A HOMEGROWN music festival with an environmentally-friendly message returns to West Oxfordshire this weekend.

Tandem Festival will return to Lower Farm in Ramsden near Chipping Norton from Friday to Sunday, offering music from across the globe.

It is organised by Tandem Collective, a not-for-profit community interest company that encourages new audiences to tackle environmental and social issues through music and the arts.

This year’s headliners are Tantz, Perhaps Contraption, Raka, Peter and Kerry, Paddy Steer and Iyatra Quartet.

They form part of a huge programme of music, from funk to a full orchestra and 'Balkan beats' to late-night DJs, as well as folk musicians from around the world.

Tandem co-founders Nina Brown and Niko O’Brien said they were proud of the music line-up but stressed that the festival was about more than just the music.

The festival site is constructed by community volunteers and built almost entirely from recycled materials. Organisers say they want Oxfordshire to become 'a hub for creative responses to climate change'.

Ms Brown emphasised that Tandem was community-led, volunteer-run and not-for-profit.

She said: “Tandem is all about creative people working together and the festival highlights the incredible work of Oxfordshire-based community organisations, local artists and makers and the county’s charities and social enterprises.”

Mr O’Brien added: “The festival build uses scrap wood from the Oxford Wood Recycling project, we save electrical goods and furniture from landfill and we use a lot of material from the Orinoco Scrapstore.

"We are also really excited about our new partnership with Abingdon and Witney College which is providing a free skill-share programme for volunteers.

“Volunteers are learning skills such as carpentry and building with recycled materials, cooking for large numbers using food waste, upcycling, sign painting and composting.”

Tickets for Saturday and the weekend are still available, starting at £40 for an adult day pass, but with discounts for families and groups.

Volunteer slots are also still available.

Ms Brown said: “I was born in Oxford, I grew up here and then I moved away.

"Part of what brought me back is the Oxford community.

"I just didn’t find this eclectic mix of talented, creative, and community and environmentally-spirited folk anywhere else.

“I love that, through Tandem, we have a chance to platform and enjoy the work of that unique community.”

l For more information see attandemfestival.com