Alchemy is a fine little festival

The beginning of the end, a sad day especially right at the end of the festival season. A day of goodbyes to friends old and new. There had been a lot of rain overnight so there were puddles about the site but generally it seemed to hold up pretty well to the deluge and it certainly didn't dampen spirits. I spent the morning looking round the craft areas and saw the painting of hazel flowers along with some hat making and drumming workshops, This festival really does have so much to do for kids and all free which is a great thing to know as a parent. Its also a particularly fine end to the festival season as its very much a festival for festival people, very grass roots and old school and that gives it its identity.

I only managed to catch 2 bands on the final day unfortunately, the first of these was Wobbly Squadron and a comment on their My Space page describes it better than I ever could as Psy Barndance. They attracted quite a crowd to the Mushroom stage for a relatively early hour on the closing day.

The other band was Mental Block featuring members of Skip Rats and playing tuneful reggae which was perfect as the Sun started to emerge from beyond the clouds. As I headed towards my tent I caught an impromptu drumming group playing near the fire circle with a large crowd gathered around them and dancers performing for the crowd.

All in all credit should go to the organisers for a fine little festival that on this showing deserves to grow and grow and seems to be building a network of friends who can only help that process. They have the site spot on and the infrastructure seems to be in place. Musically its diverse but well programmed. It can be hard at times knowing who's on when but as long as you keep your eyes on the boards around the site you can be as organised as you want to be.

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