Kicking off Feast Week on 2nd July is the first major event our village has seen since the pandemic called time on large gatherings. Amanda Borrill chatted to event organisers Colin Myles and Edd Stonham about how it feels to be back in the hot seat.
Over the last 18 months, event fundraising has been near impossible with the social distancing rules around COVID-19 calling a halt to gigs and festivals right across the UK and beyond. On Friday 2nd July, this is all about to change as for one night only HI Friends event – Riot! on the Rec gets set to transform our, usually tranquil, Recreation ground into Histon & Impington’s very own summer festival.
HI Friends for life
Behind this HI Friends fundraiser are best friends of over a decade, Edd Stonham and Colin Myles. This dynamic duo first paired up back in 2011 for the Jubilee celebrations and have been working together on village events ever since.
I asked Colin how it feels to be back in the organising seat again after so long:
“It feels amazing. Edd and I were devastated to have to abandon last year’s event. We both love throwing ourselves into all the elements of planning an event; marketing, organising, building and running. Our plans this time are for a concert with a mini festival vibe and to build on that festival atmosphere there will be a licensed bar and top class street food vendors with Steak and Honour and Guerilla Kitchen feeding the crowd. Personally I just love to see people having a great time – I think I enjoy running events more than attending.”
The Headliners
Headlining on the 2nd July will be Sussex based band RIOT! who come with glowing recommendations from the same agency Edd and Colin used for previous event success The Indie Killers back in 2016. If the blurb on this band’s website is anything to go by, riot gear might be a wise dress code for the night. It proclaims: ‘This trio come with bundles of energy and are capable of creating a heck of a party! Their set is explosive and their performance has been know to start a ‘riot’, so be warned!’
Take a glimpse of what’s in store via this You Tube clip.
Making their debut
Supporting Riot, and making their first ever appearance together on stage, is local band – The B1049s. This HisImp trio sees a group of 40/50 year old mates coming together especially for this gig and includes guitarist Andy Shields (who toured internationally with The Naked Apes), drummer Ben Jakubowski (ex IVC student show drummer, The Roots, Beale Street Band, Rock Road) and bassist Paul Edmondson who, in his own words, is the least experienced band member and has to keep reminding himself which way up to hold his instrument by way of jams with work colleagues and supporting his son as he learns the guitar.
Getting it together
Andy tells how it all began: “We are of course honoured to have been asked to provide support at this event and actually it will be the B1049s first public performance… ever! The idea for forming a new local band actually came from a camping trip in 2019, so it has taken quite a while to get it together. We started rehearsing again in the garden, once that was allowed earlier this year, and actually had to give up on one occasion when it started snowing! Now that’s rock ‘n’ roll.
“We will be doing the first set acoustically and then cranking it up a little bit in the second set. It’s been brilliant to have something to work towards and we are helping to support a good cause at the same time”.
Rumour has it that, if it all goes alright on the night, gigs might become a regular fixture so watch this space!
A community effort
Getting an event like this off the ground, does not happen without a lot of hard work and many hours of commitment. “Gig days are long days!” Edd recollects. “We normally put in around 18 hours – being the last people to leave the site once we have cleaned up and the
band has gone home.” But, it has to be said, this is a real community effort and they will not do this alone; being ably assisted by a number of volunteers and HI Friends committee members along the way.
Like all the best run events, it wouldn’t be complete without a few panics here and there. Colin laughs “we often start to panic around 3pm if we are going to be ready for people turning up at 7pm – we always make it though and when the band arrives it all starts to feel a little more real. I love the soundcheck and have even previously had my daughter helping the band with their warm-up which was amazing!”.
Safety first
One huge question though, which will be forefront on everyone’s minds this year, is that of COVID safety. I asked the guys what measures are in place to ensure that this gig fits into current Government guidelines. This is what they told me:
“Last year’s cancellation due to COVID was obviously a massive disappointment and we feel that, after such a long time without any big events in the village, people will now be ready to party, albeit a little more cautiously. As it is an outdoor organised event, this is allowed within step three of the Government’s path out of lockdown but we are conscious the UK is not out of the woods yet and we want everyone to know that safety is top of our list of priorities”
The HI Friends committee has been working closely with South Cambs District Council on the licence and plans for event safety and COVID compliance. Tickets for this event are limited numbers and advance booking only, food truck locations have been planned to avoid people congregating in busy areas with the trucks taking orders online giving you a dedicated collection time, and payments at the bar will be cashless to eliminate queues. There will be COVID marshals reminding people about distancing, check-in with the NHS app will be required and COVID safe information will be sent to everyone prior to the event.
Book now!
Riot! on the Rec kicks off on Friday 2nd July at 7pm and runs until 11pm. There is no age limit but children must be accompanied by parents at all times. To book your advance tickets for this fundraising event, simply click through to the HI Friends website, here. Until 14 June, HI HUB readers can get a 20% discount on the ticket price of £13 using code RTHIHUB.
Volunteers are needed for this event. If you are interested in giving your time to help out, please get in touch with Colin Myles at cbsmyles@gmail.com
The organisers would like to give their thanks to event sponsors Avanit Audio Visual and IT Support Specialists and Pegasus Group independent development consultancy.