FESTIVAL season rolls on this weekend with the first major camping event of the season – Wychwood.

Set up by a team based in Witney, this family-friendly, and avowedly ethical festival actually takes place on Cheltenham Racecourse, but features a line-up boasting many Oxfordshire names – including on its comedy stage.

The big names on the main stage this year are Buzzcocks, tomorrow; Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark on Saturday and Levellers on Sunday.

Bolton band Buzzcocks are, of course, best known for their 1978 hit Ever Fallen in Love. Still featuring founders Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle, they were a formative influence on the Manchester scene and punk in general, and remain an incendiary live act fusing punk and pop.

OMD are pioneers of the British electronic scene. Taking their cue from the likes of Kraftwerk (see below), they are among the first British band to introduce synthesisers to the charts, and are responsible for some of the genre’s classic tunes, including Electricity, Telegram, Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans) and Enola Gay.

Levellers also redefined music with their fusion of fiddle-wielding folk and punchy punk-rock. Politically-charged, they railed against the establishment, championing the environmental movement and what were once known as new age travellers. Their tune Battle of the Beanfield, which recounts a violent, politically-motivated police ambush of a peaceable group of nomadic families in the West Country is required listening.

Other names to watch out for are the ‘Bard of Barking’ Billy Bragg, Sikh drummers The Dhol Foundation, 20s-inspired Electric Swing Circus, reggae band Aswad, 90s comeback kids Jesus Jones, folk rebels Mawkin, Indigo Rose, Kanda Bongo Man, InHeaven, Oxfordshire’s Thrill Collins, CC Smugglers, and the excellently-titled Let’s Eat Grandma.

Its tradition of staging heaps of children’s fun continues, with workshops aplenty and appearances by such faves as TV star Katy Ashworth, presenter of CBeebies show I Can Cook and a face from Justin’s House. There’s also a kids’ literary festival.

Tickets are still available from wychwoodfestival.com