Blues at The Fold appeal for return of stolen marquee and stage

Blues at the Fold 2014

Saturday 5th July 2014
The Fold, New House Farm, Bransford, Worcester, Worcestershire, WR6 5JB, England MAP
£13 adults, £3 children under 12

Daily capacity: 450

Last updated: Tue 2nd Sep 2014

Blues at the Fold the Worcestershire community Blues festival held at The Fold, New House Farm, Bransford, in Worcester, annually in July has made an appeal on their website (here) for the return of a stolen marquee and stage.

The unique marquee and trailer/stage which is used at Blues at The Fold has been stolen putting in jeopardy a number of local festivals and events. The large purple and yellow marquee and the twin axle trailer that folds out to be a split level stage were stolen from The Fold at Bransford where it was stored between events.

Owned and run by Jigsaw Community Festivals of Alfrick, a not-for-profit organisation which sets out to bring nationally acclaimed live music to rural Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire, the stage and marquee have regularly been seen at events like Upton Blues Festival, Blues at The Fold, Taurus Festival, Jinney Ring Blues Festival, Blues at Broom Hill and a number of other one off charitable and not-for-profit events. The kit had been built with grant support from The Elmley Foundation and The Big Lottery Fund and had already been used to deliver 25 events.

"We had a festival this weekend so I went to pick the trailer up on Friday morning but it had gone – stolen sometime between 14/8 and 29/8," said Oliver Carpenter of Jigsaw Community Festivals. "The kit was completely unique and designed by us to make delivering small festivals of around 500 attendees easy and simple in rural locations. Owning the marquee and stage meant we could put on events either ourselves or in conjunction with other people that would otherwise have been very difficult to afford to put on across Worcestershire.

"We are obviously concerned that the metalwork will be scrapped and the trailer broken down, while the marquee and stage are much more valuable if they are kept in tact,” Oliver concluded. "Equally, unless it is returned we may be unable to make the planned donation of around £2000 to The World Land Trust – an organisation that protects rainforest buy buying it and protecting it in perpetuity – following a successful festival season which would be a real disappointment after the hard work of the summer."

Call Oliver on 07860-725771 if you have ANY news!

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