Festival is off but it will return

The county's most prestigious summer music event usually runs over the August Bank Holiday weekend at Lydiard Park, with a classical extravaganza of Proms-style music and a pop day called Party in the Park that includes top pop acts, old favourites and new bands.

The show is now postponed to August 2004 due to the withdrawal of promoter Eddie Sharpe of Heaven On Earth Promotions.

Mr Sharpe pulled out in late 2002 leaving the new promoters, Aurora Promotions Ltd and organisers TAO Productions with little time to secure both sponsorship and major headline artists.

It had been hoped that the Party in the Park could take place on the alternative date of Saturday, September 6, with Swindon Council having given its full backing, but it was not to be.

Andy Cotton, from TAO Promotions, said: "Everybody is still on board and this gives us time to start planning the festival before Christmas.

"In Wiltshire we have always done it right and time was dragging on.'' Mr Cotton promises that for next year he will be chasing the biggest bands.

He said: "It has not hurt Glastonbury Festival to skip a year. We will be back and it will be all systems go for next year."

Heaven on Earth Promotions had signed a deal last year to keep the summer pop and classical music extravaganza at Lydiard Park until 2004.

But in May this year, the Evening Advertiser revealed that records from Companies House, the Government body which registers company information, showed that Heaven on Earth filed for liquidation on November 15, 2002.

When the company was wound up the contract was cancelled.

It was estimated that the festival, organised by Mr Sharpe, cost between £400,000 and £500,000 to stage.

Major sponsors of the 10-year-old festival, Swindon Council, GWR-fm and the Evening Advertiser are continuing to back it.

Coun Fionuala Foley (Con, Old Town and Lawns), lead member for Swindon Services, said: "We are very sorry to hear that the promoters are not going to be able to save the music festival at Lydiard Park this summer after all.

"We have been through a number of discussions all to no avail. However, I do hope that the promoters can bring it back very soon.''

Last year almost 30,000 people attended the two concerts with 10,000 music fans turning out for the Classical Extravaganza with Bobby Davro and Kenny Lynch and 17,000 for the Party in the Park, headlined by boy band A1.

Other artists who have appeared at the festival over the last few years include Steps, Liberty X, Dane Bowers Mis-Teeq, The Drifters, 10CC, Sam Cook, Tony Hadley, Suzi Quatro, Blue, East 17, Jimmy Somerville, and Joan Armatrading.

Trevor James, area programme controller for GWR-fm, said: "We are delighted to hear that the festival is returning next year and fully understand the decision to freeze it for 2003. The festival has grown into the largest in the region and GWR-fm will continue to support the event as a major sponsor.''

Coun Judith Peppitt (Lib Dem, Freshbrook and Grange Park) welcomed the news that it will return next year and said the council should do more to encourage people into the town.

She said: "It's good news the event will go ahead next year because it is the kind of activity we need in Swindon, it's very popular.

"Lydiard Park is gaining a reputation for staging successful outdoor events. This weekend it's hosting Shakespeare plays, and we need more things like these.

"Maybe if people came into Swindon we could also encourage them to visit the Steam Museum."

Pop promoter Paul Gray of Swindon based PM Music Management said: "This is important for the town, you only have to look at past concerts to see there is a market.

"You need to get big acts to make concerts like this work, and to be honest the biggest problem in Swindon is that it doesn't have a good indoor venue."

"We need somewhere that can host wrestling one week and then rip out all the seats and have a big pop concert the next."

POTENTIAL PANEL ALTHOUGH WE HAVE RUN A SIMILAR ONE BEFORE

FOR MORE than a decade thousands of Swindonians flocked through the gates of Lydiard Park at the August Bank Holiday to hear some of the biggest names in pop and classical music.

Steps, Liberty X, Dane Bowers and Mis-Teeq are just some of chart-topping names that have graced the festival in recent years.

For the past two years the pop festival was headlined by boyband A1, who came in at short notice in 2001 to replace 5ive, who split up days after pulling out.

Last year a giant Orbit stage was put up, 21.2 metres wide and 15.7 metres high.

It had a lighting rig with 44 moving heads on the roof, 268 coloured lights and 70 moving lights on the stage, with laser style search lights behind the stage.

Last year's classical concert featured singer and comedian Bobby Davro and singer Kenny Lynch paying tribute to the Rat Pack backed by the English Symphony Orchestra.

The scale of the event was reflected in the ticket prices, which were £20 for the classical concert and £22 for the Party in the Park.