Chippenham is such a lovely festival . That great combination of a town that really seems to embrace having such a thing as a festival as opposed to the resentment you can almost feel in some places. I’m sure there are some people who hate it in Chippenham too but for me it has a really nice feel good factor about it.
I have been going there, with various artists, over the years dating from when it used to be Chippenham and Laycock festival and from when Dick Stanger was the organiser.
If the Old Swan played there we’d usually have a band curry before the gig. It’s enjoyable not just because of the food but because due to our disparate living locations we don’t tend to see everyone together unless there’s a gig and at the gig time is usually tight so that you’re into the thick of it before you know it and people one end of the stage don’t get a chance to wander up the other for a chat. We used to joke that Neil, our bass sax player had been in the band 10 years before he was introduced to everyone. With an eight piece band and a large stage you can imagine how that might be possible. So having a meal together feels like a luxury and we’ve managed to do that at Chippenham most times we’ve played.
One of the funniest things that happened at Chippenham was when Token Women we’re playing. We played quite a lot in our early years and luckily for us Dick seeemed to love us and booked us again and again.
We all know how bank holidays at this time of year can vary in the weather but the one I’m talking about was a scorcher. The dances in those days were in the Neald Hall which is right in the centre of town. It’s a small civic hall with no air conditioning and very little ventilation.
There have always been great dance crowds at the festival and so the evening dances were heaving. As the dancers heated up the temperature soared. Someone had some kind of temperature gage and at one point the stage was on 90 degrees.
We had planned in advance and most of us were in light dresses or suitably non thermal clothing. Our cellist was in a strapless black dress. Very lovely. Another member of the band, our oboe and bassoon player, had recently married and her hubby had come to the gig but spent most of the evening in the wings of the stage as the rest of the Hall was so cramped. At one point glancing in his direction I noticed his eyes had a fixated look about them and his face an expression of panic. Tracing where his eyes were locked onto he appeared to be staring at Kathryn, our cellist. On examining her intently it appeared that during some exuberant bowing Kathryn had moved one way and her dress had stayed were it was or twisted the other way. The consequence was one of her breasts had popped out and that’s what Charles was looking panic stricken about. He obviously didn’t feel he could run on and rectify the situation but neither did he want to make too much of a fuss in case the whole room suddenly became aware. I managed to indicate to Kathryn the problem and without dropping a note or missing a beat she did an amazing shimmy motion with her shoulders and a little bounce and the normally secreted breast popped back into it’s hiding place. The audience were non the wiser but I was so amazed that I had to add breast juggling’ to the band CV …only joking but I am telling you that was a very impressive skill.
Another time Kathryn and I were doing a duo set at this very same festival as well as Token Women playing. Just before going on stage the compère came up to me and said, ‘excuse me for asking but you’re not pregnant are you.?’. I said no I wasn’t and I obviously looked rather baffled because he felt he had to explain himself. He said, ‘it’s just you look so radiant . I was still baffled when I went on and so told the story to the audience who thought it was funny. In hindsight that might have looked like I was trying to humiliate him. I wasn’t I was just genuinely stunned by the question. Surely just saying ‘you look great’ would have been enough.
Jo Freya’s Musings 