Brightlingsea festival organiser on 'challenging' postponement after the Queen's death

The event, originally scheduled for September, will now take place this Sunday

Fresh Air Festival organisers
Published 2nd Oct 2022
Last updated 3rd Oct 2022

The organiser of a free festival in Essex this weekend has told us of her hope to bring 'fun and silliness' to people amidst the cost of living crisis.

Fresh Air Festival, a new outdoor arts festival, takes place in Brightlingsea tomorrow (Sunday 2nd October) on Brightlingsea Promenade.

It will feature story telling, acrobatics, art installations and music from local musicians.

Cassie Catchpole, the festival director, explains her hopes for the new event: "I moved to Brightlingsea a couple of years ago and, whilst Brightlingsea has got loads of great stuff going on, I felt like it didn't have much of an outdoor art scene, so I really wanted to inject some of that fun into the area.

One of the festival's performers

"It seemed especially important given the last few years we've had with Covid and the cost of living crisis. Because of these things, it was important to me that this event is free for everyone.

"I just want to have fun and see other people have fun too!"

Cassie hopes the event will bring people together: "I really want it to be for everyone, from babies to grandparents.

"I feel like getting together as a family is something that is increasingly harder to do for everyone because we're all so busy, at school, college, at work, so to actually take a day out from those things and spend it with people that you love, is getting rarer, especially as we get older. I just wanted to put on a festival which allowed people to come and do that."

The Cod Choir will be performing

The festival has been a long time coming, after Cassie was forced to make the difficult decision to postpone the event in September, following the Queen's death: "It's been really challenging.

"Originally the festival was planned for the 11th September, but as we all know, the Queen died a couple of days before that and we felt it was the best thing to do to postpone.

"However, postponing does have financial ramifications, so we've had to do some jiggery pokery with the budget and make it work as best as we could.

"We've been really well supported throughout, by the town, the council, volunteers and also our funders, Essex County Council, the Estuary Producers Network and Arts Council England. Through a real team effort, it's been made possible."

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