Brampton Live 2010, the biggest folk roots festival in the north of England, has been cancelled. The 16th Brampton festival was due to take place near Carlisle between July 16-18 with a bumper line-up of artists from the UK, America and Canada.
But founders Ken and Sue Bradburn and their fellow directors of Brampton Live Ltd, Mick North and Steve Henderson have issued the following statement:
“We are saddened to announce that the 2010 festival has been cancelled. The combination of reduced funding, decreasing sponsorship and disappointing ticket sales has meant we feel it would be irresponsible to continue. If we were to do so, we would not be able to meet our obligations in refunding ticket holders, stall holders and traders. These obligations will be met over the coming weeks.”
The event’s future is unknown at this time but the directors added:
“We would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank the many volunteers who have given freely of their time over the last fifteen years as well as all our performers and other supporters past and present – plus a big thank you to our patron Maddy Prior who has always been a huge friend of the festival.”
The centrepiece of the 2010 festival was due to be the official premiere and CD launch of the All Along the Wall show featuring five top songwriters and two poets and celebrating Hadrian’s Wall.
The directors pledged to continue with this:
“On a positive note we intend to proceed with the All Along the Wall project which was specially commissioned for the festival. A live performance CD will be available in July and other performances are planned, hopefully including The Sage, Gateshead and a range of other venues.”