Tag: Banter

To start with the conclusion: Humber Fest is a rather splendid new festival, located in Barton on Humber and is the kind of thing that would be great to see repeated in many more places across the country.

Let’s do the basics next: The festival is held predominantly in the Ropewalk area of Barton on Humber. I say predominantly because, although two of the venues were Ropery Hall and the Estuary Room in this regional arts centre, a couple of outbuildings were used as well – the Viking Café Bar (at the start of the Viking way) on the west side of where the Barton Haven waterway joins the River Humber and, on the east side, the stylish and modern Water’s Edge Visitor Centre.

You can see part of the main venue in the picture at the top of the article – it’s an old Ropery and I was told it was half a mile long.  From the embankment, you can see for miles in either direction, to where, as Larkin put it rather better, “The river’s level drifting breadth began / Where sky and Lincolnshire and water meet” – and where I found Morris Dancers in the car park next to this water.

Who played? Actually, that’s only part of any festival – who played and what else could I do would be even better questions?

The artists were predominantly local (ish). We had:

• Banter (“If you think that there is nothing new to hear in folk music these days listen to Banter and think again”) who have a strong element of Lincolnshire in their lineup
• Sherburn, Bartley and Sanders (“a joy to watch. Immediately on taking the stage they display an ease that comes from musicians who have a rich past and know each other well”) with a strong element of Lincolnshire / Nottinghamshire borders
• Sam Pirt, of the Hut People (“the list of artists they have worked with would grace any music festival”), with a strong Yorkshire background
• The Rye Sisters from Lincolnshire (“simply exquisite harmonies”)
• Hase Waits from Hessle/Hull (“innovative folk and traditional music“)

and so on.

There were plenty of others with a strong Lincolnshire/Yorkshire connection. I reckon I’ve counted around thirty acts, all of whom you’d be happy to pay to see in your local venue – pretty good for a new festival.

What could I do as well as listening to concerts? There were a variety of sessions: tunes, dances, writing, shanty singing. There were ceilidhs. Outside, there are walks – by the river and in a SSSI Country Park, there are playgrounds to keep the kids entertained, and you’re also within walking distance of the town centre.

When I wrote at the beginning that it would be great if this kind of thing could be repeated across the country, let me also add why. Though Humber Fest was a day-and-a-half-event entire unto itself, it seems to me to be built on a solid foundation.

I’d not been to the Ropery Hall since before Covid, but I’ve wished I lived slightly nearer because of the workshops and events I’ve seen advertised. Humber Fest 2024 included Ciaran Boyle, delicately skilled bodhran player – he does bodhran workshops at the arts centre; Sam Pirt played the accordion (“the best instrument in the world”) with unbelievably dancing fingers – he’ll be running workshops starting in September; Banter’s Tim Walker presents a Folk Show on BBC Radio Lincolnshire;  Folklincs, the ‘festival band’ who opened the final set – they play, they sing, they organise the festival etc and they appeared to be warmly regarded by all those appearing – I think everyone on the stage thanked the organisers and the sound man with what felt like a much more personal ‘shout-out’ than the usual.

Humber Fest, then, seems to me not to be a festival on its own, but a festival which is deeply embedded in the venue and in the community around it. Seems like a pretty good model for the future? Let’s forget any current gloom about festivals closing or being held for the last time. I saw something very positive in Humber Fest about running an event on a scale that was both embedded in the local area and, from the odd conversation, with the ability to attract people more widely.

Humber Fest is new. It was a cracking event that I’d be delighted to go back to next year. Fortunately for me, it’s already arranged and it’s already in my diary – July 18^th and 19^th 2025.

Mike Wistow

Hold on to this website address for next year: https://roperyhall.co.uk/2024/05/06/folklincs-humberfest/

Hase Waits – ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ – live at Humber Fest 2024: