So, I have just come back from my annual visit to my favourite folk festival, the Towersey Village Festival.
Despite the rain and slightly cold / muddy conditions, once again I had a really nice time at this fabulous, very friendly festival.
Apart from hanging out with some very nice people, hearing some amazing folk musicians and generally having a chilled time of it (and maybe having a pint of ale here and there!), here are some personal highlights:
My steampunk flag
Now in its second year, it is still working really well – I fitted some improved top lighting to it this year which acts as a ‘beacon home’ when trying to find the tent late at night!
I really love this shot as, in the background, you can see one of the wonderful Red Kites that have been so successfully saved from extinction and re-introduced into the local area:

Steampunk flag and Red Kite
The flag managed to stand its ground under the rather high winds of the weekend, even when we had a bit of an accident with a stray gazebo one night! I am a very proud father!:

Flag in Crisis!
Tim Edey’s guitar
A real highlight for me was seeing the amazing Tim Edey play three or four times across the weekend. I have been a fan of his for a very long time, but it was great to see him up close and personal – he even played my guitar for a moment or two after a workshop he gave which was great to see / hear. His guitar (an old Takamine nylon string) is one of the most beaten up things I have ever seen!! I thought my trusty acoustic had seen some action but his is out of this world – it is the only guitar he owns apparently and he had even had to glue bits of it together before the festival! Here is a ‘not very good’ shot of it – there were too many people crowding round him unfortunately:

Tim Edey's guitar
Skip finds!
As with any festival, there is quite a lot of rubbish left over at the end of it! At Towersey, the recycling is excellent of course, but I was delighted to find the following things dumped by the bins!
The bottom item is a fold away camping table / seating, that literally has just lost a few bolts from some of the limbs. Although I was delighted to find it, I am slightly incredulous that someone would discard such an item for such a simple breakage – I realise they couldnt’t fix it there and then, but surely taking it home to fix in The Shed wouldn’t have been too much of a hardship!? Rant over…

Skip finds!
The tubes at the top of the photo are bits from a broken aluminium gazebo – I am guessing another victim of the high winds! There are so many struts broken on this item I can forgive the people who threw it out – however there is lots of lovely scrap material there that I can put to good use. Hoorah!
Flag throwing
No, I’ve no idea what it is either but these guys were great!:

Flag throwing
Beer
Finally, here is my trusty tankard – I am such an Old Folkie!! I have even fashioned a carrying / hanging device for it this year from two carabiners (which you can’t see in the photo unfo) but which seemed to work really well:

Beer and tankard!
So, home now for a warm shower and a dry bed – bliss (but looking forward to the 2012 Festival already!)
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