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home » festivals » Wychwood Music Festival » Wychwood Music Festival 2010
Justin Fletcher aka Mr Tumble is the highlight of the weekend for many youngstersWychwood 2010 reviewMonday 14th June 2010 Our Sunday is kicks off with the breakfast of kings. All food from our group is piled into the middle and a Ready, Steady, Cook type of challenge is issued. Between our happy band of campers we amass bacon, eggs (scrambled and fried), sausages, tomatoes, smash browns (yes, hash browns made of smash) and baked beans.
So, at 11:00 on a Sunday morning, the main arena is about as busy as I've ever seen it. Justin comes on and wows his fans with renditions of 'Jelly on a Plate', 'The Grand Old Duke Of Walk' and 'Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes' (Our morning workout session). His energy and non stop smile, together with an amazing array of voices and characters make him a hit with our youngest (who is 4). He pulls a couple of kids out of the crowd and builds a sketch with them as well as cajoling the crowd into singing 'Happy Birthday' to another child in the crowd. Justin is obviously going to be the highlight of a fair few weekends. After Justin's departure from the stage, we're invited to go to a 'meet Justin session' in the kids' field. The queue is soon quoted to be about a two hour wait so we decide to have a wander in search of food. A few changes have been made to the site arrangement. Some of the food stalls have been separated off to the concrete area between the main arena and the campsite. I'm not sure how successful that decision is on the part of either the stall holders, or the punters. Getting food means a bit of a trek and it isn't the right environment to sit around having a chat. However, there is a good choice available, and reasonably priced. It does feel sadly empty though. Plenty of alcohol is on offer in the main arena and a rather tucked away tea shop. The presence of the Tea stall with the lovely red tea posts provides some welcome respite from the hot sun and a place to sit and watch the world go by briefly.
We make a brilliant discovery when we take a trip down to the RSPB stand during a quiet moment. What we find are three delightful guys – Vince, Steve, and Chris – who aren't just really knowledgeable, but have the gift to entertain, and inspire, and encourage. Vince's drawings keep our boy colouring for the whole evening. We make several subsequent visits and come away full of fun bird facts, information on how we can help, several badges, and the wish to be more involved. Back on the main stage, Kila are a real treat. It's our first encounter with the Irish band and what a delight. Their Celtic roots shine through in Bodhran beating foot bouncing upbeat numbers and are contrasted in haunting Gaelic lyrics over spine tingling delicate instruments. It is clouding over though and a real downpour seems imminent. We collect all of our things and head for the big top. The downpour arrives and is accompanied by hail, lightening and a real monsoon type downpour. Rook and The Ravens are playing in the big top and wondering what has caused this huge and sudden increase in popularity.
A trip to the loo with out daughter brings a surprise visit to the Big Top after she hears some music and remarks "That's beautiful, can we see what it is?" We only get in for the last song of a band called The Geees and we so wish we'd seen the whole set – what we do catch is amazing – a variety of instruments such as drums, trumpet, and even bagpipes as well as some very enthusiastic dancing on stage! I defy anyone to listen to their music and not to dance. It seems their misfortune, and everyone else's to be on at the same time as Ade Edmondson on the main stage as it was pretty empty in there and they deserved so much more. After dancing madly at the front I make a very serious note to myself to get hold of their CD. The South are obviously no longer beautiful and they're not really my cup of tea so I play catch with the boy but yet again this weekend, another band who amazes me with their back catalogue. Alison Wheeler and Dave Hemmingway on vocals belt out a greatest hit set and while they play through it, I wonder how many other bands could string that many songs together that are so instantly recognisable.
It's been a fantastic weekend! There have been no cries of "I'm bored", from our children. How could there be with so much going on around them? With the time available, we can barely scratch the surface. We stop to buy discounted tickets for next year on our way out. There is no way we're missing out on Wychwood 2011. Bring it on!  review by James Tayler photos by Karen Williams / Andy Pitt / Zelah Williams
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