Bognor will be "feasting on a superb array of great music, dance and much more" - Southdowns Music Festival

Chairman Roger Nash is delighted with the line-up for this year’s Southdowns Music Festival: “There will be a fantastic offering of free entertainment for locals and visitors to enjoy including the hugely popular Southdowns Ukulele Festival, the second scintillating Shanty Showdown, the Southdowns Dance Festival with nine colourful dance groups, the new Bognor Radio Respect Music Stage on the closed s eafront, fascinating craft and market stalls, a real ale festival, music sessions, choirs, workshops, great children’s entertainments and free events at eight different venues.”

The festival will be centred on the Regis Centre and Alexandra Theatre with other venues including the William Hardwicke, the Hothampton Arms, the Dog & Duck, the RAFA Club, the London Road precinct, the newly refurbished Place St Maur, Waterloo Square plus the closed-off seafront between Clarence Road and Lennox Street. The ticketed headline concerts include the Lindisfarne on Sept 24, the Spiers & Boden on Sept 22, a double header on Sept 23 with the up-and-coming Wrest and The Leylines, and on Sept 25, The Men They Couldn’t Hang.

“On Saturday and Sunday afternoons, the RAFA Club in Waterloo Square will be hosting our festival concerts from 1pm to 6pm with some real high-quality performers. Tickets for each afternoon concert are just £10.50 each, with four-day festival ticket holders having access to all ticketed events over all the festival days.”

This is the tenth year for the festival, but the ninth festival, having missed out in the pandemic year of 2020. Roger is delighted at the resilience that the whole organisation has shown: “It has been a lot of hard work for a lot of people. We just kept trying to hang on in there. Fortunately, we have had some very good financial support especially from Bognor Regis Town Council.

“We had already started selling tickets for 2020 but when that didn't happen we were able to roll the festival over for 2021 and we had the same line-up apart from The Strawbs who couldn't make it. And this year we are back with another fantastic line- up. Lindisfarne are just a brilliant live band. We had them in 2019 and they brought the house down. They are back again. I've seen them already this year. They played the New Forest Folk Festival and they were just brilliant. And we are delighted to have Spiers & Boden who are two of the leading lights from Bellowhead. They are two of the best instrumentalists and vocalists in the country.”

For more information, go to www.southdownsfolkfest.co.uk or call/text 07751 594285. For theatre and other tickets, go to www.regiscentre.co.uk or www.WeGotTickets.com/event/529283. Regis Centre box office 01243 861010.