Latest / The Discussion Podcast / BritFest Backstage 2026: Mark Ratcliffe, Fishermen’s Friends & Local Stars with RadioAlty.co.uk

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BritFest Backstage 2026: Mark Ratcliffe, Fishermen’s Friends & Local Stars with RadioAlty.co.uk · The Discussion Podcast

• 0:00
  This is The Late Late Lunch Show with Rod Maxwell. Supported by...
• 0:07
  That's for you, Rod! Childbed Learning in Nature's Playground.
• 0:10
  So, back here at BritFest, we just watched the fantastic Mark Ratcliffe and
• 0:14
  his band perform on stage. And we're backstage here in his dressing room.
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  Mark, we sort of knew you as somebody who talked about music,
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  presented music, Mark and Lord and all that type of thing, wasn't it?
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  But you've been playing with this band and it's a sort of folk eclectic type
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  thing. How long has that been going on for you?
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  Well, I mean, really being a radio presenter was an accidental second choice.
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  I wanted to be in a band. I've played in bands since I was 14,
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  which is a very long time now.
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  And so it's always been my hobby. I mean, I actually love it now because it's not my job.
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  Because I'm actually, I love playing. I've played with some of these guys for
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  the best part of 30 years.
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  They're amazing players. It's a bit like the Pogues for people who don't know.
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  You know, it's kind of mandolin, fiddle, accordion.
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  And they're great players and great old friends.
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  In fact, I said to my wife, I'm doing the Brit Fest today, and she said,
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  oh, what are you playing? I said, oh, we'll do some Shane McGowan songs and
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  the Irish Rover and the Raggle Taggle Gypsy.
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  She said, you do realise you've been playing the same set list since our oldest
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  daughter, who's now 28, was born?
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  I said, OK, yeah, well, it's a bit late to change it now.
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  So far, so good. And so we've just always played together on and off, but we don't tour.
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  We're just friends and we get together for a few gigs in the summer and usually
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  a few gigs around Christmas.
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  And I still love it, you know? And you play the Christmas song in the summer and it worked.
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  It does work. I mean, we play Fairy Tale of New York and I think that it's such
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  a great song and it's such a guaranteed sing-along. And we were on first today,
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  or headlining is another way of putting it.
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  And, you know, people just love that song, don't they? And I think once you
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  forget the kind of incongruity of it being in a field in summer,
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  everybody just thinks it's a folk song.
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  And it's just a song of kind of love and a song of togetherness and a song of
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  celebration and a song of kind of overcoming the odds and everything.
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  And I think that's what people want from a festival. Do you find today that...
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  People are open to all styles of music, so folk can sit alongside other stuff
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  at a music festival very easily because people are sharing and listening to
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  so much music these days.
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  I think that's right. I mean, when I said we were doing this in Europe,
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  you think, well, you know, we're on with ABC Eternal and Fisherman's Friends.
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  You think, well, there's something for everyone there, isn't there?
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  I think what we play is kind of a lot of it. I mean, basically,
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  it's roots in Irish music, you know. So there's a lot.
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  Of, and like, really, if you've had a drink, that music is just infectious. It just gets inside you.
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  So even though, you know, I have other bands, you know, an electronic band and
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  an acoustic folk duo, which are much more low-key, but they don't work at festivals. It's too low-key.
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  But this, you know, even at midday on a Sunday, it's like everybody's up for
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  it. Well, not everybody, clearly. I mean, there's huge sway.
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  There's an empty field there. But there are quite a lot of people there.
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  There were more than we expected.
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  And I think that people are just here for an escape from the world, aren't they?
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  We're all bombarded with so much kind of depressing and negative news and we
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  don't know what to believe or anything.
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  I think why people come to festivals is to escape from that.
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  You know, you leave the real world behind for the weekend. And what better way
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  than kind of having a couple of pints and dancing to some idiots doing diddly diddly?
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  It strikes me that as much as the towns we live in.
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  Are challenging in a way, that with music now people of all generations are
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  engaging in it whereas maybe our our own parents didn't
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  go to festivals at this time of life but now today the open the music is much
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  more open but more people are going to festivals there's more festivals to go to
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  and it's a lot more eclectic in terms of what you're listening to do you find that
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  yeah and also i mean like when rock and roll started people assumed it was music
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  for teenagers and it was going to peter out So you've now got the Rolling Stones,
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  who are more popular than there have ever been, probably.
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  And so they're 80-odd, aren't they?
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  So why wouldn't people who want to watch music who are 80-odd want to go to something?
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  I mean, festivals can be a bit of a challenge. I think they are for young people
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  in some ways, because you want to get hammered and stay up all night, don't you?
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  And I don't want to do that. I mean, this is great. I'm talking to you. It's half past one.
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  I did a radio show this morning. We played an hour ago. and um.
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  You know i'll probably be in bed for a kip at about three
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  you know but i mean my good my idea of a good night out is lunch you know i
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  mean i like things early in the day i don't stay up late you know and so um
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  but that's okay yeah that's okay you know we've all had a good time and uh yeah
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  i mean i i think our gigs really it's a victimless crime rod,
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  Victimless, I like that. It's a victimless crime, you know. No one was hurt by it.
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  We got slightly paid. We've had a couple of free drinks. The crowd enjoyed it.
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  You know, it's like... And nobody got harmed. Nobody got harmed.
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  No, no, no. So I think, you know, we have fun and we like it.
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  I often think if you can put a smile on the face of one person,
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  you know, by playing a bit of music, it's almost job done.
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  You're putting a smile on many people's faces today. I hope so.
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  And having a laugh yourselves.
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  I mean, I'm not doing it 68 years old.
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  I'm not building a career. If it wasn't fun, I wouldn't do it. Exactly.
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  So it's like, this is really kind of like meeting up with a few old mates for
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  a pint, but we also play some music.
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  And we are good at it, because we've been practising 30 years.
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  And it does take a bit of practice, doesn't it? Well, not anymore.
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  I mean, it did, but like now we know it. And so, yeah, I mean,
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  you know, but these guys are good players and they play all the time.
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  So there's like, they're playing all the time. so they're sort of practicing
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  on their own and when we come back together we sort of usually have one rehearsal
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  or maybe a little gig we played this time we didn't have any rehearsals we played
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  at the salty dog in northwich which we love,
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  so we played that and we play we were doing some festivals we did some festivals of original music,
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  and we did this set we did today so we did both sets at the salty dog just to
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  see what we knew and what we didn't you know,
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  and tidy it all up quick last question okay i've been asking people all week
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  if they could have their own festival so rackliff fest or mark fest and you're
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  you're playing it obviously obviously
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  who would you want to have as your guest who would you want to come,
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  and play sing with you dead or alive oh,
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  dead or important uh yeah okay i'm thinking friday night abba yes get the get
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  the buzz yep saturday night elvis oh,
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  sunday night bob marley and the whalers you went big on saturday come on that's a good festival.
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  That's the best festival there's ever been and would you have somebody coming
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  in as your star guest in your set oh in our set well I mean who would we have
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  in our set yeah Bob Dillon oh.
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  I like it not Robert Plant he's doing a bit of folk stuff at the moment he is
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  yeah yeah Robert Plant yeah well alright we'll have Robert Plant then,
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  if you're pushing Robert Plant have a word with him we'll do Robert Plant then
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  yeah yeah it's been a pleasure to see you nice to see you and thank you for
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  putting a smile on our faces yeah yeah thanks for everyone at Radio Alty thank
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  you very much keep up the good work keep the fierce yeah yeah yeah cheers pleasure,
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  you're listening to the late late lunch show with back to the garden childcare
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  where little explorers grow naturally,
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  So we're backstage here after Mark Ratcliffe's set, which I have to say,
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  loads of energy. And I'm here with a man who writes his stuff with him.
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  Your name is Paul. Yeah, Paul. I'm one half of electronic supergroup Oon,
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  based in Nutsford in Cheshire.
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  Now, that had a real vibe about it on stage there. He was great,
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  wasn't he? He really was. I mean, he just brought energy and everyone was clapping.
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  And you even played the Christmas song. I know.
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  In the middle of July. In the middle of July. And it worked. It is, you know.
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  But, yeah, he's absolutely legendary, you know.
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  And, yeah, he brought something, especially being on early. Like you said,
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  I'm number one artist here.
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  So tell me, you do some songwriting with them? I do. I write some electronic
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  music. We're on our sixth album. Oh.
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  Yeah. And we first met in a pub in Cheshire over the love of our dogs and Man City.
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  And we then, I played him some music and he kind of said, did you actually write this?
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  Because it's really good and I'm disappointed if you didn't write it.
