Photography Blog
Photography Blog
FAIRPORT’S CROPREDY CONVENTION 2026
18/08/2026
This was our 3rd “festival” since moving to cropredy in 2023 but the first one that I have recorded here. Not a photography event, all images captured on my I-phone 17 pro.
Day 1, Thursday 13th August 2026. We collected our festival wristbands from the chapel in Cropredy early as Mrs. M is appearing with the Mangoes at the Old Coal Wharf at noon. All goes according to plan except her i-pad stand falls to bits necessitating a return home for a substitute (and the later purchasing of a replacement). They are the first live act at the newly reopened Old Coal Wharf and it was a successful gig by all accounts watched by several of our neighbours. After returning home with the “gear” we head to the main field in time to see Fairport Convention’s short opening set which traditionally opens the festival with the song “The Festival Bell”. It is blisteringly hot and many people are sheltering under umbrellas despite there being absolutely no chance of rain. Shared noodles for dinner. We saw Banter before Mrs. M returned to the Old Coal Wharf to see The Scarecrows set as the Mangoes bass player also plays for The Scarecrows. I stayed on the main field to see Soft Machine as they were, with the exception of Fairport Convention, the only band appearing on the main stage that I’d actually heard of! Mrs M returned to see local comedian Matt Bragg who made a rather cruel but witty gag about having to appear for 8 and a half hours at The Brasenose the next day (The Brasenose Inn had suffered financial problems and many of the acts booked for their 3 day “fringe” event had pulled out in support of bands and staff who had not been paid from the 2025 festival leaving some gaping holes in their schedule which, in fairness, they did manage to fill at the last minute). We watched the start of Turin Brakes but then called it a day.
Day 2, Friday 14th August 2026. No need for an early start as events on the main field do not start until noon. We wander up lugging our chairs and catch the end of the Cropredy Primary School Folk Class followed by Danny and The Champions of the World, Danny Dradley, The Celtic Social Club, Marshall Gilmour Webbs and the start of Breabach, heading home before Spooky Men’s Chorale and Richard Thomson. A shared frankfurter for dinner, we were joined for a short while by Alex and Barbra Sarbinowski, former work colleagues of mine from Alcan.
Day 3, Saturday 15th August 2026. We started the morning by walking around the Cropredy Village Scarecrow Trail, an annual event organised as part of the festival. Unfortunately the supply of maps indicating the whereabouts of the scarecrows had run out so we didn’t see them all but allocated 5 points to 4 different scarecrows and put our £5 into the money box at The Mulberry Cafe. Unfortunately someone had stolen Shaun The Sheep from a garden close to us on Station Road. More unfortunately a caravan was stolen from one of the camping fields, a police officer later told us that it had driven off at speed with no intention of stopping for security. Walking up to the main field we caught The Gerry Colvin Big Band, Rob Jones and The Restless Dream, The Haar (I may have rested my eyes during their performance), Barbara, Hayseed Dixie (my favourite act of the festival, especially “Hippy Joe”), Will Pound and Jenn Butterworth and the start of the Fairport Convention and Friends set including a number by Ralph McTell (but not Streets of London). Excellent shared fish and chips for dinner and somewhere along the line some doughnuts. We had planned to stay until the end for the traditional encore of Meet On The Ledge but Mrs. M was tired so we headed home down School Lane in almost total darkness as this is not a route used by many festival goers and is therefore not lit, luckily with some “Proper Prior Planning (Preventing Piss Poor Performance) we had taken torches to “light the way home” where I listened to the conclusion of the Fairport set on Radio Oxford (as I had in 2025).
Glorious weather (some would say too hot), excellent entertainment, a great selection of food and a good range of Hook Norton ale, cider and lager (I tried some of each), it was announced that all being well it will be repeated for the 60th time in 2027. In previous years we have attended more of the “fringe” events (The Brasenose, The Red Lion and The Cream of the Crop) but on this occasion stayed on the main field.
There are some images in a newly created Fairport Gallery.
Day 1, Thursday 13th August 2026. We collected our festival wristbands from the chapel in Cropredy early as Mrs. M is appearing with the Mangoes at the Old Coal Wharf at noon. All goes according to plan except her i-pad stand falls to bits necessitating a return home for a substitute (and the later purchasing of a replacement). They are the first live act at the newly reopened Old Coal Wharf and it was a successful gig by all accounts watched by several of our neighbours. After returning home with the “gear” we head to the main field in time to see Fairport Convention’s short opening set which traditionally opens the festival with the song “The Festival Bell”. It is blisteringly hot and many people are sheltering under umbrellas despite there being absolutely no chance of rain. Shared noodles for dinner. We saw Banter before Mrs. M returned to the Old Coal Wharf to see The Scarecrows set as the Mangoes bass player also plays for The Scarecrows. I stayed on the main field to see Soft Machine as they were, with the exception of Fairport Convention, the only band appearing on the main stage that I’d actually heard of! Mrs M returned to see local comedian Matt Bragg who made a rather cruel but witty gag about having to appear for 8 and a half hours at The Brasenose the next day (The Brasenose Inn had suffered financial problems and many of the acts booked for their 3 day “fringe” event had pulled out in support of bands and staff who had not been paid from the 2025 festival leaving some gaping holes in their schedule which, in fairness, they did manage to fill at the last minute). We watched the start of Turin Brakes but then called it a day.
Day 2, Friday 14th August 2026. No need for an early start as events on the main field do not start until noon. We wander up lugging our chairs and catch the end of the Cropredy Primary School Folk Class followed by Danny and The Champions of the World, Danny Dradley, The Celtic Social Club, Marshall Gilmour Webbs and the start of Breabach, heading home before Spooky Men’s Chorale and Richard Thomson. A shared frankfurter for dinner, we were joined for a short while by Alex and Barbra Sarbinowski, former work colleagues of mine from Alcan.
Day 3, Saturday 15th August 2026. We started the morning by walking around the Cropredy Village Scarecrow Trail, an annual event organised as part of the festival. Unfortunately the supply of maps indicating the whereabouts of the scarecrows had run out so we didn’t see them all but allocated 5 points to 4 different scarecrows and put our £5 into the money box at The Mulberry Cafe. Unfortunately someone had stolen Shaun The Sheep from a garden close to us on Station Road. More unfortunately a caravan was stolen from one of the camping fields, a police officer later told us that it had driven off at speed with no intention of stopping for security. Walking up to the main field we caught The Gerry Colvin Big Band, Rob Jones and The Restless Dream, The Haar (I may have rested my eyes during their performance), Barbara, Hayseed Dixie (my favourite act of the festival, especially “Hippy Joe”), Will Pound and Jenn Butterworth and the start of the Fairport Convention and Friends set including a number by Ralph McTell (but not Streets of London). Excellent shared fish and chips for dinner and somewhere along the line some doughnuts. We had planned to stay until the end for the traditional encore of Meet On The Ledge but Mrs. M was tired so we headed home down School Lane in almost total darkness as this is not a route used by many festival goers and is therefore not lit, luckily with some “Proper Prior Planning (Preventing Piss Poor Performance) we had taken torches to “light the way home” where I listened to the conclusion of the Fairport set on Radio Oxford (as I had in 2025).
Glorious weather (some would say too hot), excellent entertainment, a great selection of food and a good range of Hook Norton ale, cider and lager (I tried some of each), it was announced that all being well it will be repeated for the 60th time in 2027. In previous years we have attended more of the “fringe” events (The Brasenose, The Red Lion and The Cream of the Crop) but on this occasion stayed on the main field.
There are some images in a newly created Fairport Gallery.
