Three cars set off in a convoy from deepest West Sussex at 4.15am on Thursday morning heading blearily to Oxfordshire and Fairport's Cropredy Convention. The drive was straightforward (I like the M25 at that hour of day!), with the exception of driving over the corpse of a large badger near Guildford. It made quite a thump. At about 6.15am we stopped at Cherwell Valley Services, got coffee, and added two more cars to the convoy. Shortly after, following a brief pause in a layby, we met the final car of the convoy and proceeded along the road to Cropredy village and Field 5. Tents were erected by about 8.30am, chairs were out and champagne decanted for those that drank alcohol. In all, we were a party of 18 adults and children of various sizes.
Later in the day, once snoozes had happened, we wandered up to the festival entrance and exchanged tickets for wristbands, then went for a mooch around the village as the arena wasn't open yet. We found, to our horror, that the local church were not providing breakfasts in the farmyard this year. Horror! They were instead based at the church providing continental and healthy breakfasts; that did not bode well.
The arena opened at 2pm, so we gathered chairs, flag, tarpaulin and other paraphernalia and headed over, staking out our pitch and then feeding the children, and ourselves, and chilling out. Music began at 4pm with Fairport Acoustic. My favourite track was 'Crudite', a pastiche of another, by Steeleye Span, called 'Gaudete' - very funny. Fairport were followed by 'Gryphon', a mixture of very old and more modern folk music. They were very pleasant but didn't play anything that particularly grabbed my attention. Following Gryphon were 'Coco and the Butterfields' who were full of energy and caprice - I loved their song 'Royston'. The violinist had got over enthusiastic in rehearsal and damaged her violin, but it still played well. The band also had an awesome human beat boxer - quite, quite amazing.
Next up were 'Hayseed Dixie' (I love them!) playing Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Queen, Mozart and German drinking songs in hillbilly style - banjos galore. Headline act of the evening were 'Madness' in all their glory. Fun was had dancing badly but enthusiastically while pausing for an occasional breather. While having a breather, I lay in my chair listening to the music and staring through gaps in the cloud for a glimpse of the Perseid meteor shower (didn't spot any). Glorious way to spend an evening.
On Friday morning I awoke to the sound of loud Northern neighbours and sizzling bacon, and sunshine. We all wandered off to the churchyard to see what their breakfasts would be tis year; sadly no breakfast inna bun, so we wandered round the village to Banbury Canoe Club who were cooking full English breakfasts.. They were run off their feet but we ordered and attempted a dingbats quiz while we waited. The food was edible but I prefer our usual. Anyway, back to camp via the cake stall (lush chocolate brownies), gathered our stuff and went to the arena.
The sun was out with barely a cloud in the sky, and the music was magnificent. In the afternoon the teenager and I went for a mooch through the village and along the canal, back through the caravan park and up through the arena stopping at various stalls along the way. Lovely. The rest of the day was spent sat in the arena or campsite (shady), chatting, reading, knitting and playing cards. Music included the excellent Anthony John Clarke and Dave Pegg, Brighde Ghaimbeul - the Radio 2 Young Folk Musician of the Year; she played pipes very well indeed. Other bands that I noted were 'Willie and the Bandits' who I quite enjoyed, followed by 'Headspace' who I didn't enjoy much as I'm not keen on prog rock. In the evening were 'Steeleye Span' who played well, and luckily included 'All around my Hat' which I knew! Headling the evening were the 'Bootleg Beatles' who played an excellent set of popular Beatles tunes, and mimicked the original band well.
Friday food was beef burger with Stilton from the Organic Beef stall for lunch, and an Ostrich burger for tea - absolutely scrumptious! We also snacked on hot, fresh donuts. Mmmmmmm!
We got up early on Saturday and went for breakfast at the Cricket club - sausage, bacon and egg in a bun - yum! We sat on the grass to eat, and watched an unfortunate chap drive over the edge of the car park onto the green, and not through the gap indicated. He got stuck, but was eventually set right. After breakfast most of us grabbed our swimming gear and headed to the pool in Banbury for a shower and a swim. Lovely!
On our return we headed straight for the arena for Richard Digance's set - he comes every year. The field was packed and RD did a great set as usual, with songs and bad jokes, and ended with the traditional 20,000 people morris dancing (hanky waving anyway). It is always good fun to watch bewildered newcomers at this point! Richard was followed by a sci-fi folk group called 'Maia' who played interesting tunes. Later in the day were the superb 'Pierce Brothers' form Australia. They got the whole crowd going and received two encores. These guys were followed by the tuneful 'Demon Barbers XL', and then by the incredible 'Babylon Circus', a French ska band who were foot-stompingly incredible. Wow! Double encore, well-deserved, for them too. Wow!
Following Babylon Circus was the legendary Ralph McTell; his music was much calmer and more considered than previous acts, and showed consummate musicianship as expected. Lovely. To round off the festival Fairport Convention returned, with friends, and played some of the better known of their tunes, had a remembrance for Dave Swarbrick, who died earlier this year, and ended the festival with a rousing rendition of 'Matty Groves'. Food today was 'Falafel and goodness salad' for lunch, and chicken and chorizo paella for tea. There may have been more donuts....
This year's festival was one of the best I have attended for years, both for the weather and the music. Roll on next year!
