Top acts sign up for festival in suburbs
A BRAND new festival will be taking over Abbotsfield Park in Urmston later this month - and the line-up’s looking pretty impressive.
Festival 41 features a massive bill of names, from comedy and music, as well as a children’s area and dance performances.
The festival will begin on Saturday June 30, with a day full of comedy.
The first big headliner to be announced is TV favourite Nish Kumar, a regular on panel shows such as QI and 8 out of 10 Cats.
Also performing on the Saturday will be rising star Chris Washington, who has been labelled the next Peter Kay, and Danny McLoughlin, who’s supported Sarah Millican and Sean Lock on their tours.
Sunday, July 1, will be all about the music. Scouting For Girls will headline the second day of the festival, along with BBC2/BBC 1Xtra DJ Trevor Nelson, and local musicians The Rainband.
The event has been created by Carla Speight, a freelance photographer and single mum who lives in Urmston.
After working in the entertainment industry for years, she says she spotted a need for a community-focused, accessible festival in the area.
There’s a big emphasis on making sure the open-air festival is inclusive and fully accessible, with wheelchair access throughout the site, sign language interpreters, facilities for those with additional needs, and a sensory zone for autistic people, as well as a ‘pass out’ system that will allow festival-goers to re-enter the festival site if they need to leave.
That means if the noise of a live music event becomes too overwhelming, or you just want to nip out for any reason, you are free to come back in again later - not a luxury most large festivals allow.
There’s a children’s area too, open only on the Sunday, which will have dance performances and workshops.
Kids can learn to make slime, dance, perform stand-up comedy, and master a few magic tricks too, thanks to local groups.
Throughout the weekend, there’ll be a luxury VIP area, which will include a viewing area, food and drink, luxury toilets, and some surprise celebrity guests.
Carla hopes that the festival will bring together all the best bits of larger festivals and make them more accessible for the community that she loves.
“I am a proud Urmston girl and want to give Urmston the best weekend they’ve ever seen,” she said.
“There are lots of plans to support and promote local businesses to put Urmston on the map.
“It’s not been easy to set this up but it will definitely be worth the last nine months of hard work.”
Tickets are on sale now priced from £35 from festival41.co.uk. Children aged four and under go free.