Photo Troy Redfern – appearing Saturday 16 August
A New Day Festival 2025 will be the best yet
by
When festival organiser, Frank Smith, invited me to join this year’s A New Day Festival, it was not as a music act, but as the author of Murder at Mount Ephraim, one of my crime novels on which the TV series Whitstable Pearl is based. Immediately, I said…YES!
In 2021, I spent an incredibly enjoyable and memorable time at Mount Ephraim, courtesy of the Dawes family, whose home this has been for almost 300 years, while I researched the history and layout of this fascinating 800-acre estate, ten acres of which make up the beautiful gardens for which it is widely known.
Mount Ephraim is the setting for many community events and A New Day Festival has been taking place in the gardens each summer since 2016 – featuring the very best in Prog rock, Classic rock, blues and roots music – and so the chance to be there this year, for three whole days, not only lapping up the sounds but meeting readers, and signing copies of my books was simply too good to pass up.
This year’s festival gets underway this coming Friday 15 August at noon but for those who want to arrive early and beat the traffic, the campsite will actually be open on Thursday, together with the bar and some of the food stalls. Those who are up for joining us for a pre-festival chill-out evening, should book this additional camping night when buying your festival ticket.
The amazing music line-up this year features bands including Caravan, Soft Machine, Penguin Café, Hawkwind, Doctor Feelgood and Colosseum as follows:
There’ll also be a huge variety of food on offer throughout the festival, with many of the stalls offering vegan/veggie and gluten-free options, and a wide selection of ales and wines will be available, as well as a designated spirits and cocktail bar!
If all that’s not reason for me to be thoroughly chuffed to accept Frank Smith’s kind invitation, an added reason is the not-so-well-kept secret that I’m actually an old muso, and way back in 1981, I was signed to Epic/CBS as Lola Payola with a New Wave single called The Schoolgirl Song/I got Married to a Man from Space.
The record was made on a production deal at Nick Lowe’s studio in Hammersmith and while I’m happy to say that copies won’t be available at the festival, I may well have some CDs for sale of Viva Whitstable/Pearl – Whitstable’s unofficial anthem that I co-wrote and performed with a whole host of talented Whitstable musicians including Brian Barnett, Justin Mitchell, Will Glanfield and Neil Sloman.
There will also be fantastic merchandise on sale from the festival including pictorial books and sought-after T-shirts.
So…come on down to one of the most beautiful settings in Kent and experience one of the very best music fests around – or stay for the day but… be there—or be square!
(I promise that any whodunit murders will be fictional only….)
NB Tickets and all essential info about the festival can be found on the website at:
Julie Wassmer is a Whitstable-based author, TV writer and environmental campaigner. She has successfully fought a number of environmental issues, including fracking in Kent and tree clearances by Network Rail. Her Whitstable Pearl crime novels are now a major TV series, starring Kerry Godliman.
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