Hampshire’s Wickham Festival makes special offer to Abbotsbury ticket holders 

Floods forced Show of Hands to cancel their popular annual signature festival on Saturday – as relentless rain lashed Dorset’s Jurassic coast and roads were closed throughout the area. 

It was the first time in the festival’s 15 year history that the band has had to pull the plug on the event at Abbotsbury’s Sub Tropical Gardens, between Bridport and the Olympic sailing hub of Weymouth.

The nearby town of Bridport on Saturday morning. Pic: Phil Beer.

Ironically the festival would have fielded some of the hottest young acoustic roots acts in England, Wales and Germany in one of its best ever line-ups.

ue to join Steve Knightley, Phil Beer and Miranda Sykes at the outdoor party this year were Jim Moray, Jamie Smith’s Mabon, Germany’s Broom Bezzums, Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin and the newly-crowned winner of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Horizon award for the Best Newcomer - Derbyshire singer-songwriter Lucy Ward.

But a special offer has now been extended to disappointed Abbotsbury ticket holders by Hampshire’s Wickham Festival, where Show of Hands will perform on Saturday, August 4.

Organiser Peter Chegwyn is generously offering free entry to the festival on that day - a real bargain as a ticket would normally cost £50. Also on the line up that day will be Bellowhead, Home Service, Michael McGoldrick, Steve Tilston, Jackie Oates, Jim Causley and Belshazzar’s Feast, among others. The offer applies to adult, child and family tickets with the family ticket allowing entry to two adults and up to three children. 

Attractions for children include a circus, cartoon cinema, digital funfair, storytelling and puppet theatre.  

Those wanting to take up the offer should simply take their Abbotsbury tickets to Wickham Festival and exchange them at the box office for full day tickets. 

Says SoH frontman Steve Knightley:  “We were really sorry to cancel the 15^th Abbotsbury concert where so many of our supporters meet up each year and where we had an outstanding line up for them but it was a totally impossible and unprecedented weather situation.

But we do hope many of them will take advantage of the excellent offer from Wickham Festival next month and we’ll definitely be back at Abbotsbury in 2013.” 

Says Peter Chegwyn: “Show of Hands and their fans have been great supporters of our festivals over the years and we are very happy to help them in return. We know how disappointed everyone was by the cancellation at Abbotsbury but the severe weather and flooding in Dorset and Devon that day left everyone with no choice but to cancel. Hopefully by offering the choice of exchanging your Abbotsbury tickets for Wickham we can ensure that Show of Hands fans can still enjoy a great day out this summer.” 

For those unable to take up the Wickham offer, full refunds are available. To obtain a refund you should send your tickets back to Abbotsbury Tourism West Yard Barn, West Street, Abbotsbury, Dorset, DT3 4JT. They must be received no later than the last post on Friday, July 27.