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  So I wrote it and he loved it and he put vocals on it and then we've been writing
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  since 2017 and we've played at Blue Dot, we've done festivals up and down the
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  country but it's just the two of us and it's songs and visuals.
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  So everything's, I write the music, Mark writes the lyrics. Have you always been into music?
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  Is this what you've done? Yeah, well I was doing, I used to tour manage Mark's band's Galleon Blast.
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  For years and then I've been writing music, I've worked at Factory Records for
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  a number of years writing remixing my own music,
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  We've worked with Doves, you know, sub-sub before, so, yeah,
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  I've got a bit of a history, should I say.
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  Do you find today one of the wonderful things about the music industry is it's for all age groups.
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  I mean, go back 30, 40 years ago, people our age wouldn't have been going to
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  festivals the same way now.
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  And actually, the music has not left our generation, which is a lovely thing.
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  I absolutely totally agree with you. I think I was here on Friday with my friend
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  Carl Hunter from the farm.
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  And the age group it was it was so wide you have grandkids granddads,
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  all dressed up and it's we were looking with the weather and we are looking
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  with the weather today and i think you're right it's festivals like the brit fest cuts across
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  all age groups and barriers you know it's amazing and i think what's important
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  about them is they give a platform for both the guys are at the other end one end.
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  The youngs upcoming bands absolutely i was told uh by the stage guy that they
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  started off doing the emerging artists and buskers in a little tent no the size
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  of a port we were here then well have you seen the size i know it's massive,
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  you know um bands would love to play established bands would love to play that
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  let alone this amazing setup and stage that we've got and obviously Radio Alty
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  you know he doesn't listen to you.
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  But I mean this area you're a Knotsford man yeah but this area has had a rich
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  musical history going back going back to Stone Roses Dismissed and beyond and beyond you know you had,
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  Paul Young from Sad Cafe yeah you know which is one of my legends he's got a
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  blue plaque and then but you know the Cheshire area and especially having it,
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  three and a half miles away from where we live. You know, 10 minute car.
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  I love your story with Mark. The only bit probably is I would be more red than
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  a blue, but I'll let you off with that one.
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  We're all Mancunians. Even if you come from Belfast. Exactly.
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  George Best, one of my favourite ever footballers. How can you not like George
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  Best? It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. And you. Really great pleasure. Thank you very much.
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  You're listening to the Late Late Lunch Show. With back to the garden childcare.
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  Where little explorers grow naturally.
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  So here at the Brickfest, I'm delighted to be with two gentlemen who have made
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  singing their, it's almost like a new career for you two.
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  It's Jeremy and John from the Fisherman's Friends.
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  That's it. Tell me, now, how long is it since you started singing together and
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  then came into fame, if you like?
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  We were going, we started in 1991, Jeremy, something like that, I think.
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  So 35 years, 35 years, we sung together.
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  It doesn't seem a day too long and we were we were discovered and plucked from
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  obscurity which if you call corporal obscurity that's where we came from.
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  When we were both approaching our 50th birthday so guys yeah we had no plans to,
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  we sang in Port Isaac for charity with our mates it was like between sort of
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  8 and 11 of us at different times and we sang for charity every Friday night
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  through the summer months.
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  And then, like you say, we got plucked, we got picked up because we had a bit
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  of a story. We could sing a bit, but we had a good story as well.
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  Fishermen, lifeboat men, all that sort of thing, you know.
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  And it's just gone from strength to strength, to be honest with you.
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  A lot of the songs you started singing, I'm sure, were traditional of the area,
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  had been passed down through generation after generation. Was that the case?
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  Yeah, well, it was because we started singing a lot of Cornish songs as well.
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  But because of where we lived um because of the sort of simplicity and energy
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  behind them we we sort of had a natural bend towards sea shandish jared don't
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  we really yeah yeah because there's a great tradition of singing any cornish pub,
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  when the conversation dies down at about 9 10 30 or whatever you know people
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  will just start singing and they'll sing certain things like little eyes or
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  something out there cambourne hill cornish type stuff,
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  and then it's sort of um because we used to do a bit of rowing as well and the
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  gigs and of course helps with the rhythm yeah this is it it all helps with that
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  so it all and then we decided to learn the um verses as well as the choruses yeah.
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  That helps well it does yeah but we used to just join in with the choruses before
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  and then we said we should we
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  should actually learn the verses but then it turned out within our group,
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  john's a good bass man and i'm baritone we had a couple of good tenors so actually
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  we had a hell of a balance just out of nowhere yeah and everyone seemed to know how to harmonize.
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  Do you think that's just because it came through almost the family osmosisly
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  if you like? It's a Methodist county really and the big thing back in the day was the chapel.
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  My great uncle used to go down to chapel. It wasn't overly religious,
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  but that was a great night out. Down to chapel, they'd have a preacher there
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  that would come around, and he would be thumping the desk, and then they'd sing
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  some real rousing stuff.
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  So they just enjoy singing. So we just got an enjoyment of singing. Yeah.
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  Do you ever get that feeling of goosebumps when you're together,
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  and it feels together? There's something unique about that.
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  A couple of times this afternoon, there were nine of us on stage,
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  and so we're covering all the bases with a range of voices. We've got a couple of top tenors.
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  We've got the baritons. We've got second tenors. We've got me down in the bilges singing the bass.
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  And there were some times today when we let it ring, didn't we?
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  And it was nice, wasn't it?
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  If a note really rings out, we just hang on to it, don't we?
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  Yeah, we do. We all know on stage.
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  Oh that is i mean there's no there's no coming off until we've had enough of
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  it you know that that that is so a moment isn't it because you feel connected,
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  that's joy let's see singing is about joy isn't it and that's what we we get out of it,
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  you know if you've had a really rubbish week or whatever or a few days or whatever's
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  going on in your life you can go and you can sing and it lifts you up it lifts
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  you up so i would urge anybody to join a local choir yeah.
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  You know whether it's mixed or male or female, join a local choir.
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  You'll have no better hour and a half in your week than singing together.
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  There's something about it. I think what your story did, though, was,
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  It opened up for men. It's okay to come together and do this stuff. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
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  Well, Jeremy's been instrumental with the younger men in our village now,
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  particularly some of them in the lifeboat group, in getting them together to sing.
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  So you've got guys in their 20s and 30s, just like we used to be.
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  We were sort of a victim of our own success, because we can't actually sing in Port Isaac now.
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  If we announce we're going to sing in Port Isaac, we get 2,000 people there,
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  and there's not enough room for 2,000 people in Port Isaac.
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  So actually we've had to rein in what we do we still sing impromptu but we can't
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  say we're going to do it so i thought it was a great shame there's no actually
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  the male singing and well just you know chorus singing it's not it's gone out
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  of port isaac so i thought it'd be nice,
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  so another group has started really out of the lifeboat basically but there's
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  more there's more people joined on there so there's a whole group i was in the pub on wednesday,
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  and i just stand at the back now and these guys just run with it and it's just
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  i was so proud you know just they're doing it now. I don't want to run it.
• 16:36
  I don't want to, you know, I'll join them in, but I don't want to, they just run in with it.
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  How much has your life changed? Well, I,
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  I'll say, we were both approaching 50 when we were plucked from obscurity.
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  And how young, and I mean, sorry, you know, blokes or girls in their teens or
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  20s deal with it, particularly solo performers, I have no idea.
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  Because you're told this and you're told that and you're told the other.
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  Well, there were 10 of us when we started, and we were all fairly crusty, really.
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  And we, you know, we're Cornish. we sort of think yeah well hang on a minute,
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  we're very levelers as well no one's allowed.
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  To get above themselves you know it's just like if anybody got too giddy or
• 17:23
  excited there was nine others there to stamp on them and say hang on don't be
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  so stupid it's not like and so it's been that way all the way through actually
• 17:32
  isn't it and so yes very much,
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  so that's worked in our favour I think and what's the furthest afield you've
• 17:38
  actually sung well you went to Australia in January because our films you know
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  you've got two films and a musical, they've done really well in Australia.
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  So they were sort of saying, you need to come over. So we went over.
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  So this January, we spent the best part of January over in December,
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  January, over in Australia.
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  And it was all sold out. We did like 15 or 16 gigs. 15 gigs in 18 days. 15 gigs in there. Yeah.
• 18:01
  That takes a lot of guys. Well, I've got to say, we were flying from here to
• 18:05
  there, and doing gigs in the evening. That was a bit crazy.
• 18:09
  Yeah, sold out. Yes. Very, very flattering. And what was an interesting thing
• 18:15
  is we've done, you know, we still consider ourselves because of what we came from.
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  You know, we think semi-professional. We think of ourselves.
• 18:24
  We saw Jeremy still fishes.
