Tag: rfowdefest

Images by Jess Worrow

A busy late spring weekend across the county, with major events from Bradford-on-Avon to Swindon, but I’m bringing quality acts I find elsewhere on my adventures into my village. Rowdefest was, again, a great success, if I do say so myself…..

Being close to Devizes, where the Arts Festival kicked off this weekend too, Rowde might not gain the traction of events in villages further away from a town, such as The Urchfont Scarecrow Festival. I believe this makes the case for a village fete even greater.

In part we’ve modernised a fete with music, but with community spirit in mind, we retain traditional elements of village fete within Rowdefest. And the fruits of our committee and volunteers’ labour paid off; this year proved it wasn’t beginners’ luck, it’s become a beloved and tremendous annual occasion.

As social media posts gather many aim at my already overinflated ego, claiming I’m the responsible adult of this baby. I confess I played a part, from organising the music to poster design, and, 6:45am found me partially resembling Wurzel Gummidge, as I lugged fifteen hay-bales from the gate to the middle of the field. Thanks for coming, if you did, but you must’ve looked around?!

From our youngest volunteer stringing up bunting to our eldest guiding traffic in and coordinating stalls. From the Parish Council helping erect the tent, and Simon, our sound engineer, going above and beyond his job, to our wonderful committee sorting red tape, legalities and other boring musts, like every event, Rowdefest takes colossal amounts of hard work from many volunteers, and the ones undertaking the most unseen tasks usually don’t receive the credit they deserve. I just attend the odd meeting to ease their biscuit quota.

Yet, aside from my biscuit munching, it was all these elements from so many which made the day. For the first year we had a sheep shearing show, alongside rides and stalls children were catered for, and at St Matthews we had tea and cake for our eldest attendees. With a raffle, tombola, and teenagers raising funds for Camp International adventures, The Mind Tree Cafe ran an affordable bar, along with Woodland Pizza and Boigers dishing out the tucker. What we find now is an annually returning audience, who’ve felt safe in the knowledge this will be a memorable day for everyone in the family.

Last year I crammed music acts in, appreciative of the many offers to play Rowdefest. This time I reduced the slight changeover chaos it caused with lesser acts. On reflection, with gaps to fill, I think, if budget allows, we should push for three acts next year. But once our wonderful Devizes Jubilee Morris Dancers had done their thing, back by popular demand, and our councillor and chair of Wiltshire Council Laura Mayes kindly opened our event in glorious sunshine, Ruby Darbyshire walked out playing her bagpipes, and I was comforted by the notion, while lesser in quantity, the quality was assured.

If there’s any similarity between Ruby and our headline band, Barrelhouse, it’s that no matter how many times I see them perform, (which I have,) I remain in awe of them. Ruby held another crowd spellbound here in Rowde, MP Brian Matthew was among many who came to me to acknowledge his amazement at how talented this young singer-songwriter is, and after an absolutely sublime two-hour show, Ruby left to do it all again in Bradford. Just wow, Ruby, you were truly perfection.

If the landscape of MantonFest abruptly populating when Barrelhouse appears has become a tradition in Marlborough, the institution’s baby sister festival Park Farm and heady nights at our Southgate are securing a similar pattern in Devizes. And this makes sense to me, for Barrelhouse are all about the blues, Devizes loves the blues, but aside those aficionados, Barrelhouse deliver blues with lively universal appeal. And that was my pitch to the committee, way back in the winter months.

Understandable was their initial concern, blues is perceived as melancholic, and they wanted lively. Grateful I therefore remain, that they took my word for it, and the proof was in the pudding, as the wide demographic ignored the temperature and got up and danced in much the same fashion as is the Mantonfest “tradition,” to Barrelhouse’s infectious sound.

A grand finale by an excellent local band, firing on all cylinders, and mirroring last year’s epic hoedown by Burn the Midnight Oil. I appreciate feedback on the chances of bands returning, Talk in Code was one, but I assure you, I’ve more tricks up my sleeve too! What 2027 will bring is undecided, but, with support from the community through the rocky road of maintaining a free event like this, this year’s fantastic and trouble-free event was so pleasant and positive, I hope Rowdefest will remain as it is, and I will continue to place my efforts into making it so, just like our wonderful committee. 

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