Sur Les Docks from Dunkerque are confirmed to play the raucous opening gig of the Folkfest this year on Thursday 1st September at the Ritz Social Club (home of the Ritz Acoustic Club). Click here for a taster of their music and some videos

This years Sixth Annual FREE Folkfest will be taking place between 1st - 4th September 2011. Get this date in your diaries now, and get some accommodation or camping booked to make sure you don’t miss out on the fun. It promises to be the best yet, with organisation well underway and many bands and acts booked.

A big thanks to Mike Price for a few pictures of his Folkfest experience and a few bonus images from Chris Parratt of CP-Photoimages

Check them out by clicking here

Follow this link to get pictures and a report of the weekend from Thursday to Sunday from the excellent burnham-on-sea.com. Thanks to Mark Newman of B-O-S.com, who always gets there first with the news, and is a great supporter of community events such as ours.

This years who’s who guide (a simple two page sheet detailing who each of the acts are and where they played) can be downloaded by clicking on the image below.

Download the 2010 Who’s who

Check out the very wonderful acts that played in 2010!

The 2010 schedule is now available for download
Download the 2010 schedule
Most of acts below have websites which can be accessed by clicking on their names, if you want more information about them or would like a snippet of their music.

Show of Hands
Hobo Jones & The Junkyard Dogs
London Philharmonic Skiffle Orchestra
Dambuskers
The Roots Union
Hedgepig
Pyrates!
Bag Of Rats
FOS Brothers
Rick Payne
Pamela Wyn Shannon
Stompin’ Dave Allen
Rosie Eade
Three Sheets T’Wind
The Claque
Koto-Go!
Surfin’ Turnips
Phil King
Coracle
The Ceili
The Cherry Pickers
Gangreen
McDowell
A Parcel Of Rogues
The Sea Kings
Elliot Hall
Mississippi MacDonald
Mireille Mathlener
Davey Malone
The Trisexual Winkers
Green & Bushell
Insomniac Jack
Scattered Few
The Ely Plains
Eddy Johns
Boxcar Aldous Huxley
y’Strel’s Band
Hattie Hatstar
Drew Crow Star & The New Voodoo Dolls All-Star Band
Dub Liberators
Juey
Gareth Austin
Mervin
Pink Froot
Tim Fardon & Rowan Ensoll
Cole Stacey
Lobby Lud & The Luddites
Broken Road
Sloe Jam
Stanton Delaplane
Richard Craine
Richie Keedwell
Venezuela
David Chave
Rustique
Andrew’s Sister
Steve Brown
Gary French
Kyotie
Sally Pritchard & Kathy King
The Wayciders
Bouncing Biscuit
Benn Banks
Squirrel Catapult
Bruce Hudson
Bright’n'High
Nick Elswood & Friends
Dave Gibbon
Rob Carey
Neil Biddiscombe
Dave “Busker” Harris

To help us promote the Fifth Free Annual Burnham-on-Sea Folkfest, download a poster and stick it up in a prominent (and legal) place. By all means, send us a photo of yourselves with the poster and where you have displayed it, and we may just put your photo up on the site …. I could see this turning into a competition!

Download a 2010 Folkfest poster

Congratulations to committee member Linda Bond, who led The newly formed Coastal Cloggers to their first public performance at the recent Ritz Acoustic Club Open Mic Night on Thursday 3rd June 2010. We are really proud to support Linda, her clogging side and the fabulous musicians, who are demonstrating one of the spin-offs of organising a Folkfest. A few years ago, I am sure that most of the inhabitants of this area had never seen an Appalachian Clogging side perform. However, our insistence in including a full dance programme to the fest every year, has created the desire to get a new local side together, and with the continued hard work of Linda, the Musicians and all of the loyal participants, they now have a side to be proud of. Look out for them at the Folkfest and give them your support. If you would like to get involved, they meet and practice on Monday evenings at the Baptist Church Hall, College St. Burnham-on-Sea at 7.00pm, so get along and have a go. Much more fun than going to the gym!

The Folkfest committee are pleased to announce that we have now received two grants; one from the Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge Town Council totalling £1,100 and a further grant from the Somerset Community Foundation totalling £750 towards the running of the Folkfest. We would like to publically thank both organisations for their generosity and help in enabling the Folkfest to grow and continue into its fifth year. As the festival grows, so do the infrastructure costs, as we strive to ensure that we provide a safe and secure environment for everybody, and despite considerable fundraising by the committee, we could not exist without some external financial help.
Following on from the successful Strawberry Line Sponsored Bike Ride, which raised in excess of £250, the Crooks Peak Sponsored Walk will be happening on June 20th. Sponsorship forms are available from GC Music or from Ted Heath on Ritz Acoustic Club evenings. The five mile uphill walk to the top of Crooks Peak is designed to be achievable by most levels of fitness. This will be followed by Music at the Knoll Inn at E. Brent. So get a form, get some sponsorship and enjoy another Fun Sunday out with the Folkfest Committee and others.

Thanks to the generosity of landlord Danny Pearce , the many acts who played for nothing or basic expenses, and the 250 people who paid £5 to come and enjoy the event, we managed to raise over £1,000 towards the running of this years Folkfest.

It really was a great day, with a capacity crowd, and fabulous music from David Chave, Bag of Rats, Tim Dean & Paul Stradling (Tri-Sexual Winkers), Vermin, Ginger Hitlas, Tim Fardon & Rowan Ensoll, Nick Elswood, Chris Elswood, Debbie Beckett, Rosie Eade with Davey Malone, Gangreen and McDowell.