WHISPERS were heard around town that the Chippenham Folk Festival will not be returning, but organiser Bob Berry has reassured festival-goers that it isn’t true and will be going ahead for many more years to come despite funding concerns.

This year saw the 47th annual Folk Festival, take to the streets and many venues around the town.

“It was great, I couldn’t ask for better”, he explained.

“The festival is definitely going to continue. It isn’t going to stop. We are going to be running the next one.

“It is something to be proud of, it does take a lot of time and effort, but it is all worth it, without a doubt.

“I was asked the other day what was special about the festival and I think the answer is definitely the people that come.”

The festival itself costs £156,000 to run, but without sponsorship, donations and ticket sales, free events such as those at Monkton Park and the parade run the risk of having to stop.

Each year, the festival runs a Pop in a Pound scheme, and Mr Berry believes that if every one of the 15,000 to 16,000 visitors donated a pound, it would help keep the festival running as it is.

He said: “That is why we get the funding, to pay for what some of these additional things that the public goes to.

“Anyone can come down the site and go into the park, enjoy the facilities and they don’t have to pay for a full afternoon’s entertainment the music.

“Some people don’t contribute because they don’t think they have to, they think we get all the sponsorship we need, but if the money doesn’t come from these places we will have to stop doing that sort of stuff.

“If everyone who came to the festival, everyone who watched on the High Street popped in a pound, and a pound is nothing these days in comparison, that would solve every bit of our funding issues.”