New festival to 'bring the music back' to town

Huey Morgan will headline the festival on Sunday at the Memorial Hall

A new festival will "bring the music back" to a town after the loss of its long-running jazz festival.

Marlborough Festival, which runs from 12-14 July, is a three-day community event with music, theatre, comedy, puppetry and food-based activities, as well as workshops and talks.

Headlined by former Fun Lovin’ Criminals frontman Huey Morgan, the multi-venue festival will host a huge line up of acts from the west, including those supported by BBC Introducing.

Co-founders Sandra Bhadit and Luke Jackson said they wanted to celebrate the area's wealth of local talent and "boost the high street".

Rachel Jane is amongst the BBC Introducing acts performing at the festival

"There's something really special about this town," said Ms Bhadit.

"You can travel miles and miles outside of Marlborough and people have heard of it and they know of it."

Along with Mr Jackson, she "hatched this plan to bring the music back" to the Wiltshire town after the loss of Marlborough Jazz Festival, which ended in 2016 after 30 years.

Ms Bhadit explained the new festival, which has been three years in the planning, aims to support existing businesses and infrastructure to keep the carbon footprint and cost down, "as well as bringing festival-goers right into the heart of the town".

Mr Jackson said they also hoped the event would "bring a boost to the high street", with local businesses also planning their own fringe events across the weekend.

Sandra Bhadit and Luke Jackson said there was a lot of talent locally that they wanted to celebrate

As well as music, the festival will celebrate the town's puppetry history with two shows, and food will be provided by Michelin-starred chef Josh Eggleton and Masterchef winner Thomas Frake.

Mr Jackson added that Huey Morgan, who lives nearby in Frome, will perform the day after playing a sold out show at Alexandra Palace in London.

"There's something for everyone," added Ms Bhadit.

"It's a really conscious effort to make sure that we're making the most of the talent in the area."

Masterchef Thomas Frake will team up with a local food producers at the event

The festival is ticketed but many shows are free entry, she explained, adding that they were "trialling" a variety of offerings to "see what works".

"All we need now is for the community to hopefully embrace it and support it going forwards."

The inaugural Marlborough Festival runs from 12-14 July at various venues in the town.