Haslemere Festival 2023 - an interview with the organisers

Hamish Donaldson has been organising Haslemere Festival for 20 years, here we ask Hamish questions about the history & future of this wonderful biennial event.

How has the Festival grown since it began?

The Festival has grown quite substantially since those early days. Rupert Maude approached Hamish with the idea of including a Cycling Sportive which has grown to attract 800 riders and is run by Ken Griffiths and his team. James Ewing and Jane Puttock came up with the idea of adding a Classic Car Tour and Show which has remained very popular. Less successful was the idea of a Haslemere Triathlon and an Artists Open Studios which have been discontinued. More recent innovations have been the Haslemere Young Musician Competition organised by Ishani Bhoola and the RSPCA Dog Show run by John Leston.

Perhaps the biggest innovation has been Haslemere Fringe Festival run by Ken Griffiths and his team. The Fringe Festival includes high profile performers (for example Scouting for Girls, Sophie Ellis- Bextor) as well as many local groups. It is run in the first weekend of July in even years (the Haslemere Festival is run in odd years).

How has the Festival changed over the years?

Haslemere Festival has expanded in two ways. The Arts Festival has expanded organically by incorporating additional activities (as above) but the Charity has also expanded by running most of the public events in the Town. Melanie Odell has been responsible for running the biennial Charter Fair, the Food Festival and the Christmas Market and these events were incorporated into Haslemere Festival Charity in 2012. In that year Haslemere Festival also ran the celebrations to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Since then the Festival has organised local celebrations for the Queen’s 90th birthday, the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee & very recently King Charles III Coronation events.

In 2021 the Arts Festival ran in May, just as restrictions were relaxed after Covid. To help bookings, all the Talks and most of the Concerts were available using Zoom. The technology was run by Adrian Stent, Melanie Odell and Will Pattenden. It was a great success as it allowed the audience join remotely and/or watch at a time of their choosing. We plan to offer a Zoom option again this year for all the talks and some of the concerts.

How long does it take to organise each Festival?

The Arts Festival has three patterns of events – Evening Concerts, Weekend & Family Events, Weekday Talks. Many of the events are run by local societies which naturally fall into place and are confirmed in the previous December. But high-profile events (such as Sheku & Isata Kanneh-Mason in 2019) are often booked up to 2 years ahead. The weekday talks (which focus on Anniversaries and Local Affairs) are booked from the previous November.

How many events make up the Arts Festival this year?

The Festival lasts from 13th to 29th May. There are 16 evening concerts, 8 weekend and family events, 20 weekday talks.

How does an event become a part of the Arts Festival, do venues & organisers apply to be included?

Many local Societies expect to take part (for example Haslemere Musical Society). We invite other contributors (for example the talk on Puccini as it is the 100th  anniversary of his death) and in addition, we are approached by outside organisers.

It seems like an incredible programme to organise each year, how many are in the organising team?

Many of the evening events (e.g. Mates and Godfree) and weekend events (e.g. Haslemere Classic Car Show) are repeated and are organised by their own teams. We do quite a bit of prompting but, for this Festival, have only had to organise half a dozen new evening events. The weekday talks are different as all 20 have to be planned from scratch (although we have six regular contributors including Jeremy Hunt our MP). Four of us have planned the talks; they are all held at the Museum and the Museum staff make the final arrangements with the speakers. In the Brochure we credit 17 people as organisers.

At 87 Hamish Donaldson is now starting to hand over the driving seat of Haslemere Festival to Adrian Stent. Adrian will be the lead organiser in 2025.

Which venues does the Festival use?

The venues are Haslemere Hall, Haslemere Museum, St Christopher’s Church, St Bartholomew’s Church, Our Lady of Lourdes Church Hall, The Royal School Haslemere, Lion Green.

What is the booking procedure for events?

Haslemere Hall Box Office is used for booking all ticketed events. People can take their chance and pay on the door as well.

How many visitors do the Festival events attract?

About 900 tickets will be sold for the Talks, 1,500 for the concerts and up to 5,000 for the outdoor events. Haslemere Fringe Festival (run by Ken Griffiths in even years) attracts more like 12,000.

How many volunteers does it take to run the events?

2 volunteers for every talk; 3 for every concert. More for Lion Green events.

Where can people sign up to volunteer?

Marion Stent (marion.stent@woodlawns.com)

How is the Festival funded?

The festival is no longer dependent on sponsorship but in the early days grants were received from Awards for All (£5,000), Haslemere Initiative ((£1,036), Haslemere Town Council (£1,000). Local businesses contributed £8,712 led by Steerwell Group (£6,462) and Barons of Hindhead (£1,175).

Over the years the main sponsors have been Haslemere Town Council, the Community Foundation for Surrey (Challis Fund), Haslemere Herald, Barons of Hindhead, M&B Cyclery and South Western Railway. Generally they have sponsored events like Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilees and the Jubilee Clock on Haslewey rather than the regular Festival.

What do funds raised from the Festival go towards?

The Festival is a registered charity and our aim is to do little more than break even. We do have reserves which allow us to take risks with some of the artists and provide a cushion in the events of bad weather affecting outdoor events.

The full programme is available at www.haslemerefestival.org.uk

Tickets are on sale at www.haslemerehall.co.uk