Burnham-On-Sea’s popular BOSfest festival is offering a jam-packed programme of live music, poetry, family fun and a dog show today (Saturday August 30th).
The free community festival started on Friday evening and continues today in Victoria Street with outdoor entertainment plus live music and poetry in the Ritz Social Club plus at the Victoria Hotel before moving to the Manor Gardens on Sunday (31st August). The full schedule is shown below.
BOSfest co-organiser Tanya Dyer says: “Saturday starts with a poetry session showcasing the amazingly talented local poets and their wonderful words from 12 – 2pm in the Gatsby Lounge at The Ritz Social Club in Victoria Street. This part of the festival continues to grow under the guidance of its coordinator Richard Curtis.”
“Also at 12pm the Nommees dog show will take place in Victoria Street, featuring contests such as Waggiest tail, Dog owner lookalike, Most Unique bark, Cutest Puppy and more.”
“Plus digging for treasure, Dog Art Corner, Cocktails for Dogs amongst other things, owner Paul Thorne has lined up a fantastic day of fun for all dog lovers. Also Kidzone will be present in Victoria street. They’ll be an icecream van and Thai food available too.”
“The music starts in the Victoria Hotel at 1.45 pm with soloist Ryan Cross who’ll be bringing you a mix of his own originals and few choice covers, followed by Keith O’Connell whose brings his twist to a range of songs from the 60’s to the present.”
“Chelsey Dee and Alex Pengelly will then be there with Chelsey’s beautiful self penned songs and musical Americana. Singer songwriter Bob Gallie will follow on, an absolute treasure with voice of an angel make sure not to miss him. Bridgwater College band Federal Blackout will then take to the stage with their take on an eclectic range of songs an some cracking originals of their own.”
“BOSfest favourites garage punk/ rockers Giant Robot Bodies will bring their energetic fun. The penultimate band in the Vic will be indie folk/ rock duo The Kahunas, who are guaranteed to have you up on your feet dancing. Bristol based Hip Hop Band The Caravan Collective will bring the evening to a close with their funk infused high energy show!”
“Meanwhile in The Ritz Social Club, Saturday’s music starts at 2pm with Bristol duo Get Down Services who smashed it at Glastonbury this year and have had sell-out UK tours. Following on, we will be welcoming another amazing duo Birmingham based high energy punks Gans whose debut album ‘Good for the soul’ will be released on September 19th. It’s an exciting time for them and we’re super excited to have them play.”
“Then we will have talented Bridgwater college student songwriter Luke Guard, followed by the ever-popular Delta River Blues Band who regularly sell out the Princess Theatre and are likely to have you up on your feet for a boogie! Next up will be the very talented Brazilian based rock guitarist Dion Smith, followed by brilliant Trampolene frontman Jack Jones who released a solo album a year ago and continues to tour with Trampolene, often supporting The Libertines and Pete Doherty.”
“Mask with enigmatic frontman Gary Wilde then take to the stage, who will be playing originals from their Renegade Flight days and a few choice covers. Up next, heavy rock band Helenbach full force electrifying riff-fuelled power rock they’re coming for you! Rounding things off in the Ritz will be headliners 3-piece female party punk band IDestroy.”
Sunday’s line-up will be in the Manor Gardens. Visitors are welcome to bring a picnic but there will also be a Thai food van and ice creams too plus a Kidzone, stalls, a tombola and raffle.
Tanya adds: “The music kicks off at 1pm with the amazing Worlewindband with renditions of Welcome to the Jungle and Pinball Wizard amongst their very wide and varied repertoire. You’ll be blown away, pardon the pun, and make sure you get there early – they’re not to be missed.”
“Rock guitarist Dion smith will then be joining us again, followed by Weston/ Cheddar based duo Strum and Bass covering tunes from the 60’s to the present. We’ll then be joined by the Rock Choir who of course need no introduction and then finally The Jamestown Brothers, describing themselves as an indie folk band with attitude we can’t think of a better way to end this year’s BOSfest.”
Organisers are urging attendees to support the festival by donating to collection buckets, buying merchandise, or grabbing a drink at the bar.
Tanya adds: “It’s getting harder and harder to put BOSfest on due to rising costs and the ever tighter criteria for funding. We do receive contributions from the venues and a grant from the Town Council, all of which we are very grateful for, but it costs many times more than we receive to put the festival on.”
“As you know we’d like to keep it free as we know it’s getting harder and harder for people to access live music not just because so many live music venues are closing but often for ordinary people just the cost of attending is becoming increasingly prohibitive even more so in these times of austerity so please if you can spare a little change for our collection buckets, buy a beer in the park, buy a T-shirt if you can as literally every penny will go towards next years event and every penny counts.”
