Hundreds of music lovers will descend on farmland near Hartlepool for the third annual Pig Pen Festival.

TRACY WALKER spoke to the organiser.



LIFE at High Farm, in Elwick, is anything but sleepy.

For the past three years, the farm has opened its gates to hundreds of music-lovers for the annual Pig Pen Festival.

This year, the event dubbed as Teesside's very own Glastonbury is expected to attract 1,500 people and 10 local bands are billed for the music extravaganza.

But what about the people behind the popular event?

What makes them tick and drives them to work all year round to ensure the festival at the nine-acre site goes with a swing?

Julia Burgess is one of the festival organisers. She said: "You get a bit of a kick out of it. You put all the effort and hard work in and it's lots of stress and takes lots of time.

"The organising of it is really stressful but when it all comes together on the day it gives you a bit of a buzz."

Julia, 36, has been involved with the festival from the start.

She said: "When I moved to Elwick we had a bit of land and didn't know what to do about it. We thought 'Why don't we start a festival up'? We thought there wasn't anything like this in the area, especially with camping.
"In 2005 we had a trial run to see how it would go and it seemed to go well. A lot of people were saying we should do it every year.
"It's gone really smoothly with the odd hiccup but the licensing team at Hartlepool Borough Council have been really supportive."

Originally from Thornaby, Julia has a musical background. She could play the keyboard when she was six and has played the drums since she was 15.

She played with various bands across Teesside and was a music promoter for around 15 years.

During the rest of the year Julia, her partner Alex Morris, 46, who lives with her at the farm, and Kev Shadforth, 48, from Elwick, also run a studio and sound system hire company from the farm.

A typical year will see the trio start planning the festival in January.

They raise money for the event and apply to various organisations for grants and sponsorship.

There were some funding difficulties this year, said Julia, and they had struggled to raise their £30,000 needed to put on the event.

Festival-goer Dominic Lomax took part in a charity parachute jump to help raise the extra £1,000 that was needed.

From February to March, the trio start booking bands and designing artwork for posters.

Julia said: "Everything usually starts getting built around August 30. We have just the one stage and it is an intimate festival.

"We get the bar in place and start getting the gatehouses and ticket tents up. We also have to organise security and health and safety.

"The festival is run in our own spare time really. We work 12 to 15 hours a day as it is.

"We don't do anything else with the field for the rest of the year. Sheep used to graze on it but now it's just left to grow."

Ten local bands including Sugarstone, Be Quiet - Shout Loud! are set to play the festival as well as headliners The White Negroes.

"We give local bands who use our studio first shout to play the festival out of loyalty," said Julia.

Other activities at the festival include a bouncy castle, rodeo bull and craft stalls.

In her time as a promoter, Julia has worked with big names like The Darkness and The Ordinary Boys.

But she says she hasn't got one particular favourite band.

"I just like up and coming talent. That is part of the reason I have always done what I've done," said Julia.

Michael Eavis, Glastonbury's founder, has been invited to the festival. "His attendance sounds promising," said Julia.

The Pig Pen Festival takes place this Saturday, with the first band playing at 1pm and the headline act on stage at 10pm.

Campers are expected to leave by lunchtime on September 7.

Tickets cost £15 and include free camping. They can be obtained from The McOrville and Spotted Cow pubs in Elwick as well as the Elwick Village Shop and Post Office.