Folk festival expands

1:48pm Monday 5th January 2009

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Organisers of the Towersey Festival have revealed this year’s event will be a larger affair.

The festival, now in its 45th year, attracts up to 10,000 people to the tiny village near Thame every August.

It is staged at various venues in the village, including the parish church, the village hall, and the Three Horseshoes pub.

This year, revellers will see a larger main ‘showground’ area and three new performance stages, instead of the traditional seated arena.

The three stages will feature dance displays, music, comedy, magic, puppetry, clowning and story-telling.

A new chill-out zone will be provided, and the children's centre will also increase in size.

A festival spokesman said: “We have an ever-increasing and energetic young audience getting the Towersey bug, so our Shooting Roots area is opening its doors even wider.

“We willl have a new and bigger space, dance floor, workshop rooms, performance stage, lights, PA system and programme ‘for young people by young people’.”

Stiltwalkers, jugglers and spectacular street actors will entertain visitors at the showground during the festivities, which will take place between Thursday, August 27, and Bank Holiday Monday, August 31.

Street theatre acts already confirmed include Mighty Zulu Nation, who will provide a dynamic taste of traditional African culture. Acts signed up for the concert stage include the Waterson Family, the Spooky Men’s Chorale, and the Karine Polwart Band.

The Imagined Village area, at Festival Dance House, will feature Chris Wood, Eliza Carthy, Martin Carthy, Simon Emmerson and Johnny Kalsi.

The spokesman added: “At Towersey, we like to keep an eye on the future while celebrating the past. We modernise and upgrade while retaining the good stuff that has gone before.

“But whatever we do, we will pack this five-day festival with music, dance, workshops, colour, spectacle and wall-to-wall festival atmosphere.”

A limited number of early bird tickets will go on sale this month. For more information, see towerseyfestival.com