Nene Valley music festival rocks Peterborough park

Rockers descended on a Peterborough park over the weekend as a new music festival saw bands take to the stage.

The Nene Valley Rock Festival saw dozens of bands bringing their own brand of music performing for hundreds of fans over four days of action.

A variety of acts took part – from those to had performed at the legendary Woodstock Festival, to local, unsigned bands.

Fans came from miles around for the festival, held on land at Nene Park, which started on Thursday and ended on Sunday – and along with the music, they were rewarded with sunshine throughout the weekend.

Organisers of the event labelled it a ‘resounding success,’ with a spokesperson saying: “The First Nene Valley Rock Festival was a resounding success on on every level. Great sound and lighting, beautiful setting , wonderful relaxed friendly audience, and even the weather was great!. Organisers and their team of volunteers, none of whom are paid and who have been working on this event since the start of the year, rightly felt proud of what they had achieved.

"Its fair to say that all who attended Nene Parks Ferry Meadows this weekend left with a smile on their face.

“It is impossible and unfair to single out individual acts for praise as all acts performed to a very high standard, but the living legend who is Arthur Brown with his Crazy World certainly closed the festival on Sunday with a riot of sound and light. And of the newer bands both Square Wild and Papa Shango certainly made a positive impression on the fans.

“The only real issue that could prevent the event becoming a regular addition to the Peterborough calendar is the fact that the numbers in attendance was rather disappointing.

"Putting on an event on this scale is expensive and the organisers rely on ticket and merchandise sales to cover the costs. The enjoyment of all who did attend was very clear with many asking for there please to be another festival next year.

"As the echo of the music fades away the team will now be looking at the accounts very carefully. And in the mean time if you attended let your local council know what a great event it was. And if any Peterborough music lovers would like to get involved with sponsorship or the like, the team would love to hear from you!”

While hundreds of people enjoyed the event, the festival was not welcomed by all, with residents association the Orton Wistow Action Group raising concerns about the impact on the local area.

Chairman Bob Bailey said: “The organisers have been good, and the noise levels did not go above the permitted levels.

"But we could still hear the music – you could sing along to some of the songs – in our garden. We were unable to go in our garden over the weekend as a result.

"We had a number of residents in the area contacting us about it over the weekend.

"I don’t think the land was appropriate for a rock festival.”