• 18:26
  I still run my business, right? And all the other guys still work as well.
• 18:30
  But we've done 55 or 56 gigs in six months, right? That's more than Taylor Swift.
• 18:37
  She's done 150 gigs in 18 months. The management are saying now you're doing
• 18:43
  more gigs now than most bands do. He said, well, that needs to stop because
• 18:47
  it's interfering with our lives now. Yeah, yeah. But we haven't done as many costume changes as her.
• 18:51
  Well, I have to say, you don't need that, do you? You've got a look and your
• 18:56
  look stays with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're all right. Yeah,
• 18:58
  we can't change that now. Nobody's ever turned up and said, who's your barber
• 19:01
  or your groomer? Well, not my barber.
• 19:04
  Or your moustache. Jeremy, oh, it needs a tweak occasionally,
• 19:07
  yeah. Yeah, we thought this was almost a strange booking in a way,
• 19:10
  But we always sort of say, if you book the Fisherman's Friends,
• 19:13
  you'll get the Fisherman's Friends.
• 19:14
  We can't alter it because of a certain crowd that's going to be there.
• 19:19
  Why would you? Well, that's it.
• 19:20
  No, if you book the Fisherman's Friends, you will get the Fisherman's Friends.
• 19:23
  The King's Singers aren't going to turn up. You know, it'll be us.
• 19:26
  But what have you made of BritFest then? Oh, it's been a lovely atmosphere, actually.
• 19:30
  Everyone's onside, right for the road. Everyone backstage has got us in,
• 19:34
  fast tracked us through. No aggravation at all.
• 19:37
  And all backstage, and that's been fantastic. And the stage hands make a huge
• 19:42
  difference to us because we've got to do a quick sound check,
• 19:45
  and we're vocal so it needs to be yeah it needs to be right and they got it
• 19:49
  right so quickly they do then so yeah brilliant we're very very happy,
• 19:54
  you may or may not know that alteringham has quite a rich musical history the
• 19:58
  smiths the stones i mean johnny moore lived or lives not far from there,
• 20:06
  there's other bands around this area paul uh paul young for example.
• 20:11
  So for us actually having this festival here, it feels like the right thing.
• 20:16
  Music is part of the history.
• 20:18
  I'm so excited tonight because ABC are here. And Genoa, that was my soundtrack
• 20:25
  at the time when I was young and vital, you know, in the 1980s.
• 20:31
  I love the lexicon of love.
• 20:34
  And so Caroline and I, we came up in our van. We played it coming up the motorway
• 20:38
  today. I said, oh Jesus, I've forgotten a lot of that. Well,
• 20:42
  I do a podcast with four or three other lads who we've known each other since we were five.
• 20:47
  We call it Guardians of the Vinyl Vault. And the idea is that you select a band,
• 20:53
  one person pitches it, and you have to decide whether they go into this mythical
• 20:57
  vault as godlike geniuses, a club class, or you band them for life.
• 21:02
  And our first band was ABC. And we watched them do the Lexicon of Love tour
• 21:06
  a wee while ago with almost like a symphonic orchestra. Yeah.
• 21:10
  Yeah, amazing. It was fantastic. Class.
• 21:14
  Absolutely class. The production on that first album was magnificent when I'm
• 21:17
  listening to. Yeah, brilliant. Brilliant. And it's timeless,
• 21:20
  isn't it? And they were, yeah. And I mean, that was, it's funny how music you're
• 21:25
  saying about, you know, around here, around Altrincham, you have your big musical heritage.
• 21:29
  That musical heritage came from Sheffield because you had The Human League and Heaven's 17. Yeah.
• 21:34
  All at the same time. Isn't that weird? and now in Port Isaac you've got the
• 21:38
  fisherman's friends. Yeah.
• 21:39
  Well, I'll tell you, have you ever thought of doing a Christmas song,
• 21:44
  We actually did. We did one. We shantied up a Soul 3 ships a couple of years ago.
• 21:51
  We'll have to dig that out for our Christmas settlers. We performed it in Westminster
• 21:56
  Abbey for Princess Catherine at our charity due early December. December last year.
• 22:04
  What another that was. So if you could collab with one singer,
• 22:08
  okay, dead or alive, okay?
• 22:11
  And it would be who would you have collabed with you well I'm a rock and roller
• 22:17
  so I'd go back to Buddy Holly I would that's a good one yeah I would I don't
• 22:21
  know how that would work but you know
• 22:22
  oh I think Buddy would be up but I go right back to that myself I don't you
• 22:26
  know age wise I don't really go quite about that far but you know I do I love Buddy Holly
• 22:31
  I'd sing with Ella Fitzgerald yes oh,
• 22:35
  that's a classic she's got a deeper voice than me.
• 22:39
  Well could I better mustache as well Well, can I just say, it's been a real
• 22:43
  honor to meet you. We love your story.
• 22:45
  I think it's what this country is. It's one thing we need, really,
• 22:49
  isn't it? Stories like that. Yeah.
• 22:51
  We're happy with it. Yeah, the story checks out. Like I say,
• 22:53
  John's been on the lifeboat. I'm a fisherman.
• 22:56
  So it sort of checks out. But, yeah, we're very, very lucky. It's not a construct.
• 23:00
  It is a real thing. And I think that's how it works. Well, thank you.
• 23:05
  Thank you very much. Cheers.
• 23:07
  Thank you. You're listening to The Late Late Lunch Show Back to the Garden Childcare,
• 23:12
  where little explorers grow naturally.
• 23:16
  So, we're here at Radio Alty and we've just seen a fantastic performance by
• 23:21
  a group called Absolute Belters and they're a choir.
• 23:25
  And we have Claire and Sharon. Now, Claire is the music choir leader.
• 23:30
  And I'm one of the choristers. She's one of the choristers. And there's about
• 23:33
  70 in the group, isn't there? Yeah, absolutely 70. So, yeah,
• 23:37
  we've been set up now about 12 years. Right. And we came together for a community
• 23:42
  event before Alty Market was set up.
• 23:45
  To bring people together singing in Old Tringham. So we had kids,
• 23:49
  we had workers, we had retired people. And one of the choirs was a mum's choir.
• 23:55
  And it was meant to be a six-week project where everyone learned how to sing
• 23:58
  and we sang some songs in the centre of Old Tringham when it was much less fancy than it is now.
• 24:03
  And after six weeks, all the women just said, we want to continue.
• 24:08
  And that's when Absolute Belters was formed.
• 24:10
  And it's just got bigger and bigger ever since. So how many of the band are in the group?
• 24:15
  We had 63 singing today. We have about 80 on our register and it's very relaxed.
• 24:21
  So people can come and go, you know, they can sign up for projects.
• 24:26
  And so it's quite a flexible group. That's why we'll always have a big turnout,
• 24:30
  but often it won't be everybody participating. That's young and old.
• 24:33
  Absolutely. There's no age limit at all. And we've got a huge age range.
• 24:37
  I won't say how old our oldest member is because she'd be very cross with me.
• 24:40
  But we go up into our late 70s, definitely. Okay.
• 24:44
  And you're doing modern songs? Yeah, it's all contemporary music.
• 24:47
  So we'll do, like today we were doing Pink Pony Club. We did Florence and the
• 24:51
  Machine. We did The Killers.
• 24:53
  So contemporary stuff. We also do in more formal concerts, we'll do musical theatre. Yes.
• 24:58
  But yeah, that's the repertoire range, really. And what do the other members
• 25:02
  in the band or in the group think?
• 25:04
  Well, we love Tina and Claire, who run Absolute Belters. They are so entertaining.
• 25:08
  Every week it's like going to a comedy act, honestly.
• 25:11
  And it's just brilliant. It's brilliant for our well-being. our souls
• 25:15
  we just love the singing and songs they pick are always so much fun that it's
• 25:18
  just wonderful and they've got a really loyal community that they've created
• 25:22
  and they also have a children's choir as well called little belters so the the
• 25:25
  facebook page is called little belters
• 25:28
  if anyone wants to follow and if anyone wants to join that'd be wonderful we
• 25:31
  do several concerts throughout the year we do a christmas concert for prevent
• 25:35
  breast cancer at manchester cathedral which is always really well attended
• 25:39
  and then we do our end of year concert which we've actually We've got tomorrow.
• 25:42
  BritFest is an additional one that we've taken on this year,
• 25:44
  which we've really enjoyed. Where is it? We hope it's going to be back again.
• 25:47
  It's at the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall, which is the University of Manchester's Concert Hall.
• 25:51
  But we've done it in different places. We've done it at the Stoller Hall next to Cheetham's.
