Countdown begins for Waterlooville Music Festival

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Bloor Homes sales advisor Jurgita Jeruseviciene (centre) with Anne Morgan and Chris Gadd from the Waterlooville Music Festival organising committee outside St Georges Church
Picture: Charlie Davies Photograph — y Bloor Homes sales advisor Jurgita Jeruseviciene (centre) with Anne Morgan and Chris Gadd from the Waterlooville Music Festival organising committee outside St Georges Church Picture: Charlie Davies Photograph

The week-long Waterlooville Music Festival takes place between June 11 and 19 at St George’s Church and will feature performances across a wide range of musical genres.

With support from key sponsors, including developer Bloor Homes, organisers are confident this year’s event will be bigger and better than ever.

Chris Gadd, the festival’s head of publicity, said excitement is growing.

He said: ‘Waterlooville Music Festival is now in its 11th year and the event is growing in popularity all the time. Our Last Night of the Proms concert on the 18th is already sold out and tickets for the other performances are selling fast.

‘The festival is enormously important to the town. It is one of the biggest music festivals in the south of England and attracts many people from the surrounding areas into Waterlooville, which in turn helps to raise the town’s profile and gives a major boost to its economy.

‘It also provides a fantastic opportunity for talented young musicians from local schools to perform on stage in front of large audiences, and some of the money we raise is donated to music projects in the local community.’

And he added: ‘The festival is a non-profit event and, aside from ticket sales, we are entirely reliant on the sponsorship of local businesses to make it a success.

‘Without them we would not be able to stage the event so we are enormously grateful to Bloor Homes and our other sponsors for their support.’

The event kicks off on June 11 in Waterlooville town centre with performances by HMS Collingwood Volunteer Band and Gospel Road Community Choir, and there will be daytime and evening concerts throughout the week.

Havant Borough Council’s gala concert will take place on the opening night, with the Langstone Big Band transporting the audience back to the dance halls of the 1940s.

Subsequent nights will feature a folk and ale evening, the Hampshire Police Male Voice Choir, local four-piece harmony group The Octaves and the Foreverly Brothers, who will play music from the 50s to the 80s.

Bloor Homes, which is building homes on the 2,500-home Berewood estate, is sponsoring the festival.

During the week, there will be free lunchtime concerts featuring performances by local schools, and the event concludes with a church service on June 19. Visit waterloovillemusicfestival.org.uk.