Baldersby Park, Thirsk
22nd – 24th July 2016
Deer Shed Festival 7 Preview: What to expect from the North’s Premier Family-Friendly Festival?
“This is the biggest and best festival yet” – it’s the thing every festival says every year but, in the case of the Deer Shed Festival, it could not be more accurate. The festival has invested in more music, more comedy, more arts, and more workshops than ever before; it’s even opened up a field dedicated just to sports! Despite all this growing, the team are working hard to preserve that friendly, family vibe that regular Deer Shedders have come to know and love. With plenty for both children and adults to enjoy, the Deer Shed Festival is looking to reaffirm its position as the North’s Premier Family-Friendly Festival.
This year’s music line-up reflects the festival’s growth with Richard Hawley, Everything Everything, and Beth Orton are taking the top spots whilst the full line-up also includes the likes of Scottish Legends Steve Mason and C Duncan; mesmerising solo artists Rae Morris, Anna Calvi, and Lone Lady; and ever-popular northern bands Field Music, Eagulls, and Money.
However, one of the beauties of Deer Shed Festival is that the quality doesn’t end with the music. This year’s comedy line-up includes stars of radio, TV, and (of course) the comedy circuit Mark Watson, Justin Moorhouse, Tom Wrigglesworth¸ and Rob Deering whilst the festival’s theatre shows (amongst which are Dinosaur Park, The Kagools, and Rayguns Look Real Enough) are all tried, tested, and loved at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Add to that a Q&A with the cast and crew of Dad’s Army, a panel discussion about arts in the North (The North Will Rise Again? staring Andy Burnham MP, Nick Ahad, Kate Fox, Adrian McNally, and Marie Nixon), and over 100 arts and science workshops including model making with Aardman Animation, and the organisers are beginning to wonder how exactly they’re going to squeeze all this in to just one weekend! It’s just lucky there’s that brand new sport’s field which will play host to a huge host of new sports including football sessions run by newly promoted Middlesbrough FC’s MFC Foundation.
Whilst for most festivals, organising and running a huge event might seem like enough to be getting on with, the Deer Shed Festival team have decided that they’re going to create and film a movie as well. With a predicted runtime of 30 minutes and a script which tells of Peter Black, the head of an evil corporation intent on using a dangerous type of virtual reality to put a stop to bad behaviour, this film is no small project. Whilst 10% of the footage has been pre-recorded in London, the majority of the film will be shot at the festival in our dedicated “Studio Tent” and will star many of the festival’s audience.
This year’s festival is movie-themed, so the festival will be packed full of movie-based surprises, activities, and just a touch of red carpet glamour. Is there a better way for a family to begin their summer holidays? We don’t think so.
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ABOUT THE DEER SHED FESTIVAL
Our history
This is the seventh Deer Shed Festival. The team behind it have been in place from the start and families are at the heart of the preparations, activities and services on site. In the last seven years we have steadily grown our attendance to 10000 with 46% under 16. We are weary of getting too big. Those seven years have seen a host of amazing bands play including John Grant, Johnny Marr, Billy Bragg, Edwyn Collins, Wolf Alice, I Am Kloot, Saint Etienne, The Wedding Present, House Of Love and Field Music.
What They Said About Deer Shed Festival:
“The best yet in Deer Shed’s burgeoning reputation in what is becoming the north’s answer to the Latitude Festival” Hartlepool Mail from 2015
“Set in beautiful rolling countryside outside the North Yorkshire market town of Thirsk, Deer Shed has quickly established itself as the jewel in the north of England’s summer festival crown. It is warm, welcoming and really rather wonderful.” God Is In The TV from 2015
“Because there’s something about the atmosphere, the site and the families, which remains unmatched anywhere in festival-dom. And I’m willing to wager that for 99% of the audience at Deer Shed, that’s what keeps them coming back year after year. Here’s to Deer Shed’s 6th birthday.” There Goes The Fear (from 2014)
“Deer Shed is jam packed with quality. The organisers have clearly given much thought to what all members of the family will want within a festival and have gone a considerable way to delivering that.” EFESTIVALS