• 25:55
  We've done it at the Royal Northern College of Music. So we always have a kind
• 25:58
  of big celebration at the end of the year where all our choirs,
• 26:00
  like the children's choirs and the mum's choir come together.
• 26:03
  Not the mum's choir anymore. It's the absolute adults who come together.
• 26:06
  Yeah, and you're the most animated choir person I've ever seen in my life.
• 26:13
  Well, we also sing at the Manchester Marathon every year just outside Alty Market.
• 26:18
  And anyone who knows us knows that me and my sister, who also runs the choir
• 26:22
  with me, we dress up in crazy costumes and we just jump around and dance around
• 26:26
  and sing. And I just think...
• 26:28
  It's not stuffy. It's not boring. Singing in a choir can be a bit free and easy
• 26:33
  and it doesn't have to be perfect.
• 26:35
  It can just be full of joy and fun. And, you know, people in our choir,
• 26:39
  we've got doctors, we've got lawyers, we've got teachers, we've got managing
• 26:43
  directors of companies and they've got busy, busy lives and they just come and
• 26:47
  have an absolute blast on a Thursday. So do you meet in the evening?
• 26:50
  Yeah, Thursday evenings we meet eight till nine every week and we miss it when
• 26:54
  it's not on in the school holidays.
• 26:57
  Yes well it was fantastic and all the best for the future thank you well i've
• 27:02
  definitely lost a few pounds with that to be around thank you so much thank you.
• 27:07
  Live from brit fest this is radio,
• 27:12
  it's radio alty live from the brit fest we're in the vip lounge um but it's
• 27:16
  the abc warranty vip lounge and we've got a dell from
• 27:21
  abc warranty and now you are gonna be introducing abc tonight I've been telling
• 27:26
  people about what you're going to wear, and you've got it.
• 27:28
  And I love what on the back, warranty of love.
• 27:32
  Well, it was actually a very last-minute purchase order from another local company.
• 27:37
  So creative in Altrincham.
• 27:39
  So just a little plug-in for them. So that was great. Kate, the owner there.
• 27:42
  It's all about collabing and bringing together all these local businesses and
• 27:46
  letting everyone thrive from it. It is.
• 27:48
  And the whole festival's been a bit like that, hasn't it? It has.
• 27:51
  You know, so we were just saying earlier, weren't we? We've got Surigea,
• 27:54
  the food supplier's amazing restaurant in Hale.
• 27:58
  Sri Lankan and then we've also got here so they're obviously doing the food
• 28:02
  catering for our VIP lounge and then we've also got Alibi Carl and his team
• 28:06
  from Alibi also an amazing local bar
• 28:09
  in Altingham that do private functions and events and they've absolutely smashed
• 28:13
  it so the two of them collabing and here you're looking after our guests it's
• 28:16
  amazing and last night in this this tent this
• 28:20
  marquee this this this world we almost had the festival within the festival didn't we Oh, my God.
• 28:26
  Wasn't it cracking? It was banging. It was banging. It was banging.
• 28:29
  And my voice is really struggling this morning just to, you know,
• 28:32
  sing along with all the guys. I mean, local bands, all the local talent.
• 28:36
  It's just amazing. It was perfect.
• 28:39
  It was like the little secret festival within the festival. It was.
• 28:43
  And it was gorgeous, wasn't it? You know, you know, right? Exactly.
• 28:46
  Well, that's exactly right.
• 28:47
  So tonight you're going to be on stage introducing the band.
• 28:50
  Now, are you a fan of ABC? You must be. Oh, my God. I love ABC.
• 28:54
  In fact, don't give me that look.
• 28:56
  I'd be to see them. You know what look I'm talking about? Everyone knows what
• 28:59
  look I'm talking about. No, I don't. The look.
• 29:02
  Of love. That's the look of love. I know, it's not the look of love, is it?
• 29:05
  It's the warranty of love. It's the warranty of love. Shh, don't tell everyone.
• 29:09
  But there is something about them, isn't there? They still play really well.
• 29:13
  They are so cool. They're so cool.
• 29:15
  You know, I just think Martin Fry, wow.
• 29:18
  Martin Fry, you know what? I couldn't remember saying that. But I couldn't remember.
• 29:21
  My names are terrible. I held you out there. But you really did help me out.
• 29:24
  But he's got a lovely frame and he wears like a gold lammy suit when I saw him
• 29:29
  on stage. Oh my God, why don't he go and get changed? And, well,
• 29:32
  no, you're okay. You, you, you'll be cool.
• 29:34
  I've got my ripped jeans. It's like, you know, I've got far cries from the office.
• 29:38
  You're festival chic. Festival chic, just like this place has been festival chic.
• 29:42
  But it's been a wonderful weekend, hasn't it? Yeah, you know,
• 29:45
  and you guys have also pulled it out of the bag as well. You know,
• 29:47
  you've been amazing. You know,
• 29:48
  you've been interviewing all the local talent here in our V&B Lounge.
• 29:52
  You know, you've been bringing people together, you know, the whole thing.
• 29:56
  You've collaborated with the whole festival vibes so well.
• 29:59
  It's our pleasure because it's just been an honour to be in here and to be part
• 30:03
  of it. And you set up in a great location, right? Oh, fantastic.
• 30:08
  I think I've said to you before, I think next year, let's have the ABC bougie bedrooms.
• 30:13
  Oh, my Lord. I don't know if the beds will fit in here, but yeah,
• 30:16
  a lot of other people as well. You can have a little hotel. Actually,
• 30:19
  there's a bit of an idea there. You've just given me a little light bulb moment. There you go.
• 30:22
  There you go. There you go. Well, yeah, we were thinking four posters with lots
• 30:26
  of like, you know, sort of Arabic sort of feels. Yeah, yeah,
• 30:29
  yeah, yeah. So, yeah, you could get all the, you know, swishy.
• 30:32
  Exactly. Gorgeous curtains and the lighting. And we could have Sigriya bring
• 30:37
  you breakfast in the morning. Oh, my Lord.
• 30:40
  This is something, right? We're on to something. We're on to something.
• 30:42
  Well, here, thank you from us because you've been, you're brilliant sponsors of Radio Alta.
• 30:48
  You're great sponsors of the local community. you play a big role in the local
• 30:52
  community and you're a big company in your area in the construction area yeah,
• 30:57
  so without you and sponsors like you we couldn't do what we do so thank you,
• 31:01
  from the bottom of our hearts no worries at all thank you for having me on live
• 31:04
  from BritFest this is Radio Alty,
• 31:09
  So someone that's just popped up from the little big top stage is Amy Alex.
• 31:14
  Amy, welcome to the VIP lounge.
• 31:17
  Oh, it's amazing. I feel like I'm a celebrity in here. It's quite bougie, isn't it?
• 31:21
  It is. I walked in, I was like, oh my God, I feel like I'm in Barcelona in the beach halls.
• 31:26
  I think that's the vibe they're going for. I think they'll love you.
• 31:30
  What have you made at BritFest? It's just fantastic. I came here last year doing
• 31:36
  performing at one of the bus stops.
• 31:38
  And it was brilliant then but they've added so much on this year so it just
• 31:41
  seems to expand every year, it's great I've been saying to people then,
• 31:44
  as well as the main stage and now the little big top stage which has you been
• 31:47
  on, there's so many little fringe things going on as well,
• 31:51
  I was just saying to John, it's great how they give to small and upcoming artists
• 31:56
  at the platform to come and do this I think it's so important though,
• 32:00
  so let's talk about you and your music.
• 32:02
  You are a singer-songwriter I am indeed, yes and you're playing acoustic, what do you play?
• 32:08
  So I started out doing acoustic because I've been a street performer for about five years.
• 32:14
  So I started out acoustically and over time we've put together a band and we've
• 32:17
  started to do event stages and festival stages and just kind of climb onto bigger and bigger stages.
• 32:23
  So we're a full band now playing the track and it's just massive.
• 32:27
  And is the band under your name then or has it got a band name?
• 32:30
  Yeah, so it's under my name, centre of attention always.
• 32:33
  Well, tell me, how does that day now make work, right? Do you feel more pressure
• 32:38
  because it's under your name?
• 32:40
  I think a lot of the labs in the band, they're pretty happy to not be the center
• 32:46
  of attention. So it works really well. They just love what they do.
• 32:50
  They love playing their respective instruments.
• 32:53
  I don't think they'd want to be...
• 32:56
  Up front so I'm a massive attention.
• 33:00
  Singer we were talking about this on show recently which is you have to have
• 33:04
  a certain I don't know I would say it's ego but you have to have a character
• 33:09
  that isn't too apologetic if you like definitely you've got to,
• 33:14
  you do have to have some sense of ego to be a performer.
• 33:19
  There's no humbleness, really. Was that you as a child?
