THIS year’s Okehampton Battle of the Bands has been cancelled due to a lack of volunteers, sponsorship and ‘community support’, it has been confirmed to the Times.

To the disappointment of many music fans, it was announced that the annual event due to take place in August had been scrapped.

Battle of the Bands, which welcomes acts of all ages and musical genres, had been run for the last 13 years by a team of dedicated volunteers. However the event has seen its number of helpers decline significantly.

Event organiser Jay Hadland, said: ‘Our team over the last two years has diminished. We are down to just five volunteers which just isn’t enough to put on such a huge event.

‘Last year we had two stages, 15 bands and performers, 20 traders, food outlets and amusements and over 2,500 attendees. Without the support of the community we just can’t continue.’

Jay explained that the event had also lost two of its sponsors, which affected budgeting, and that public donations were lower than previous years.

‘We have always aimed to keep this event free to enter. If you went to a similar festival elsewhere you could pay between £40 and £70.

‘We had also secured camping options this year, which would have seen the event grow further, but without the support of the community it is impossible to maintain.

‘Our options are to either charge entry in the future — which we don’t want to do — or hope that the people of Okehampton and the surrounding area will support our return in 2018.’

Battle of the Bands, spread over three heats with the final held at Okehampton’s Party in the Park, has welcomed music acts from as far away as Manchester, Brighton and Birmingham. The line-up over the years had consisted of local favourites Black Static, popular comedian Cerys Nelmes as well as Professor Elemental, a hip-hop artist who has toured the USA and played at Glastonbury several times.

The news that Battle of the Bands had been cancelled sparked a reaction from many Okehampton residents and avid supporters of the event.

Scott Moore, a judge of the competition for the past four years, said: ‘This is a massive shame! This is such an amazing event for Okehampton, always a really good night without fail. I was looking forward to helping out again. Hopefully next year it will go ahead.’

Sue Hutt commented: ‘It is such a shame but obviously would have only been done with good reason. It’s plain to see how disappointed a lot of people are. I don’t think people understand just how much hard work and time goes into putting on such a great event for the town to enjoy and be proud of.’

Jack Wiggins, from past winners Pseudomorph, said: ‘We came runners up in 2014, won in 2015 and went back to play last year before the main headliner.

‘For us as a band it has been the highlight of our year for the last three years, the chance to go and play a stage that size to a crowd of a thousand plus, is about as good as it gets for most local bands and we have been extremely grateful to the organisers and people of Okehampton for giving us that platform to do so.

‘From personal experience of organising gigs that run all day, they are hard enough to coordinate without having to try and find that sort of funding.

‘The day that is put on is unique from any of the other battle of the band competitions in Devon and Cornwall and Okehampton should feel very privileged to have something like that and, as a community, should come together to protect it.

‘It would be such a shame to see it come to an end.’

Okehampton Town Councillor Julie Yelland said: ‘While it is a great shame that Battle of the Bands will not go ahead this year, the Okehampton community owes a huge debt of gratitude to all those volunteers who have worked so hard to make this popular event such a huge success over the years. I sat on the committee a couple of years ago and know full well the amount of work that goes into putting it on. Thank you very much to everyone who has been involved.’   

Organisers of Battle of the Bands are in the process of setting up a crowdfunding campaign to secure next year’s event. They said if required funding was secured then the event would be back even bigger and better than 2016, with camping options and a well known headline act.

For updates and more information about refunds, visit the ‘Battle of the Bands Okehampton’ Facebook page, or the website www.okehampton battleofthebands.org.uk/

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