Tag: rowdefest

Images by Hans Shell, Ruth Wordley, Helen’s PolarPix and Bird is the Word

If you’re going to write on a subject you must research it, but if you’re going to write well about it you need to get involved in order to understand the details often hidden to outside observers….

I learned this a year into creating Devizine, when I decided to hold an anniversary gig. Event organiser Dean Czerwionka basically held my hand through it, as I hadn’t a Scooby-Doo of the immensity of variables involved. Since then, I’ve dug myself deeper into the practical, to understand those obstacles and overcome them, so when being critical, I’m aware of how much work goes into putting events on.

Did you seriously buy that baloney?! Really, I’m an attention-seeking party animal who loves to showcase, whenever feasible, the talents of those I spend hours tapping my keyboard to review, then steal all the credit for it! The whole balancing on a learning curve stuff is only a bonus ball! But it is a delight, whenever the opportunity arises, to witness the actualities of my labour, and one such opportunity occurred yesterday, a short walk from my home.

Rowdefest happened Saturday in my village, an idea to retain aspects of a traditional fete yet modernise it to reflect a mini-festival, in which I had to get my foot in the door of.

Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, but for myself and the committee, Rowdefest 2025 started months ago, with tea, cake and planning at Barbara’s house. Then, an amount of WhatsApp messages, a Facebook chat coordinating the band’s specs with Simon Stockley, the solo sound engineer worth an entire team of professionals.

Then there’s the mountains I didn’t climb; Clare’s tribulations to provide a bar, Liz’s organisational skills to provide food vans, sponsors and collect raffle prizes, Kirsty creating a book stall, Geraldine and Angie tying things together, tea, cake and a photo exhibition in the church, chairperson Sue binding our meandering meetings into some kind of order, and so much more from many villagers and parish councillors mucking in, till the point on Friday I was driving a milk-float down Rowde Court Road with a huge tent on it and it all suddenly felt real!

Event organising with a team is wrought with disagreements, problem solving, worries which drag you to examine speculating weather apps daily, and fingers-crossed assurances everything will be alright on the night….thankfully it was, so Rowde was blessed with a hugely successful, beautiful occasion. An equally huge thanks and congratulations must go to all involved in its making, but none so much as our chief, Barbara. Even if one of them was me, I still reserve the right to report on it, for there is no flattery necessary, feedback from others gives me the confidence to say this was as fantastic as I perceived it as!

For me personally, it was all about community merriment, and of course, the entertainment. Under the premise we wanted lively bands I took to organising a lineup consisting entirely of tried and tested locally sourced talents, and calling in a few favours! Opening the event then, the Devizes Jubilee Morris Dancers arrived, did their thing literally with bells on, and got the blossoming crowds engaging in a final routine.

Between the two Morris dancing sections, Mat Fucci of Fucci Fit teased the crowds with a workout, and under the beating sun they got as physical as Olvia Newton-John in 1981, or near to it!

Then the live music started with my wildcard, the experimental imaginations of music scholar and tutor, Andrew Hurst. With exceptional bassist Lucianne Worthy, they whisked the audience through multi-instrumental tangents, wonderfully.

Usually a headline act next, and it was only 3pm, with the crowds still on our village’s own delicious Rowdey Cow ice cream rather than ciders! Wiltshire’s finest indie-pop darlings, Talk in Code kindly pepped it up, making a pitstop on their way to Swindon’s Castle venue. Blasting their eighties pop flavoured originals gorgeously across our small playing field was an indicator this was going to go off rather different from your average village fete!

That was my doing, and apologise if it came as a shock to some sensitive residents. What attendees didn’t witness was me, once being informed about their complaints, slightly sulking in guilt behind the scenes. Yes, what started as a village fete had now gone full-blown festival, which I believed was the intention and well advertised as such. My resolution was, other than gorging on biscuits, that, in times like this, we have to go with the majority. As the huge crowd gathered, of all ages, appeared to be lapping it up, dancing and cherishing every moment, coupled with the expressions of delight I witnessed on the faces of some disabled children in wheelchairs when I held the gate open for them, well, they counteract a billion complainers for me, and I’m certain there was far, far fewer of them than that!

Talk in Code shines like a beacon to everything dedication can achieve on our local circuits, and their reputation builds with every appearance; I was overjoyed to see them, as, like anyone they meet, they’ve become my friends. The second act tends to be more modest with their skills, but The Sarah C Ryan Band will always be one of my most favourite bands. They deliver a sublime melodious panache in style and sound, the kind I liken to Fleetwood Mac, but my daughter suggested Florence and The Machine; either works.

Through cooler originals and the odd cover, Sarah and her band held the crowd spellbound, after wondering if anything would equal Talk in Code, now they were assured I had many more tricks up my sleeve!

WIth the crowd simmered, time to allow Thieves to do their thing. Semi-acoustic vibes, I’d go out on a limb and suggest this is the finest Americania you’ll find around these waters. Authentic bluegrass to rootsy blues, this wonderfully accomplished four-piece vocal harmonise on a level which left our unsuspecting attendees around the hay bales spellbound and those in the know nodding impressively. It was the set to end all sets, setting the scene to bliss, as I wandered receiving everyone’s approval, but I had one more band yet to introduce.

Given the chance, Talk in Code might’ve headlined, safe in the knowledge of what they will deliver. Despite knowing front-girl Chrissy Chapman for many years, and fondly reviewing her vocal collaborations on drum n bass tunes, when she put together Burn The Midnight Oil I met with the original lineup to interview them and hear a little rehearsal, but regrettably, I still hadn’t had the opportunity to tick them off my must-see list.

Okay, so, I took a chance here, suspecting they’d be good, and heard all the good reports, but I didn’t begin to imagine just how good. Burn the Midnight Oil totally rocked the finale, with fantastic originals slipped unnoticed into a set of covers, they made the perfect end to the day. Dressed in a divine white dress of sentimental value to Chrissy, she took her accomplished band and the audience on an elevated hour plus expedition of bluesy rock which no one wanted to ever come to an end. It was total and utter dynamite!

Alannah Myles’ Blue Velvet rang out across our playing field, as we gathered the committee and volunteers to be cheered before an encore. Chrissy has a confident stage presence. Her interactions with the audience were so professional, I had to take a double-look to check if it was still my dear friend up there!

But, that’s the magic right there, to take our talented locals and celebrate their skills as they deserve to be celebrated, allow them to shine with the freedom of expression to deliver works they’ve written and composed, disperse them with classics if they wish to, and introduce the quality of local talent to audiences which may not have the opportunity to follow our local live music scene. That was my objective, as that is alway my objective, and I thank the Rowdefest committee for allowing me to do that in my own village, rather than hiking up Dunkirk Hill again, or trekking further afield; Bradford-on-Avon had a town music festival on, at a level our village couldn’t compete with, but those at RowdeFest wouldn’t have cared at that point; it was magical.

Okay, I’m still at one thousand feet about what we accomplished yesterday, but I don’t believe time will water my excitement down. This should go down in the village history books, and if not, it will always be remembered by me. Again my sincere thanks goes to all involved, the committee, the attendees which included MP Brian Matthew, and our media friends Bird is the Word, Peggy-Sue Ford and Alan Watters of our village magazine, but especially the acts and Simon, who came to my rescue; thank you all, for your time, dedication and for superbly rocking my village! 

---