Ticket price structure (inclusive of booking fees)
Early bird adult full weekend ticket (16+) £105 Sold Out
1st tier adult full weekend ticket (16+) £115 Sold Out
2nd tier adult full weekend ticket (16+) £125 Sold Out
3rd tier adult full weekend ticket (16+) £135 AVAILABLE.
4th tier adult full weekend ticket (16+) £145 Not released
Child full weekend ticket (6 to 15) £45
Child full weekend ticket (3 to 5) £10
Child full weekend ticket (0 to 2) Free
Sunday night camping per tent/live-in vehicle £50
(Only valid for holders of full weekend tickets)

FOR INFORMATION ON ALL ASPECTS OF THE FESTIVAL INCLUDING TERMS AND CONDITIONS RELATING TO TICKETS GO TO http://deershedfestival.com/

Deer Shed Festival Interview with Richard Hawley
– Interview questions, Hannah Secouet.
On 26th May 2016, Hannah Secouet conducted a phone interview with Deer Shed Festival’s Saturday Night headliner, Richard Hawley. Here it is…..

Hannah Hollow Meadows is your recent album. You’ve described it as an ‘internal work about
Secouet: lost places’ so, can you tell me where it’s come from? How did it evolve?

Richard Well … it came from being immobile. That was terrifying because on one hand, doctors
Hawley: are telling me “you’ll never walk, you have to have surgery” and on the other hand, I was given a lot of hope by my mates and physios.
My thoughts were that I’d been put in this position by natural means and I can get out of it by natural means … it just meant that that route to recovery was a lot more circuitous. But now, I’m physically stronger than I was before and I’m mentally much stronger and happier.
But it was really bad. 6 months is a really long time when you’re not able to walk very far or for long periods of time. You’re suddenly faced with yourself and your own thoughts. Luckily for me, my internal thinking process is not that bad. I could look around me and realise how blessed I was. I have a wonderful partner, three beautiful kids, and some really amazing relationships. I realised how blessed we can be. And that’s in relationships and love – not sucked up in all that material s**t. Just living this very simple life in Sheffield writing my songs … that just seems to be something I’ve never compromised and I’m happy about that. I am aware how lucky I am.

And when I got better we had the mother of all parties!
HS: How did that experience effect the album?
RH: There are a lot of dark twists and turns on the album. It’s not “ooo la la la, isn’t life happy”. It’s a record about acceptance, about accepting things the way they are. There are some things that are broken that are still alright – a three legged dog can still chase a ball.
HS: How did you actually write the album? I’m imagining you laid up in bed, in pain … were you able to pick up a guitar? Fiddle on a piano?
RH: It was in my head, the whole thing. The concept of it all, the lyrics, the melodies. I mean, I could play the guitar a fair bit and jot down lyrics and I used the Dictaphone quite a lot too. But, I’ve been writing things in my head more and more anyway. I’ve got this idea … if a song survives the night, it’s good.
HS: So is Hollow Meadows a reflection of modern life? About how we focus on how we look on the outside instead of what’s on the inside?
RH: Well, our internal well-being is something that’s often neglected, especially in this country. It’s sorely neglected, it really is. Our leaders always concentrate on wealth and income – they don’t realise that the search for that can be really damaging.
HS: Is there any more music in the making? Anything currently being written in your head?
RH: Always. It’s like a junk shop in there … a junk shop and a laundrette full of ideas and they’ll come out when they’re ready.
HS: Before live performances, how much practice do you do?
RH: We rehearse, like, once every six months or something … until it’s time to do some new songs. There’s always something that happens live that you can’t prepare for but I’m a bit of an old punk-rocker … not knowing what’s going to happen next is what makes it exciting. If everything was mapped out and clear, I wouldn’t see the point.
HS: If someone is coming to the Deer Shed Festival, and they’ve never seen you or don’t know any of your music, what can they expect?
RH: It’s not fireworks or anything like that. It’s just five blokes on stage playing rock and roll but…. If you can connect with just one person in the audience, that’s great. I hope that we’ll connect with at least two or three people at the Deer Shed Festival!
HS: Have you had chance to see what else is on at the Deer Shed? And what would you want to stick around and see?
RH: There’s actually a lot. Ed Harcourt is always good. He’s a great songwriter. Then there’s Meilyr Jones, the Welsh wizard, him and a band called Dancing Years they were on tour with us last year and that was a real pleasure to hear them. Dancing Years were incredibly emotional artists and I really connected with them … and Meilyr – his music is phenomenal; he’s going to have an interesting life. There’s also Buffalo Skinners who are a young Sheffield band and are worth checking out … they’re good fun!

By peter on June 19, 2016