• 33:25
  Yeah, I mean, I've always been theatrical. I like my musicals and all that kind
• 33:29
  of stuff. So I'm a performer by nature, but my sister's totally different.
• 33:35
  She's like a total introvert, so we're different ends of the spectrum.
• 33:40
  So tell me about your music.
• 33:43
  How would you describe your music? My music is a blend of so many different genres.
• 33:50
  I think we're predominantly pop, but we definitely take influence from a lot
• 33:55
  of R&B music and indie and rock as well.
• 33:58
  So our set, the set that we're doing, we've done today and it's going to be
• 34:05
  the upcoming EP is so eclectic. There's a bit of everything on there.
• 34:12
  So we really like to lend ourselves to lots of different genres.
• 34:14
  And again this has been a theme through the interviews this week which is do
• 34:18
  you think because of the easier access to music because it's digital that your
• 34:23
  generation and maybe the generation since,
• 34:25
  after you or before you sorry have a wider knowledge of lots of genre lots of
• 34:31
  decades and you're sort of,
• 34:34
  masking all that up together i would say so i mean like you said it's so accessible
• 34:39
  these days you can just click a button and you're on and you're on to like a
• 34:42
  new artist aren't you and they shuffle
• 34:44
  new artists for you on spotify but i was born in 1998 so i don't really know
• 34:50
  a time before that and what it was like without the internet i grew up with
• 34:54
  the internet that's mad isn't it does that make you feel old oh,
• 34:57
  1998 i got married the year after that yeah i did indeed sorry sorry,
• 35:02
  for reminding you of oh those years going back no no my kids do it every single
• 35:07
  day, to be honest with you.
• 35:09
  And life tells you that every day. But so.
• 35:14
  Songwriting, right? The thing for me about songwriting is,
• 35:18
  you have to expose a part of yourself that is a very um that could be a very revealing thing,
• 35:26
  and what you're writing about is often your deepest emotions unless you've got
• 35:30
  some ability to write about something that's completely non-contextual if you like hi,
• 35:35
  when you're writing do you get this do you get the idea for the song through
• 35:39
  the words or or the the tune or Or does it all match together?
• 35:43
  I think I, it depends on, it depends on the day, but I think I mostly write the lyrics first.
• 35:51
  It's my way, I know this is so cliche and generic and a lot of artists say it,
• 35:54
  but it was my way of processing things that have happened in my life.
• 35:59
  So I just used to put words down for years and years and years and never do anything with them.
• 36:05
  And then over time, it's definitely been uncomfortable, to be honest.
• 36:11
  To put those out into the public. I can imagine. Right, because I'm quite...
• 36:15
  How it feels. Yeah, it's quite, especially when you're writing a lot of emotive, vulnerable songs.
• 36:19
  And it still is, you know, like when I was just doing my set at the Little Big
• 36:23
  Top then, my mum and her friend are here watching today and I'm pouring my heart
• 36:28
  out with all these things about relationships and stuff and I'm thinking,
• 36:30
  oh my God, my mum's listening.
• 36:33
  And of course, she'll probably get it more than the crowd. Yeah,
• 36:35
  well... She'll be thinking, oh, I remember that day.
• 36:37
  Let's just run into every relationship I've heard of my mum.
• 36:41
  That's why she was a nightmare that day but yeah,
• 36:45
  that can be therapeutic but you have to have the confidence to reveal a little
• 36:49
  bit about yourself then yeah it's a process, it's definitely uncomfortable at first but I think,
• 36:54
  as with anything, you know, performing, writing anything that you do in life
• 36:59
  the more you do it, the more comfortable you get with it it becomes normal after
• 37:04
  a life do you think that's because you get more confident or you get nummer I suppose, yeah.
• 37:09
  I mean, I suppose it starts to become...
• 37:13
  It's difficult to get a balance between your creativity and it just becoming
• 37:16
  your nine to five. Do you know what I mean? So I'm sure you'll feel the same with what you do.
• 37:23
  You don't think about it as much after you've done it.
• 37:26
  It becomes habitual, doesn't it? Yeah, definitely. So what are you now in terms of your music career?
• 37:33
  Are you signed? Are you looking to get signed? I mean, what are you doing?
• 37:37
  So I'm totally independent at the moment. A lot of what I do and a lot of my
• 37:42
  branding, I suppose, is built around being independent.
• 37:45
  A lot of my songs are about that as well. And I've built a huge online community
• 37:50
  of people who have just been amazing, supporting me all the way from the busking
• 37:55
  right through to the stages now.
• 37:57
  And I'm so lucky to have that people power behind me when I don't have a label
• 38:03
  behind me right now anymore.
• 38:05
  That have pushed me, you know, on this journey. It's very rewarding to know
• 38:11
  that it's all people-powered. But, I mean, a lot of artists are doing that now. Yeah.
• 38:16
  And that means that you're not only an artist, that you are the commercial person,
• 38:20
  you're your business manager. It's hard.
• 38:24
  You're having to wear so many hats. Yeah, definitely.
• 38:29
  The positive thing I find about that is that it's building skills that are transferable
• 38:34
  to lots of other things. Absolutely.
• 38:36
  But the biggest issue I always have with the music industry is how long do you stay in there?
• 38:42
  And how do you know when you're making the right level of progress?
• 38:46
  I don't know. You tell me. Oh, I don't know. I see.
• 38:49
  This is the thing I think is hardest. You know, like if you are a footballer,
• 38:53
  say, right, and you go into the academy at United or City, whatever,
• 38:57
  okay, you'll have somebody who'll tell you at the age of 14,
• 39:01
  you're good enough to go to 15 to 16, whatever, right?
• 39:04
  And then they might sign you on an apprenticeship deal Or a professional contract
• 39:08
  And at least with your professional contract You sort of know I'm going to be
• 39:11
  a professional footballer somewhere You've got that guy You've got someone else
• 39:14
  telling you what to do And where to go You've got a pathway,
• 39:18
  I don't think that exists in music,
• 39:20
  It's existing less and less Than it used to I think, you know I don't want to
• 39:26
  speak for everybody But I think,
• 39:29
  Being an independent musician Is becoming more mainstream,
• 39:34
  A lot of people are saying now, out with the labels, in with the independent,
• 39:37
  and I think that's credited a lot to social media and the tools that independent musicians use.
• 39:55
  Social media but but i wonder i mean how would you get your guidance your mentorship
• 40:02
  your your advice from how do you get that um i guess like,
• 40:08
  there's so much accessible stuff online like with with youtube and conferring
• 40:13
  with other people doing the same thing on social media um i do have even though
• 40:18
  i'm independent i do have a little team who work with me,
• 40:22
  um the my closest people richard and christine and they they are brilliant um you know they don't,
• 40:28
  they're just great they don't want anything from me they're just they're just
• 40:32
  my friends and they just help me and manage me and you need that don't you absolutely
• 40:37
  um so tell me um recording versus performing live,
• 40:42
  what's your what was your natural place where do you like to be,
• 40:45
  you love that absolutely theatrical to the,
• 40:49
  core. All right, I got you.
• 40:50
  But that helps, doesn't it? Yeah, definitely. With stage presence, for sure.
• 40:55
  That's something that...
• 40:58
  I've had to learn over time. And I think for a wee while, artists forgot that art, that bit.
• 41:08
  I was getting a bit fed up with gigs sometimes where you see them turn up,
• 41:11
  they play the songs, sometimes because it was all linked with the video and
• 41:15
  all of that, and it felt like I might as well just been listening to the album.
• 41:18
  Yeah, like a bit too rehearsed, too polished. A little bit too rehearsed.
• 41:21
  And you want a bit of a mash-up. You want something that they haven't done every
• 41:24
  single night, something a bit different, you know? I think the main thing now,
• 41:30
  is that people want relatable.
• 41:33
  If you're too polished in yourself, if there's no, like, people want to connect with the audience.
• 41:40
  Like, I went to go and see Ray at Four Points East Festival last year,
• 41:44
  and she was just brilliant.
• 41:45
  Like, she's so humble in the way that she speaks to the audience.
• 41:49
  And she just came on the stage and said, oh, guys, you all right?
• 41:52
  And it's human to human, and that's what I like, a chat with the crowd.
• 41:56
  If I'm going to watch somebody perform I want them to,
• 42:00
  present as a human being Who's relatable And
• 42:03
  just having a chat Like you know very humble And it's like They don't come in
• 42:07
  and go Hello Sulfur But it's Manchester or whatever You know You need a bit
• 42:10
  more than that That's too cliched isn't it But I also understand From the artist's
• 42:14
  perspective It is really hard to think of things to say on,
• 42:18
  stage I have the same issue I'm like Even in the one we just did I was like
• 42:23
  thinking Oh my god I don't know what to say in between songs Because I'm so
• 42:26
  Brit Fest yeah hey Brit Fest yeah,
• 42:29
  just kind of whatever comes to mind.
