The Beggars Fair

Each year since 1993, The Beggars Fair has come to Romsey, giving local bands, singers, drummers and all manner of performers a chance to shine in the sun or the rain, usually the latter.

This year was no exception and although the town wasn't quite as busy as last year's record attendance, there was a respectable turnout in the pubs and the streets of Romsey.

I have been a devotee of the Beggars Fair ever since I moved here in 2000 - each time I'm amazed at the quality and creativity of the acts on offer. There's always a really good buzz about the place with the feel good factor kicking in, strangers talking to each other and young men displaying hitherto unknown dancing talents.

It's good for the town's commercial health too as the visitors mainly spend money on food and drink , if the overflowing pubs are anything to go by.

The event kicks off on the Friday evening, which in my opinion is often the best time to see some of the bands, firstly because it's not usually as frantic as Saturday evening

 but also there are no early cut-off times which have been imposed in recent years due to fears of "trouble" when the pubs close and tired and emotional revellers attempt to make their way home. So you get to see excellent bands like Black Bart, a four piece outfit whose repertoire of blues, folk, country and rock fuse together in some cases resulting in amazing renditions of songs like "Jolene" - always a crowd favourite, and "Rollin' and Tumblin'" for example.

This year throughout Saturday, there was a more or less continuous stream of entertainment, ranging from a female drumming group - The Djembabes, a fifteen or so strong female drumming group to State of Undress, a Dorset based folk-rock and all round uplifting presence with vocalist Charlie getting lots of audience participation.

Meanwhile, even in the rain, the town is awash with people and songs drifting in the air. There are crammed bars and crazy people - and that's just the musicians! For the first time it was deemed necessary to have an hour's break between 5pm to 6pm when all the bars closed. This was highly unpopular with all those involved with the exception of those who imposed it. As a friend of mine remarked, "are they going to stop the supermarkets selling booze too?" It made little or no difference to audiences who stockpiled drinks in a throwback to a time when we had stricter licencing laws. At the end of the evening Romsey looked pretty rubbish strewn. Sunday dawned and it was litter free thanks to the efforts of the organisers and volunteers and of course the local council.

There was talk in the past of having to cancel the festival, due to increasing costs of policing and potential health and safety issues. I sincerely hope that never happens as this is one of the best events of the summer.

Steve Bratt 2009

See other clips from the Beggars Fair;

Jazmorillo

Jo Long & The Pure Drop

Ken Wood & The Mixers