Mid-somerset festival
The Mid-somerset Festival has been adapting to meet the needs of its participants for an impressive 117 years. And it still keeps going with the fresh energy each year, says
Our small city of Bath has a rich performing arts history and culture. From the Art Deco splendour of The Forum and the beautiful Theatre royal, through to pubs like The Bell Inn on Walcot Street, performances of all kinds are happening every day in Bath.
The city’s many festivals bring a flurry of excitement: the multi-arts Bath Festival features world class artists and attracts audiences from miles around. There’s also Bath Mozartfest, Bath Bachfest, and the outstanding Children’s Literature Festival, along with several smaller festivals happening all year round. It’s official: we’re pretty lucky.
One key amateur event is the Midsomerset Festival, which takes place over a 16-day stretch every March. running for more than 100 years, these days it attracts over 5,000 amateur performers of all ages and levels of achievement in music, speech and drama, creative writing, musical theatre and dance.
With a vast selection of competitive and non-competitive classes on offer, participants perform to an audience, then an expert adjudicator will discuss each performance, give detailed written feedback, and award winners in competitive classes.
The amateur competitive music festival movement gained popularity in the late 1800s, due largely to keen musician Mary Wakefield, who thought the stimulus of competition could educate and enlighten people. She believed music was for everyone, and that the “highest attainable object” was to “create the love and in consequence the demand for the greatest music, by the greatest number”.
The Mid-somerset Festival was founded in 1902 by Mildred Mansel, a local lady of influence, who was inspired following a visit to the very first Brigg Festival in North Lincolnshire the previous year. Socially well-placed to arouse interest in her pet project, she swiftly formed a committee and cajoled an array of VIP patrons. Shepton Mallet was chosen as the host town, based purely on the efficiency of its railway service. Extra trains were even laid on by GWR and the Somerset and Dorset – known fondly as the ‘Slow and Dirty.’
This inaugural festival offered 25 competitive music classes for entrants living within a 15-mile radius of Shepton Mallet. There was no entry fee, music was supplied at cost, and there were even cash prizes. The festival ended with a grand concert, featuring prize winners and a massed choirs’ performance. A sizeable venue was needed for this, and the Large Cask Shed of the Anglo-bavarian Brewery was generously loaned for the evening, after some swift reorganisation. The 1902 festival made a small profit and was hailed a success.
With costs always in mind, finding somewhere to accommodate this growing festival was challenging in its early years. It moved several times between Somerset’s market towns over the decades that followed, including Frome, Midsomer Norton, Bridgwater, Weston-super-mare and Bath, where it eventually settled for good in 1952.
All eyes were on Bath when the city first hosted the festival in 1910
- not least locally, as many feared the huge influx of children competing in choir events would disrupt the life of the city. It was held in the prestigious - but expensive - Assembly rooms, which unfortunately contributed to a substantial financial loss that year. Learning from this, cheaper venues were chosen the next time theffestival came to Bath in 1913 - namely the Pump room, the City rink (Pavilion) and the Convent schoolroom.
There’s a special quality about the Mid-somerset Festival. The commitment of those running the operation hasn’t wavered in 117 years, and the festival has dutifully taken place every single year since 1902, even through two
world wars. During the First World War, many other similar festivals either stopped completely or shut down until the war ended in 1918. Determined to push ahead, the Midsomerset Festival ran limited classes mainly for children and ladies, but there were some ‘Competitions for Soldiers,’ where the men came over from the temporary huts of Bath War Hospital to perform. Many competitors and adjudicators were unable to get to Bath at all, so entrants were limited.
The festival was similarly affected during the Second World War, but in 1941 eminent conductor Sir Adrian Boult came to present trophies. He was impressed by Bath’s resilience during such difficult times, as a Chronicle banner headline reported: ‘Sir Adrian Boult says, “Tell Nazis – Midsomerset Festival Carries On”, continuing, “If Hitler and Berliners knew the Festival was taking place as usual, I believe that this news could play its part in hastening the end of the war”.’
But the following year Bath was devastated by bombing, with three attacks causing heavy loss of life and extensive damage just two weeks before the festival was due to begin. Organisers reacted swiftly by relocating to Frome, commenting simply in the programme that: “Every competitor outside the city realises fully the reason for the transfer and sympathises with those who suffer”.
The core ethos of the festival hasn’t changed much over the years, although classes come and go in response to trends. At the very start in 1902 there were only music classes – mainly vocal and choral - with folk dancing classes added around 1907, at the suggestion of folk specialist Cecil Sharp. Recitation classes dated from 1916, and literary composition classes from 1929; dance classes were included from 2009. Music classes have evolved substantially in to the wide-ranging instrumental and vocal offerings today. In the 1970s, popularity of recorder classes skyrocketed when instruments became very cheap to produce; some classes would accommodate up to 80 competitors - all playing the same short piece! In the 1980s, instrumental tuition became more widely available in schools, then in 2000 aspiring young singers all wanted to be like Charlotte Church.
Lynne Barnes, the festival’s chairwoman for the last 12 years, speaks with enormous pride about the festival, and about the team around her who help make it all happen. These days it runs entirely without core subsidy, although the charter trustees donate the Pump Room for the showcase Bath Young Musician competition evening in November. Otherwise the festival is entirely run by volunteers, is non-profitmaking and relies heavily on sponsorship:
“The class entry fees and programme sales don’t even touch the surface of it”, says Lynne. “It costs £20,000 plus to put the festival on, and we certainly don’t take in that sort of revenue; so the shortfall is made up by sponsors, and very generous they are too, and we’re extremely grateful to them”
Some past festival participants have gone on to hugely successful performing arts careers, including actors Romola Garai and Barbara Leigh-hunt, and pianist Adam Heron (BBC Young Musician 2017 keyboard finalist). But while the festival may be an early career springboard for some, this isn’t its focus; at its heart, Lynne believes the festival presents opportunities for young people to develop life skills for the future.
“It’s been scientifically proven that the study of music improves children’s ability to learn other subjects; drama gives children the tools to communicate in a world that’s crying out for that.”
With arts funding in schools under pressure and the curriculum squeezed, Lynne believes the festival presents a welcome platform for children to demonstrate their skills, saying: “We perform quite a vital role, because what a sad world it would be without the arts”.
The Mid-somerset Festival’s legacy surpasses any one person, whether it’s founder Mrs Mansel, chairs of past generations, sponsors or well-wishers. So who is the festival for in the end? For Lynne, it’s all about the participants.
“We can be physically exhausted after a fortnight of festival, but mentally I know I am at least five years younger than when I started, because their energy and spirit is definitely catching!”
The 2019 Mid-somerset Festival runs from Wednesday, March 6 until Wednesday, March 20. Music, speech & drama and musical theatre classes take place every day during the week, as well as on Saturday March 16 at the Guildhall, Bath Citadel, the Mission Theatre and the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI), with larger events at the Pavilion, St Michael’s Without, Hayesfield School and Wiltshire Music Centre.
Entry tickets are available on the door for all events, priced at £3/free (school age children), with day/season tickets also available.
The festival office will be open throughout the festival at Bath Citadel, where details on all events will be available. Information can also be found on www.midsomersetfestival.org
Volunteers are always welcome. If you’d like to help out during the festival, contact Helen Lossi on stewards@ midsomersetfestival.org