Donations for Stainsby Festival’s £50k fields appeal

The appeal to buy two fields gathered pace at this month’s 46th Stainsby Festival, where donations swelled the coffers to over £6,500.

Volunteers who run the festival want to buy the fields at Brunts Farm, Stainsby, to safeguard the festival’s future. Chairman Tony Trafford said: “We’ve had an amazing response from our supporters - everything from a a kid’s fiver to a thousand pounds. Seize the Day offered half the proceeds of their CD sales and a number of our performers returned fees.”I’ve been very touched by our supporters’ individual expressions of support over the weekend and by how much the festival appears to mean to so many people from so many different backgrounds.

“What keeps coming up is how much they love the way it’s run and how that’s reflected in the feel of the festival. One caterer even told me that they wouldn’t risk taking their young children to any other festival they work at but Stainsby.”

Weekend ticket sales were slightly down on last year’s figure, the Friday walk-ups increased on 2013 while Saturday and Sunday walk-up ticket sales were down due to unpredictable weather conditions.

Reflecting on last weekend’s festival, Tony said: “The Meet the Brewer session on Sunday was very popular and we’ll look for other ways to extend the scope of the festival by giving these glimpses into what people do to make it happen.”