A NEW Oxfordshire music festival catering for the “thriving” soul scene is set to be the first of its kind in the country.

Camp Soul promises to be the first weekend-long camping festival dedicated to soul and jazz.

The family-friendly event will take place at farm land off Milton Hill, between Didcot and Wantage, over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Organiser Shaun Gallagher, who runs internet radio station Soul Power from his home in Didcot, said the jazz and soul scene remains “underground” but booming.

Explaining the inspiration for the event, he said: “I’ve been to quite a few festivals but most are indie, rock or folk – there’s never been one for our sort of music.

“We found the venue and decided to do a camping festival for a weekend with a main stage, marquee and food and entertainment.

“We haven’t got live bands but we’ve got the best DJs around and hopefully this will be the first of many.”

An initial capacity of 500 will be enforced but Mr Gallagher said that could rise in future years if the event proves popular.

He added: “We’ve been toying with the idea for a couple of years but it was all about finding the right place and we’ve now found this brilliant site.

“We’ve been promoting it since February or March and we’ve had a really good response.”

Mr Gallagher, who is doing a 24-hour radio broadcast this month for cancer research, said the motivation for putting on the event was not commercial.

He added: “It’s a hobby. I put on various events but there’s no real money in it.

“It’s for the love of it as you probably lose more money than you make.

“But there’s a few of us who want to keep the music going so we can all enjoy it.

“It’s an underground music scene but it’s thriving, especially with people who grew up listening to northern soul in the 70s and 80s.

“Now their kids are grown up and they want to go out again and get back into it .”

For tickets and more information, visit campsoul.webs.com, call 07778 217406 or email gallagher.j6@sky.com