Festival firing on all cylinders (From Stroud News and Journal)

Festival firing on all cylinders

THE new Stroud Fringe Festival is "up and running" according to chairman Roger Sanders, who has just had confirmation that the Festival will be receiving core funding from both the Stroud Town and District councils.

"We've also had a tremendous response from people gagging to play," said Roger.

"We've got about 40 local acts ready to perform and there's a big emphasis on youth.

"There will be two youth theatre groups performing and a number of young bands, including SubJustice and Elysium.

"Brendan Conboy from The Door Youth Project will be hosting an afternoon showcase of some of the best acts from the successful Youth Talent contests and there will be a lot of input from Minchinhampton Folk Club."

The Festival will take place throughout the town, featuring free stages at Cornhill, Nelson Street and on Kings Street.

"The headlining local bands are SuperJuice, Patsy Gamble and the Soul Destroyers," said Roger, "and there will also be big events taking place at the Subscription Rooms, who are working in conjunction with us.

"We've got good sponsorship coming in," added Roger, "and we're really keen to hear from buskers, jugglers and other street acts.

"The programme should be out by the end of June."

The Subscription Rooms events will be ticketed, and include punk icon turned folk heroine Hazel O'Connor, supported by the Mad Cows, on September 9, klezmer band The Burning Bush on September 10 and African dance band Imbongi, supported by the Domestic Goddesses, on September 11.

"The Subscription Rooms' caf bar will also be putting on events in association with Stroud Valleys Artspace, with a mix of poetry in performance from Hoo-Hah (Poetry in Commotion), acoustic music from the HUB Collective and much more," said Baibre McAteer.

The Stroud Fringe takes place on September 9, 10 and 11, with numerous events taking place in the week running up to the main weekend.