A QUIRKY, music festival has partied on in high spirits, using the event as a celebration of The Queen’s service.
Mucky Weekender, in Woodmancott near Winchester, began with a bang on Friday, September 9 despite the nation being in mourning.
Queen Elizabeth II, the country’s longest reigning monarch, died on Thursday, September 10 leaving festival organisers unsure of whether the event would continue as planned. The rumour mill began among anticipant attendees with some alleging it would be cancelled.
But the event, created by Dub Pistols front man and charity patron Barry Ashworth, continued on for its third instalment and second appearance at Vicarage Farm. Mucky Weekender posted on Facebook that it would “celebrate her life’s service by having the mother of all parties in her honour.”
READ MORE: Winchester music festival Mucky Weekender will stay open and celebrate the Queen
Barry kickstarted the festival at 1pm on ‘The Ashworth Mad House’ stage. Speaking before his set, he said: “There were rumours all day long that we were going to have to pull out because of state mourning and I think it’s a bit unprecedented, certainly in our lifetime, of what the protocol is.
“I’m not a traditional royalist by any sense but I have the upmost respect for The Queen, her duty and the way that she served the country so for her, I do have respect and I do have love- so in those terms I am a royalist. All we can do is the celebrate the life of an incredible lady. Of course we’ll pay our respects on stage. We couldn’t not mention it.
“What we want to do is give people the best experience we can for them for these few days. There’s no better feeling in the world than making people happy and the team have worked and worked so incredibly hard.”
As well as opening, Barry and the Dub Pistols will be performing throughout the festival with the electronic music band returning to the stage on Friday night with a more traditional drum and bass set. This year’s Mucky Weekender boast “the biggest ever line-up of Dub Pistols artists” taking place from midday on both Friday and Saturday.
The two-day festival includes three stages, a pirate ship stage named ‘HMS Seanie Tee’, the ‘Crazy Diamond Club’ stage and the main tent called ‘The Ashworth Mad House’ with all performers being handpicked by Mr Ashworth and his band.
Day tickets are still available, with the farm able to accommodate as many as 4,000 people. Janeane Scaldick and Lisa Tricio travelled from Essex are returning ‘weekenders’, travelling from Essex to attend the whole weekend. Lisa, 47, said: “We come back because we like the music, we like the crowd and because it’s unique and different to your normal run of the mill festival."
Janeane, 51, added: “It’s small, nice, easy and mucky.”
Lisa continued: “We did worry that it was going to get called off yesterday, we didn’t know how they would stand and it would have been understandable but the Queen would have wanted us to party on for her. We had a toast to her this morning, and we’re glad it’s still going. It was a bit of a sombre mood but today’s another day.”
Abbie Dowson and her friends and family from Southampton fashioned an array of vibrant outfits. Abbie said: “It’s my first time here and I’m absolutely buzzing for it.”
The Kibler family travelled from Portsmouth to stay the music-filled weekend with their friends from Andover. Mum, Amber Kibler said: “We’re very excited to be here, we didn’t doubt that it would still go ahead. It was awesome last year so we came back again. We’re most looking forward to the Dub Pistols.”
Whilst many attendees were returning campers, Amy Martin and Harry Dovey from Ringwood were there for the first time. Harry, 19, said: “We’re really excited to be here. We came here for the Dub Pistols as we’re big fans. Aside from them we’re most looking forward to Jungles Cakes.
“It was sad news yesterday, but the festival has kept going so we’re here.”
As well as Dub Pistols fans, a number of food vendors and independent businesses encircled the venue. Ellie Robinson, from Somerset, was working on The Glitter Temple stall. She said: “We’re here for the whole weekend and we’re doing face glitter, body glitter, we’ve got jewels, hair braiding and French and Dutch plaits.
Bar workers Will Vincent and Louis Poulter from Dorchester could be seen relaxing, ready for the busy weekend ahead. Will, 25, said: “I like the spirit here, everybody’s ready for a good time. The music is good, so it doesn’t matter what the weather is like. I think we’ll definitely be busy today.”
The electronic music festival will continue throughout Friday night, with entertainment re-starting at midday on Saturday, September 10.
SEE ALSO: Winchester music festival, Mucky Weekender, prepares to kickstart the weekend at Vicarage Farm
To view photos from day one of the local festival, click through the gallery at the top.
For more go to mucky-weekender.co.uk/.
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