Ramsgate Front Festival 2014

New event for Ramsgate.  Large turnout, particularly on the sunny and warm Sunday, when most of the town seemed to be down by the beach.  Plenty of great music both on the main stage and in the dance tent.  Particularly enjoyed the latter - took me back to the good old days of the original rave scene, 1988-91.  Only without the inevitable police raid ;)

The weather was hit and miss.  Heavy rain on Saturday gave way to pleasant sunshine and pretty much the whole of Sunday was nice, and this was reflected in the huge turnout.  Monday was damp, dull and cold - and the number attending was predictably well down as a consequence.

Wasn't able to cover as much of the event as I'd have liked.  But what I saw, I liked a lot.  Would be extremely surprised if the Front Festival doesn't return next year, given the success of this one.

Ramsgate Front Festival - Saturday (91 pics)

Ramsgate Front Festival - Sunday (115 pics)

Ramsgate Front Festival - Monday (80 pics)

Broadstairs Folk Week 2013

I say 'week' but I only put in a couple of hours over the weekend, on the Sunday.  Mostly because the place is so horribly packed that attempting to get shots of anything is a nightmare.  It's a shame because the Saturday always sees a huge number of morris sides dancing but this time round I decided to head to Hastings for the carnival.

The weekday entertainment was pretty good.  Various morris teams did the full stint, including Madcap, Dead Horse, Royal Liberty, the Rising Larks & the motley Allsorts Morris, which is comprised from various members of other sides.

After an absence of a year, Gap Theatre Company returned to Broadstairs with their Seaside Variety show, with a slightly different line up to last time.  As before, the shows were promoted in chalk at various points around the town.

The standard of entertainment on the bandstand was decent.  Always nice to see the naughty osses again.  Assorted bands and dancers appeared, including Tap & Sync, Tanglefoot and an excellent Welsh team whose name I constantly forget.

The weather was mostly fine.  Only a heavy downpour on the Friday put a dampener on a pleasant week, but the rain cleared for the dance finale on the bandstand.



Broadstairs Folk Week 2013 (471 pics)

Broadstairs Big Weekend 2013 - Dancing Queens

Another world record attempt - this time with Hairspray as the theme.  Unfortunately, many had evidently never seen the film and so the number of suitably attired folks was down on previous years.  But still, the sun shone and everyone had a great time.  The afternoon was rounded off with a superb set from the Interseptors on the bandstand.



Dancing Queens 2013 (87 pics)

One Billion Rising, Canterbury

Happened upon this flashmob event while having a wander round Canterbury.

One Billion Rising, Canterbury (50 pics)

Love

 Is irrational

Is a commercial opportunity

 Makes people dance in puddles

Can sometimes... 

...come along just when... 

...you least expect it 

Costs £4 from Waitrose 

Is for fools 

Love is...

Tenterden Folk Festival 2012

Again, decent bit of luck with the weather, some sun on both days.  Didn't stop long on either the Saturday or the Sunday but the standard of entertainment seemed good.  Think I was a bit morrised out by this stage of the season, having snapped morri seemingly endlessly for five months ;)

Tenterden Folk Festival 2012 (110 pics)

Hop hoodening 2012, Canterbury

Heralding the start of autumn...not that we actually had a summer in 2012...


Hop hoodening 2012 (77 pics)

Herne Bay Festival 2012

I was in Hernia Bay on the hottest day of the year.  The opening Saturday of the festival provided the one (and, I think, only!) instance of the temperature hitting 30C in what was mostly an abysmal summer of cold winds and rain.

Once again, HB put on an excellent series of free events over the course of 10 days.  Highlight for me was the manic rock band, The Eyes, who put on an amazing balls out (not literally) performance.

Herne Bay Festival pt 1 (90 pics)

Herne Bay Festival pt 2 (90 pics)

Herne Bay Festival pt 3 (95 pics)

Maidstone Mela 2012

The sun shone and the temperature soared as the colourful Maidstone Mela celebrated its 10th anniversary with a great day of events.

Part 1 (100 pics)

 

Part 2 (113 pics)