With tankard in hand, TIM HUGHES raises a toast to Fairport’s folk-tastic Cropredy Convention.

FROM far and wide they come – drawn inexorably to a north Oxfordshire hillside by the prospect of music, fine ale and good times.

For folk fans, Cropredy is more than a festival – it is a pilgrimage.

For 30-odd years they have been coming; 20,000 hardened music-lovers returning year after year for three days of music hosted by their heroes – 60s folk-rock band Fairport Convention.

While other events experiment, evolve and innovate, Cropredy stays solidly the same – which is just how its regulars like it.

Bizarrely, the band still insist on starting on a Thursday, and finishing on a Saturday night with their traditional headline set, leaving Sunday free for cricket.

And while even the smallest festivals now offer an array of stages and styles of music, Cropredy refuses to move with the times – sticking with one big stage and one big bar in one very long field. But that’s how it’s chunky-jumper-sporting, tankard waving denizens like it.

Officially known as Fairport’s Cropredy Convention, the festival is still organised by Fairport members Dave ‘Peggy’ Pegg and Simon Nicol along with long-time fan Gareth Williams, and run from a small office in Chipping Norton.

And while the trio are committed to keeping the festival the way its habit-loving folk-rock pilgrims like it, they still manage to pull in new, and often unexpected names to bolster their bill.

So, while Fairport still hog the top spot – with their traditional three-hour set featuring relics and treasures roaming back through their 40-year history – they are joined by pop-reggae act UB40, Scouse guitar band The Coral, bluesman Seasick Steve, woolly-hatted singer-songwriter Badly Drawn Boy, Ian Dury’s former band Blockheads, Appalachian bluegrass-lovers Hayseed Dixie and Irish rockers Horslips.

Keeping the folk flag flying, meanwhile, will be award-winning Lau, The Urban Folk Quartet, recently-reformed folk legends Home Service, and the winner of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award – Moore, Moss, Rutter.

“We always strive to bring variety to Cropredy,” says Simon Nicol, who is Fairport’s lead singer.

“This year is no exception and we’ve got everything from pop, rock and reggae to folk and bluegrass with some surprises thrown in. The line-up this year caters to a very diverse range of tastes with something for every age group, which reflects the all-generations audience who come to our festival.

“People have asked why we don’t have another stage. But a lot like the fact that all the entertainment is in one arena. And if you want an alternative, a short walk takes you to the village, where there are two pubs both offering music on outdoor stages.”

And it’s a winning combination, he proclaims. “People who come here are creatures of habit,” he says. “People don’t like it to change at all, and we keep it the same for them.”

Fairport Convention remain the big draw, of course, maintaining a link with the festival they set up three deades ago. That continuity is underlined by the traditional finale, which sees the band top off their act with a medley of favourites – ending with Matty Groves and festival anthem Meet on the Ledge.

“The band actually split in 1979, but then got together to open for Led Zeppelin at Knebworth, and came up to Cropredy for a leaving do,” says Gareth. “But, when they came back, they enjoyed themselves so much they kept coming.”

And it’s not just folk-rockers and their fans who love it. Earlier this year the gathering picked up a top industry accolade – the coveted Editor’s Award for Outstanding Achievements at Total Production International’s annual TPi Awards. Past recipients have included U2’s production staff and the Led Zeppelin reunion crew.

Gareth Williams, who collected the award, said: “Cropredy festival has been staged for over 30 years and for much of that time has remained relatively unnoticed by the music industry. Or so we thought. We were truly touched by this recognition by our peers in the industry.”

Handing over the award, Mark Cunningham, editor-in-chief of TPi, summed up what Cropredy’s thousands of faithful fans already know. “It’s a pity Cropredy tends to slip under the radar when it comes to awards,” he said. “The festival deserves to be recognised as being up there with the very best.”

* Fairport’s Cropredy Convention takes place on Thursday-Saturday, August 11-13, north of Banbury. The festival offers three-day (Thursday, Friday and Saturday), two-day (Friday and Saturday), and Saturday-only tickets, costing £95, £85 and £65 respectively if bought before Sunday – saving a fiver on the gate price. Camping passes are extra. Go to fairportconvention.com