• 42:32
  I one of the things I really like now are the little intimate gigs you can get
• 42:37
  and they're not always like the biggest artists but even big artists will play
• 42:41
  the smaller sort of set again I think that's funny because I've already started
• 42:45
  to realise gigging brings in more mummy than actually,
• 42:48
  recording doesn't it absolutely yeah definitely I think it's hard for everybody
• 42:53
  at the moment because the cost of living and everything and a lot of bars and
• 42:57
  restaurants struggling to hire musicians and venues and stuff at the moment.
• 43:02
  But there's just a real community that comes with live music.
• 43:06
  I don't think you can get anywhere else. So I'm going to ask you a question
• 43:09
  I've been asking everybody in the last couple of days, right?
• 43:12
  But we're having the Amy Alex Festival, their own festival. Okay. Okay.
• 43:17
  You've got to give me the headliner for Friday, Saturday night,
• 43:20
  Sunday night. And I'm going for a Sunday night legend slot.
• 43:24
  You're dead or alive. They can be dead or we can bring them back from the dead.
• 43:28
  So Friday night, Saturday night headline. Anybody.
• 43:32
  It's your festival okay and if you even want to you can do a collab with somebody
• 43:36
  it could be up there collabing so let's go for the Friday night who are you
• 43:40
  having as your headline on Friday night so my music tape is all over the place so,
• 43:44
  Friday night I love my 80s and 80s inspired music we're going to have the 1975
• 43:50
  Manchester Bone and Bread band.
• 43:52
  On the Friday you're having the 75 yeah because they sound like the 80s do you
• 43:58
  think they do and the local lads they're very they're great yeah really great on the saturday,
• 44:05
  So I can have absolutely anybody dead or alive. Sunday night is the dead or
• 44:09
  alive slot. Saturday has to be alive. Saturday's the biggest.
• 44:13
  We're going to have Michael Jackson on this Saturday. Michael Jackson?
• 44:16
  Michael Jackson. We'll have to bring him back from the dead.
• 44:19
  I thought I could have anybody alive or dead. No, Sunday's not ever dead.
• 44:21
  Sunday. So Saturday, I would rather them be alive. We've only got the special par for one day.
• 44:27
  So Saturday alive. So Sunday we're having Michael Jackson. Okay,
• 44:30
  okay, okay. Saturday. Oh, we have it on Saturday.
• 44:34
  Oh, I can't think Oh my gosh They're playing Queen On the main stage I can hear them,
• 44:39
  I'm missing Bohemian Rhapsody Cool that Right, I'll tell you what We'll let you go Go on No, it's okay
• 44:45
  No, I was actually just thinking Oh, shall I have Michael Jackson Or Queen on
• 44:47
  the Sunday Oh, it's good Show me Saturday We'll have Radiohead Come on with
• 44:52
  Saturday Well, you threw that at me I love that I've seen him live
• 44:57
  Milton Keynes Bowl Oh, I'm so jealous They're really good, aren't they?
• 45:00
  I've not seen him live But I've loved Radiohead for years there's something
• 45:04
  about them isn't it they're like blur plus plus plus you know what I mean yeah they're just,
• 45:09
  brilliant they are brilliant okay so that's very eclectic so Friday night remind
• 45:12
  me we're going 75 90 75 on the Saturday Saturday night you're going big guns
• 45:18
  with Radiohead I love that and okay,
• 45:21
  Queen with Freddie or Michael Jackson oh my god you can't ask me that oh I know
• 45:26
  and look what I have I have made me think I have oh no.
• 45:30
  Can I not have them both there's a mash up together would that be interesting
• 45:34
  actually can you imagine Freddie and Michael together I don't would that work
• 45:37
  or would it flop I'll tell you what because we've got special powers let's just pretend it works,
• 45:43
  so you know can you imagine they do Killer Queen with Michael Jackson and then
• 45:48
  they do Thriller with Freddie singing it oh my god that would just be amazing
• 45:52
  that would be cool I'll tell you I like that it's a Queen-Jackson mashup we need we need someone to,
• 45:57
  create a tribute of this a Michael Jackson Queen mashup tribute what you've
• 46:01
  got to do is work on a song where you could do that.
• 46:04
  See, my go-to Michael's song is Human Nature. I feel like that can go with anything.
• 46:09
  And if you had a go-to Queen's song? Aww.
• 46:13
  Bohemian Rhapsody, obviously. Let's go rap. Right, well, here,
• 46:15
  it's been a pleasure speaking to you.
• 46:17
  And we'd like to get some of your stuff on Radio Volte, so let's make some contact.
• 46:21
  That's Amy Alex. What's your socials, Amy?
• 46:24
  So I had to spell it a little bit weird, my socials, because someone took my name. So.
• 46:33
  It's A-M-I-I-A-L-E-X-X. A-M-I-I-A-L-E-X-X Well remembered There you go First
• 46:39
  time for me Amy Alex Alex It's been a pleasure to be here Yes I knew Thank you
• 46:44
  Thank you very much indeed Thank you for having me on Thank you,
• 46:47
  So it's Monday at the Britfest. The Radio Alty team or some of us have come
• 46:51
  back to pack up. And there's been a lovely tent at the car park where we've been parking.
• 46:56
  And it's Sherpas. And these guys provide facilities and things you need for
• 47:03
  hire for a festival weekend. And we're here with Becky. And we've just been
• 47:06
  talking about some of the essentials you need.
• 47:09
  And Becky, one of the essentials you need is a good place to sleep at night, a good bed.
• 47:14
  My goodness, yes. So actually, the first top tip before you pack anything else,
• 47:18
  your earplugs. Yes. You are so going to regret it because you need a good night's
• 47:23
  sleep and everybody likes a party and some of them like to party at 3 a.m.
• 47:27
  When you actually want to go to sleep. So earplugs are the first thing.
• 47:31
  The reason I started Sherpas is because I'm a lady of a certain age and I do
• 47:36
  like my comforts and every year
• 47:39
  we take a bit more and a bit more to make everything very comfortable.
• 47:43
  And it always a flipping ton and I'm just exhausted nowadays but I still like
• 47:48
  to have my luxuries so Sherpas was created for people like me
• 47:53
  who like to take everything now we hire e-carts they're battery-powered electric
• 47:59
  festival carts you don't pull them they do
• 48:02
  all the work for you you can put your great big tent in there you can put your
• 48:06
  gazebo in there you can put everything and they will do all the work and take
• 48:10
  you to your campsite for you.
• 48:13
  We even hire our actual human beings. They're called chirpers.
• 48:17
  You will see us in our bright orange vests.
• 48:20
  So if you need a hand putting the tent up, if you need a hand moving your stuff
• 48:24
  from the car to the campsite, you can hire us to do that as well.
• 48:29
  And also you can hire all of your camping gear. So you don't need to drag it
• 48:34
  all from home come and find us in the car park we've got your tents now the beds are amazing.
• 48:40
  They are double height, luxury beds.
• 48:44
  All you do is press a little button. They're battery operated.
• 48:48
  You press a button. They self-inflate.
• 48:51
  And also they are so high. Somebody said you can even just sit on them and put
• 48:55
  your shoes on. And do you know what? Like I'm a man of a certain age.
• 48:59
  And we were just talking. And actually the ability to sit on something and put your shoes on.
• 49:04
  It's incredible, isn't it? It's a game changer. It is a game changer.
• 49:09
  It's all these little things that just make everything that experience better
• 49:14
  and easier and nicer for us i hate the cold i cannot stand it so i take we've
• 49:21
  got sleeping bags for hire we've got duvets we've got pillows
• 49:25
  you won't believe the things that people forget so.
• 49:28
  We have the stoves you can hire a stove a kettle gotta have your coffee in the
• 49:34
  morning we've all had a jolly good time the night before and then you regret
• 49:38
  it in the morning so you need your coffee we have all of that for hire for you as well.
• 49:44
  We were just talking about top tips for camping. Get a flag.
• 49:48
  Get your own flagpole. We don't have those to hire, but just bring a flag,
• 49:53
  donk it in, put your flag up.
• 49:55
  And then at midnight, when you've had a couple of little tipples,
• 49:59
  you can find your own way home. And I've seen people actually have little like
• 50:03
  battery operated lights on their flags. So they actually flash as well.
• 50:07
  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can get the solar powered ones. I mean,
• 50:10
  they're just all from the range, Amazon. You can get those anywhere.
