Festival organiser upbeat as weather affects turnout

Heavy rain buffeted Driftwood Music Festival at Stokes Bay in Gosport on Friday night and thorough Saturday with crowds as small as five people seen by the main stage at one point.

However, the crowd did pick up yesterday as the sun came out with a couple hundred filtered into the festival arena.

Despite the problematic conditions and low turnout, organiser Paul Cobb is adamant Driftwood will return in 2018.

Speaking yesterday, he said: ‘Unfortunately, we can’t really defend ourselves from the weather and we did get hit quite bad on Friday and Saturday.

‘Today is turning out to be a good day so we’ll see how things go but I am very keen to make this a yearly thing.

‘After all the hard work that’s gone into this, I want to bring this back next summer.’

Mr Cobb – one of the organisers behind the ill-fated Gosfest – had hoped for a number of thousands to turn up at the event, which was only granted its premises licence last Tuesday.

Arguments had broken out ahead of the event regarding land rental fees with critics stating Mr Cobb should have to pay land rent as it was a commercial event. Mr Cobb said the event was in support of various charities and was therefore a charitable event.

Councillor Mark Hook, leader of Gosport Borough Council backed the event, stating: ‘It has been a well-run community event. I am hoping the weather will not dissuade others from staging similar events in Gosport.’

Layla Mew, from Alverstoke, said: ‘The weather was really difficult on the Saturday so we left, but it has been really nice today. It has been a lot of fun.’