A History of the Lazy Bishops Festival

Our first event was back in 2008 as part of the Farnham Community Arts Festival which Jane Woodyer (co-director) founded alongside Chris Hyland. The music festival was organised by Don Smith who was heading off travelling for a few months and fancied a bit of a knees-up before saying \"Adieu\" to Farnham. It was named the Secret Garden Music Festival, partly because its location in Farnham Library Gardens was reminiscent of a secret garden, but also because it was deliberately under-publicised to avoid drawing too much attention from objectors to music festivals and other undesirables! This first festival passed off successfully on a sunny afternoon and sowed the seed for a larger event the following year.

2009\'s festival was certainly larger but in the grand scheme of things very much a \"boutique\" festival. By this time Peter Christopherson had joined Jane and Chris to head up the two stages pulling in local and national bands to play the festival. Still called the Secret Garden Music Festival we were able to fund this event through various grants allowing us to stage a free festival with local charity Phyllis Tuckwell shaking buckets raising £1,500. The weather was wonderful and we were at capacity, with comments from visitors such as: \"I never thought I\'d live to see the day when Farnham had its own music festival - Thank you!\" warming our hearts!

After this event we received an email from the Secret Garden Party festival asking us whether we would consider changing our name! They felt it was a little too close to theirs. We were flattered that they saw our little festival as a potential threat! As we had no real attachment to our original name, we complied and this also presented us with an opportunity to think about how we wanted to take the festival forward. At the same time, an organisation had been formed to save Farnham\'s water meadows from possible development, The Bishops\' Meadow Trust. We were keen to get involved with the Trust. The meadows are close to the Library gardens in the heart of the town and so we planned 2010 as a fundraiser for the meadows. We polled our Facebook friends for a new name and after a vote Sarah O\'Neill, formerly of the band Harbor who played at the first event, suggested - Lazy Bishops Music Festival.

Bishops have a long history in Farnham. The castle was the former home of the Bishops of Winchester and there are numerous examples of their names being used around the town. In fact right next door to the Library gardens is the Bishop\'s Table Hotel. So for a local who knows their history, the Lazy Bishops has its roots firmly in the town.

2010 was wet. Once again we had fantastic bands, food and drink, stalls and kids activities, and everyone who came had a brilliant time. We had to introduce a nominal entry price, finding grants and funding for an annual event is not easy and ultimately we need to run a self-sustaining festival. Unfortunately the rain didn\'t let up until evening, so only the truly hardcore festival go-ers saw the amazing Cosmic Charlies, but as the skies cleared we were all able to have a squelchy boogie!

So on to last year 2011. It\'s fair to say we got a little too big for our boots. We decided that not only would we run a two day festival for the first time but we would also site it on the Bishops\' Meadow and have a much bigger event. We were fortunate for the steady stream of letters to the Farnham Herald concerning the festival; free publicity is a bonus, but of course the writers were predominately opposed to the event imaging that we were planning a festival on the scale of Glastonbury!

Their worst fears never materialised. 2011 was a model of excellent organisation, sensitivity towards both the meadows and their neighbours and was a great little music festival. However it rained and rained and rained...

We\'ve learnt a few lessons from last year - unfortunately not the one about never putting on another music festival, and so return this year to Farnham Library Gardens for a two day festival. Every time we visit the gardens we wonder why we ever left them; it\'s the perfect location for a proper boutique festival.

So that\'s us, we\'re not a religious festival just a great little music festival with some fantastic bands in a lovely location right in the heart of the historic town of Farnham. As for who the Lazy Bishop is, you\'ll just have to see if he makes a guest appearance at this years festival! 16 & 17 June Farnham Library Gardens get your ticket now!

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