicated to traditional English dance and music

Chippenham Folk Festival Chairman Torquil Macinnes said, “not only does Chippenham Folk Festival offer an extremely high calibre of artists, but it is dedicated to traditional English dance and music.

“What sets it apart from other events is its opportunities for participation and education. It truly is a social occasion.

“It is for this reason that the global pandemic has hit us so hard. We are interactive. We need to be face to face with the people of Chippenham and beyond. I am delighted, therefore, that we are going full steam ahead to bring the event back to the streets of Chippenham in 2022.”

A crucial few weeks

As live, in-person events slowly continue to make their way back, audiences and organisers are understandably cautious. While the festival team is working around the clock to make the event happen, the next few weeks are crucial for its fate.

Torquil continued, “we have an absolutely brilliant team of organisers, made up entirely of volunteers. They are doing everything in their power to bring the festival back to the people of Chippenham and the thousands of visitors we get every year.

“However, with uncertainty around live events still rife, we do have a cut-off point by which we must have reached a certain sales target to guarantee it will happen

“With the fantastic lineup we already have, we are very confident it will go ahead, but we need to ask people to consider buying their tickets a little earlier than usual to make sure of it.”

Book your place now

Early bird tickets have already sold out for this year’s event, and tier 1 weekend tickets are on sale now. These offer a saving of almost 15% off the full ticket price.

Tickets are available at https://www.chippfolk.co.uk/tickets-2022/ and are fully refundable if the event cannot go ahead in light of any changes in the COVID-19 restrictions.

Get involved

The festival is entirely reliant on a dedicated army of brilliant volunteers all who give up their time and provide their skills and expertise to the event free of charge. There are many different ways in which you can get involved. We need: