After what’s been universally accepted as a hugely successful inaugural festival, the team behind Stage4Beverley has confirmed the festival will go ahead in 2018 and hopefully become a permanent fixture on Beverley’s calendar.
Sell-out concerts on all three nights of the festival, which was held at the East Riding Theatre in Beverley across the weekend of February 17 to 19, plus healthy audiences at daytime concerts and workshops has given the volunteer team behind the event enough confidence to start planning for next year.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the response and the comments we received,” said the festival’s artistic director Chris Wade. “There was a terrific atmosphere all weekend and I lost count of the number of times people were asking about future festivals.”
All those attending were asked to fill our survey forms, which revealed an age range between 12 and 65-plus. “We also had people travelling long distances specifically to see certain artists – six of those responded had travelled more than 100 miles, including two from Scotland, and 17 between 51 and 100 miles,” said Ms Wade.
Described as “Beverley’s winter music celebration” and featuring an eclectic range of music, from classical to jazz, folk, blues and Americana, the plan is to make the 2018 festival bigger and better. The dates, already confirmed, will see Stage4Beverley once again based at the East Riding Theatre from 16th – 18th February.
Highlights this year included Scotland’s pre-eminent singer-songwriter Dougie MacLean, BBC folk award winners Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar, poet and stand-up comedian John Hegley, and gypsy jazz sensations Cha Limberger and Modes Rosenberg.
The festival was given a great start by a capella folk trio Coope, Boyes and Simpson, on their farewell UK tour, and a rousing finale by the New York Brass Band, which even included a mass conga from the main auditorium into the theatre’s cafe bar, which was staging a late night festival club.
Another highlight was a unique sight and sound presentation in the theatre’s cafe bar that took an affectionate look at one of Hull’s most famous restaurants, Powolny’s, that was destroyed in the Blitz of the Second World War.
Reaching its zenith between the two wars, the restaurant, known affectionately as Polly’s, became the byword for style and excellence under its Greek proprietor, Petro Louis Dermond. Polly’s destruction deprived Hull of one of its major cultural and social attractions, giving birth to its legend as “the place to be”.
Polly’s colourful story and that of its equally colourful personalities was chronicled by Petro’s grandson, Robin, who rekindled the sense of joy and affectionate awe it inspired. The event included a “dainty tea” evoking the spirit of Powolny’s.
“The atmosphere across the whole weekend was electric and I’m sure anyone who witnessed the New York Brass Band will never forget seeing one of THE great gigs Beverley has ever staged,” said festival co-director Roy Woodcock.
“This has been a great team effort from start to finish and a wonderful achievement to have put on a festival just nine months from first conceiving the idea,” he said. “But we couldn’t have done it without the support of everyone at the theatre, the team of volunteers who worked hard all weekend to ensure things ran smoothly plus the financial backing from the Arts Council and the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, as well as sponsors large and small, such as cba Sadofskys, Beverley Building Society, Wold Top Brewery, P&O Ferries, and the Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitality Association and its members, Holiday Inn Express and Mercure Hotels.”