• 50:14
  Top tip as well always park on a path so you don't you might turn up early and
• 50:19
  park in a field with loads of space around you
• 50:22
  and then when you get back everybody takes every tiny little space and can you
• 50:26
  find your tent and climbing over all those guy ropes at the end of the night
• 50:30
  park on the path there's always lights
• 50:33
  and you are able just to walk into your tent without clambering over everybody's guy ropes now becky
• 50:39
  we've been asking people all weekend if they could have their own festival so
• 50:43
  sherpas fest or becky fest
• 50:46
  right we've been talking about your friday your saturday your sunday night headliner
• 50:49
  but with you sunday nights are always legend spots
• 50:52
  and you can then bring somebody back from the dead if you want or could be somebody
• 50:55
  from living who would you have at becky fest or sherpas fest living or dead
• 51:00
  legends sunday night slope,
• 51:03
  he knows who i am.
• 51:05
  Nick kershaw i love you now people do joke about my restraining order against
• 51:10
  nick kershaw it's not true, but I have actually kissed him on the cheek and
• 51:14
  he has kissed me on the cheek.
• 51:17
  And you will always see me when Nick Kirscher is playing with my scarf held
• 51:21
  high shouting, Nick, I love you.
• 51:24
  Nick is the one. Nick is the main man for me. However, I just love all music.
• 51:30
  I love every, I mean, Rick Parfit.
• 51:33
  What a legend. I've seen him now so many times. He brings the energy.
• 51:36
  He brings the party. He would be on the list.
• 51:40
  Every eighties band.
• 51:42
  Oh, I never saw Freddie and Queen or George Michael. Oh, you've got, oh, Freddie.
• 51:49
  Freddie's got to be there. Freddie would be there. Definitely George would be there. Thank you.
• 51:55
  But my absolute big one at the moment is Muse and Nothing But Thieves.
• 52:00
  I have booked for Nothing But Thieves for next year. Muse, I have seen loads of times.
• 52:04
  Oh, just my festival would last a month. I'll tell you what,
• 52:07
  Becky Fest is so great. And tell me, what have you made at Brit Fest?
• 52:10
  Is this your first year here?
• 52:11
  Right. This is my brand new business. So this is actually only my third festival.
• 52:16
  I came up with the idea in October last year, and I've had six festivals book me, and I'm so excited.
• 52:23
  The feedback we are getting is so positive is so i mean everyone's just friendly
• 52:29
  and happy at a festival which is part of the fun i get to do this great job
• 52:33
  and hang out with people that are just really happy because they're at a festival,
• 52:38
  i'm loving it i'm loving the feedback i'm getting i'm loving the positivity
• 52:43
  i'm gonna be here next year and the year after and the year after and then i
• 52:48
  will be on a beach collapsed somewhere,
• 52:52
  like i will be actually tomorrow in my house collapsed for a week because we've
• 52:56
  done all the hard work for these guys so they don't have to and drift fest is
• 53:00
  good isn't it oh the atmosphere.
• 53:03
  I'm a rewind girl because we're from down south so i've done rewind for 14 years
• 53:09
  i love an 80s festival obviously this has got the same feel It's so friendly.
• 53:16
  Everybody knows each other and it's a really, really lovely atmosphere.
• 53:22
  That's festivaling for me, chatting to people, taking the mickey out of their fancy dress outfits.
• 53:31
  When you're at a festival and somebody is dressed like a chicken or something,
• 53:35
  you know, you have to have a nice time. You have to laugh. You have to have a giggle.
• 53:40
  So, yeah, it's obviously, as you can tell, I do like chat.
• 53:43
  And I will just go and chat to anybody. I love the effort that people put in.
• 53:48
  The sillier that you look, the better it is. Do you know what I like about a
• 53:52
  festival is it creates its own universe for a weekend.
• 53:56
  Yes. People come together and they, without any formal instructions, they create a vibe.
• 54:02
  And the vibe of this weekend has been beautiful.
• 54:05
  It is a great, big, happy family.
• 54:08
  Some of my Sherpas, who are my wonderful volunteers who come and hang out,
• 54:12
  they help me for the weekend, but they get free camping and they get access into the festival.
• 54:17
  They're chit-chatting to people. And I'm like, who's that? They're like,
• 54:20
  oh, that's my next door neighbor in the campsite.
• 54:22
  Oh, and that's so-and-so from the campsite. And then what you find with festivals
• 54:25
  like this is that you'll meet people next year that you saw last year.
• 54:30
  And it's like, oh, hi, how are you doing?
• 54:33
  Absolutely. So if anybody wants to find out about Sherpas, you're online,
• 54:37
  you're on Facebook. Oh, please. We are on Facebook. We are on Instagram.
• 54:43
  Might have a little go at TikTok, but not sure about that. but you can find
• 54:46
  us at www.sherpashire.co.uk.
• 54:56
  We've got a little subscribe button on there and so we can keep you updated
• 55:00
  with the festivals that will be coming on board and we'll be at and we would just love to see you.
• 55:04
  You can pre-book so everything's ready for you when you turn up and we would
• 55:09
  love to see you but we will definitely see you here next year at BritFest.
• 55:13
  And you could be a VIP without buying a VIP's ticket with Sherpas.
• 55:17
  You can. I'm a VIP anyway. I think you are. Becky, thank you very much indeed. Thank you.
• 55:25
  So it's Rod Maxwell down at the Britfest and it's the end of Saturday night
• 55:29
  and I was walking out, Holly Johnson's playing in the background and I spotted the Samaritans,
• 55:34
  and I always think about them at these festivals and I met a lovely lady called
• 55:37
  Jane who's part of the festival team, weren't you? Yeah, yeah, that's right.
• 55:41
  And I was intrigued to think about what people bring to festivals that might
• 55:46
  cause them to need to speak to you, Jane.
• 55:49
  So, I mean, do you find there is a lot of demand for your support at events
• 55:56
  like this? When there's supposed to be happy events, people are supposed to
• 55:59
  come in a happy mood, but they don't always feel that way.
• 56:02
  Yeah, absolutely. We come to festivals, we go, we're at festivals all over the
• 56:08
  country across the summer.
• 56:10
  And people often have that impression and yes absolutely people come to festivals
• 56:16
  for lots of different reasons,
• 56:18
  and they come to have fun and enjoy themselves but often it can be a place when
• 56:23
  you're surrounded by people that are all having fun it can remind you.
• 56:29
  That you're actually you know you've got other stuff going on in your life and
• 56:32
  it can be quite a lonely place
• 56:34
  but also you People who use the Samaritan service outside often see us and use
• 56:39
  it as an opportunity to just come and talk to us about stuff that's going on for them now,
• 56:45
  or things that have happened in the past,
• 56:48
  that they may still struggle with.
• 56:50
  So yeah, it's a good opportunity for us to reach out and see people face to face and talk to people.
• 56:57
  One thing that crosses my mind is different age groups and different lifestyle moments, if you like.
• 57:03
  So young people, older people, people in transition.
• 57:07
  I guess you talk to people and you help people right across the board.
• 57:12
  Yeah, absolutely. We go to Leeds and Reading Festival, where a lot of the kids
• 57:17
  there are 16, 17 years old. And Brit Fest, I don't know what the age demographic
• 57:22
  is here, but I would say... Slightly older. Yeah, slightly older.
• 57:27
  But, you know, people who've had that life experience have also experienced
• 57:31
  a lot of things in their life.
• 57:33
  The young people, often a lot of what we do is, you know, opening that door
• 57:36
  for them so that if they're struggling with something in the future or if they're
• 57:42
  trying to support a friend who's struggling with something,
• 57:45
  that, you know, they know that we're here and we're here for them and it's an
• 57:47
  avenue that they can explore.
• 57:49
  You know, we're available on the phones at Samaritan's wider charity 24 hours a day,
• 57:56
  every day of the year, there's always someone at the end of the phone and it's
• 57:59
  really valuable to just get that message out as well and let the younger people
• 58:03
  know that they can always sort of signpost to us and we can be there for people.
• 58:10
  It always tries to be that in today's modern age where communication seemingly
• 58:15
  looks so easy, that we're communicating more,
• 58:20
  But probably the big thing that you bring us, Martins, that people are not so
• 58:24
  good at, is actually the listening side of communication.
• 58:28
  Is that the case? Even though technology has improved the art or the access
• 58:33
  to communication, the key skill is actually listening and understanding. Yeah, absolutely.
• 58:39
  Absolutely. People, listening is a skill.
• 58:43
  Absolutely. People don't always feel heard. I think the big thing with the emotional
• 58:48
  support that we offer people.
