‘Start spreading the news. It’s ready to go…’ to misquote the opening words of the song New York, New York. And the fourth Cuckfield Music Festival is primed to fire from 17th – 24th June. This month its founder, David Mortimer, talks to Cuckfield Life about how it came into being, the near catastrophe of the Covid-19 lockdowns and the hopes for the festival’s future.
It was during 2017 that David began to contemplate the idea of a sustained musical event in the village. It was not that there was a shortage of musical talent in the Mid Sussex area, among both young people and amateur groups, but many of them lacked a platform on which to gain experience – bad news at a time when music was being cut back in many schools or even axed altogether.
However, (and there’s always a however!) 2017 was not a good moment to move things forward because, at the same time, the Cuckfield Book Festival was about to launch as David was well aware, being married to Sheila, one of its founders. A two-year moratorium was agreed.
Although David has a musical background, music was not his profession and therefore he did not have access to the breadth of performing talent that would be needed. So come 2018 he began to look around in earnest for the right person to share the vision of what became the festival. As he says himself, “The more I asked, the clearer it was that all paths led to the door of Hannah Carter (well known for her tireless work with Ensemble Reza). She organised most of the key performers, and I think I found one or two so it worked out well. Hannah became the musical director, I was the general manager (otherwise known as the dogsbody) and David Underwood came in to look after the figures.
“Obviously we needed to raise enough money to pay for the venues and, especially, for advertising and promotion. We were fortunate to receive financial backing from Adelphi Holdings and West Sussex CC Community Initiative Fund and some generous individual gifts. It seemed to me that one of the problems faced by local groups putting on a concert or recital was getting it known in good time. All too often a poster or flyer would appear too late in the day or get lost among other stuff. We knew we had to ensure good promotion, and that would be costly.” And so in June 2019 the first Cuckfield Music Festival launched with 11 events in the course of nine days, all but one of them well attended, and the large number of questionnaires filled in by the audiences showed a 99% demand for the festival to become a regular event in the Cuckfield calendar. “Little could we have guessed what lay in store – lockdowns.”
With a repetition of the festival in 2020 out of the question, anxiety mounted over whether something would be possible in 2021, but determination set in to ensure the festival waved the flag in any way it could to show that it was not going to fade from the scene as a one-show wonder. “At the time, our main venue with the best acoustic, Holy Trinity Church, was allowed a maximum of 60 people, socially distanced. I went down armed with a camera, pencil and paper and after studying the space from every angle concluded 75 ought to be possible. In the event Michael Maine decided 80 would be allowable provided they were seated in socially distanced pods and suitably masked. So we were able to go ahead with six events in four days with the ever popular Dominic Ferris volunteering to give two events for the price of one.
“The most unforgettable thing to come out of the 2021 festival (apart from the backbreaking business of rearranging the chairs for each performance to conform with the ‘pods’ that the ticketing required) was the sense of sheer joy and relief among both performers and audiences that live performance was back. For the former, it was the first time they had been live on stage for 15 months.”
From the start Katie Derham, BBC broadcaster, Proms presenter and local devotee, had willingly agreed to be the patron of the festival, but with pre-existing commitments in 2019 and lockdown in 2021, had hitherto been unable to engage fully. This has all changed subsequently. Katie is now fully involved, and earlier this year hosted a successful and happy evening showcasing rising young talents.
“Having overcome the obstacles that kept the music festival flag flying during the dark days, 2022 was relatively straightforward, especially with David Spear coming in to assist the general management and David Curtis-Brignell to develop a team to promote the festival and make best use of social media. I had recognised quite early that since I couldn’t halt my own ageing process the succession question is always important, so at the end of last year’s festival I handed over to David Spear.
“It’s not ‘my’ music festival any longer, and having stepped down one should never interfere from the side-lines. On the contrary, I think what the current team is doing to spread new activities and events of the festival more widely through the year is great. This year’s festival is going to be a winner. Hurry up and make sure you’ve booked your tickets!” www.cuckfieldmusicfest.co.uk
Click here to see our blog post all about the 2023 Cuckfield Music Festival in June.