Folk festival kicks off four-day weekend event

Jo Cunningham says there are tents, caravans and camper vans "as far as the eye can see"

Thousands of people will be flocking to Shropshire's county town for the four-day Shrewsbury Folk Festival.

Organisers expect 8,000 will head to the West Mid Showground for the music celebration, which runs from Friday to Monday, with weekend tickets sold out for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.

There will be folk and blues music from stars including the Levellers, Martha Wainwright and Judie Tzuke, as well as workshops, dance and family entertainment.

"When we were standing here on Monday, it was essentially an empty field... now it just looks like a completely different place," said festival artist liaison Jo Cunningham.

"There are caravans, tents and camper vans as far as the eye can see, and amazing flags.

"We built that village; it's been exhausting, but we built that village."

Heather Ireland says Shropshire Mental Health Support has been supporting people at the festival for the last few years

Also on site with a stall and resources is local charity Shropshire Mental Health Support, which offers services including 24/7 telephone support and peer support groups.

The charity's chief executive officer, Heather Ireland, said: "We've been coming now for four or five years, and we've been really very useful to lots of people who want to come and chat - it might not be directly about their mental health, but indirectly... they've been feeling low or they've had a bereavement.

"A couple of years ago, I supported a lady who was actively suicidal. Even being in amongst all of the jollity and with friends, you never know when it's going to happen, when people are going to feel like they need to reach out.

"We like to try and make it very informal. We have children come and paint stones, which gives the adults, parents, or caregivers the opportunity to chat with staff or volunteers."

Paul Hutchinson is helping to find camping spaces

Organisers have made changes to how they manage the festival over the years. This weekend, they will be using a drone to help people find camping spots.

"As the campsite gets fuller, we're going to put the drone up and have a look for where the empty spaces are so we can get the campers in quicker and more efficiently. We go up to 400ft," said Paul Hutchinson, the man behind the drone.

"Everybody's more relaxed; everybody gets stressed looking for their camping space, so we want to get them in there nice and quickly."

Ms Cunningham added: "It's amazing; we've had to really extend our second campsite this year because of having sold out of weekend tickets."

"What Paul and his team do is just invaluable to us."