History of the Festival

At the time of writing, little information about the history of the festival is available.

We hope to bring you more on this subject in due course.

If you do know anything about the history of the festival, please Email the WebMaster (see links to the left).

The following fragments have been unearthed:

The Festival Logo

This was first used for the 1985 festival. It was the winner of a competition for school children won by Maria Thompson, then aged 15. She now has children of her own, and is proud that they have also entered the festival and received certificates with her logo on them.

In 2007 the logo has been modified to bring it up to date and reflect the dynamic and innovative nature of the festival.

A press cutting for 1985 indicates that the festival had a record number of competitors – 2000, an increase of 200 on the previous year. The Bedford Room of the Barnfield Theatre had to be booked for an extra day and an additional adjudicator appointed to cope with the large number of vocal and choral competitors.

Harp classes were introduced for the first time that year, the adjudicator being a professional harpist, Jean Price, who had once been a participant in the festival.