• 58:50
  As well is, and the thing that people don't always immediately understand,
• 58:55
  is that people who have big problems, people that have problems that go on over a long period of time,
• 59:01
  they worry about burdening friends and family.
• 59:04
  And people also expect people to move on from problems, and that's not the way the world always works.
• 59:11
  And it's just you know it surprises a lot of people I think just how powerful
• 59:16
  it can be to have a conversation with a stranger to talk to somebody about what's
• 59:21
  going on for them in their lives and what a relief that can be
• 59:25
  and a release and and yeah just how powerful that can be it doesn't we don't
• 59:30
  try and solve people's problems we just sit with them
• 59:34
  and allow them to explore how they're feeling and share that with someone and
• 59:38
  that can be you know a huge weight off people's shoulders.
• 59:41
  And as somebody who's, you know, does this a lot in your life,
• 59:45
  which you obviously do as a volunteer,
• 59:47
  how emotionally difficult is it to detach from the subject and the person sometimes
• 59:55
  and remain that sort of professional distance, if you like?
• 1:00:00
  Well, it's something that you get used to doing and we're very much trained how to support people.
• 1:00:09
  And I just think it always feels like an absolute privilege to have been able
• 1:00:13
  to be there for somebody in that moment of need.
• 1:00:17
  So I think the overwhelming feeling, often people that we speak to are very
• 1:00:22
  thankful and almost sometimes apologetic for offloading to us.
• 1:00:26
  But we just you know reassure people that actually you know it feels really
• 1:00:30
  good to have been able to be there for somebody and to to we don't take on that
• 1:00:34
  load in the way that people feel that you do yeah,
• 1:00:38
  it actually as i say it's a real privilege feels like a privilege to be able
• 1:00:42
  to be there for people how long have you been volunteering,
• 1:00:45
  i've been with festival branch for five years and i've been smaritan on the
• 1:00:49
  phone line for 13 years so for quite a while now and that's quite commitment
• 1:00:53
  of your time yes it is but as i say it's something that i'm very passionate
• 1:00:57
  about and i feel so worthwhile that i,
• 1:01:01
  i get a lot back from from from being there and being there for people so you
• 1:01:05
  know it's a it's a great thing to do and if anybody listens to this feels like
• 1:01:09
  i do need to talk to somebody what where do they go for the samaritans,
• 1:01:14
  well uh i would say just you know look us up online uh there's phone numbers
• 1:01:19
  there um there's other ways of contacting us as well so So, yeah, go on, have a look.
• 1:01:24
  It's a free phone number, 24 hours a day. You can always give us a call.
• 1:01:29
  Thanks for your time. No problem at all.
• 1:01:32
  This is Ken, and I'm in the ABC Warranty VIP lounge, would you believe?
• 1:01:37
  Absolutely a belting lounge, I'm going to say. It's decorated really well.
• 1:01:42
  We have our own bar, and of course, Radio Alt is in here.
• 1:01:44
  Now then, I've been joined by a lovely lady called Sue, and she's looking at
• 1:01:48
  me like, what am I going to say?
• 1:01:49
  Well, Sue and I have just been talking off air, but Sue is from Purple Heart Wishes.
• 1:01:54
  Now, Sue, can you give me a bit of background to where Purple Heart Wishes comes from?
• 1:01:58
  Okay, so in 2009, my daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
• 1:02:04
  And during the last 18 months of her life, we decided that every day we would
• 1:02:09
  fill it with something new that she wasn't going to experience ever again.
• 1:02:13
  And then when she passed away, for a few years, I didn't know what we were going
• 1:02:16
  to do. But then in 2017, we decided to create a charity called Purple Heart Wishes.
• 1:02:23
  And what we do is we grant wishes to adults diagnosed with a terminal illness
• 1:02:26
  aged 18 to 55. Wow, that's a lot taken, isn't it? So obviously,
• 1:02:31
  you had to cope with the stress of your daughter, obviously.
• 1:02:34
  We've also got your other daughter here, Leah. She's going to wave,
• 1:02:37
  aren't you, Leah? There we go. She's waving. She doesn't want to be on air, but she's recording us.
• 1:02:41
  Now then, so all this happened in the space of a few years, didn't it? Yes.
• 1:02:45
  Now, can you give me the background? Your daughter was terminally ill,
• 1:02:48
  was that right? Yes, she had a brain tumour.
• 1:02:50
  She was actually a young professional that worked in Manchester in the city
• 1:02:55
  centre. And she loved music. She would love all of this.
• 1:02:58
  She was a DJ manager. So she would look after DJs at Creamfields and places
• 1:03:03
  like that. And she was really great. And my other daughter actually is a DJ.
• 1:03:07
  She's DJed at Creamfields, which is amazing.
• 1:03:10
  Talented daughters. Talented daughters, yes. Great stuff. Now then,
• 1:03:14
  so you obviously went to Christie, did you tell me, and you went from there.
• 1:03:18
  So we're at BritFest at the moment. So what we actually do is the wishes that
• 1:03:23
  we grant, they cost an average of £500.
• 1:03:27
  So we're always looking for businesses that would like to sponsor a wish for
• 1:03:31
  £500, which is not a lot of money really in the grand scheme of things.
• 1:03:34
  You know, we do wishes all over the UK for...
• 1:03:39
  You know mums and dads brothers and sisters and you know and we just want to
• 1:03:43
  make sure that it's really memorable for them and their families now you're
• 1:03:46
  also out on the road as well aren't you we are yeah where have you been so we've
• 1:03:50
  actually been um we've actually been to park life,
• 1:03:53
  the other weekend um and we are going to the phoenix festival down south a bit
• 1:03:57
  later on in the year so we do try to get about a bit we do volunteer in a kiosk at um.
• 1:04:04
  Manchester city say anything i'm not going to say anything you can go there
• 1:04:08
  and we are at the AO arena and we're just about to go to Bolton Wanderers so
• 1:04:12
  basically we get a team of volunteers that go in a kiosk serve people pies pints everything like that
• 1:04:17
  and we get a percentage of the takings for the charity
• 1:04:20
  which is a good way because we're not always asking people for money and because
• 1:04:23
  they're buying something they want and so we're getting a percentage of that
• 1:04:26
  for the charity that's right now from the two of you that started this it's
• 1:04:29
  now how many people we have about 75 volunteers which is amazing they just come
• 1:04:33
  you know whenever they can
• 1:04:35
  and do their bit which is just absolutely fantastic and now you said you're
• 1:04:38
  in the field here whereabouts are you this is in
• 1:04:40
  uh brit fest yep so we're over by the main at the blue stage the blue
• 1:04:45
  marquee yes right next to the toilet you can't miss it's got a massive marquee
• 1:04:49
  with our purple heart wishes all over it so you know you won't miss it sounds
• 1:04:52
  absolutely brilliant so anybody at the brit fest now you can go it's the back end of the.
• 1:04:56
  Uh arena yeah and it's look for the big blue tent as i call it it was called
• 1:05:00
  the little big top yeah Yeah. You're saying the same thing, the blue tent.
• 1:05:03
  And you're there. You'll see lots of purple people wandering around today,
• 1:05:07
  so just grab us. Great. Do you have targets every year, Sue?
• 1:05:10
  Do you know what? Because we're such a small charity, we try to do as much as we can.
• 1:05:15
  But this year, from January to now alone, we've had 300 applications.
• 1:05:19
  So, as you can imagine, £500 times 300 applications, that is what we've got
• 1:05:26
  to always be looking to complete, basically. So in your head, how do you sort it out?
• 1:05:32
  So in my head... Yeah.
• 1:05:34
  The wish granters spend all the money and I'm like, right, okay,
• 1:05:37
  I just need to raise more money.
• 1:05:39
  Oh, right. You're the driving side. I'm the driving side of the fundraising.
• 1:05:43
  They're the driving side of the wish granting. Yeah, you're the salesman.
• 1:05:46
  That's it. That's the one. Okay. So how do we donate? Can we do it on the phone? Can we do it online?
• 1:05:50
  Yeah, you can do it on the phone. You can come over to the gazebo where we are.
• 1:05:55
  We've got some QR codes. You can just scan it straight through to PayPal and
• 1:05:58
  make a donation that way. You can donate online.
• 1:06:01
  You know, you can do, you know, our charity website is www.purpleheartwishes.org.
• 1:06:07
  Great. So any phone numbers or?
• 1:06:10
  No, the phone number, we'd rather you went through. You can donate online.
• 1:06:13
  It's much better doing it that way. So can you just give me that www again? Yeah.
• 1:06:17
  So it's www.purpleheartwishes.org.
• 1:06:21
  Sue, can I say thank you for jumping in on me and wish you all the best?
• 1:06:25
  Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure. Cheers. Thank you.