Just a short thank you note for the enjoyable weekend we have spent at the Catton Hall Park Festival. The setting of the venue was beautiful, and your very helpful stewards kept it clean and tidy throughout the festival, which was a lovely change from previous venues we have attended.
Our site was level, and within an area suitable for the disabled camper. ie. luxurious toilet block, always clean and well equipped with paper towels and toilet paper. Hot, clean, roomy, shower blocks and free as well! Very impressive. Last but not least, an extremely well stocked camp shop, open 24 hours a day. The festival field toilet blocks were even more luxurious than campsite toilets, with hot water at the sinks.
Mustn't forget the water supply either, a tank of fresh spring water. 
Nice selection of food stalls, all meals tried were very tasty and reasonably priced.
The bars were a pleasant suprise also, with real ale on tap, at a fair price. The bar staff were efficient and very pleasant thoughout the weekend, at no time did we have to wait long to be served.  We were also amazed to see tables and chairs for our use, most unusual at a festival. (Not a criticism, I wish more venues followed your example)
The number of artists who appeared must have taken some organising. A good variety, most of which were thoroughly enjoyable.
Just one request. Next year, please can we have nice weather all weekend!!!!. Thanks.
Regards, Gill and Derek Eccleston

Thanks for a great weekend, shame about the weather, saw lots of new great Talent. Excellent job on the facilities, Can you get BossHoss back for next year they were great and deserve to be on the main stage and can you try for the Levellers (or am i wishing for pie in the sky). Well done to the whole team excellent festival see you next year. Kevin Brewster

Melanie

Thanks for a great festival, we really enjoyed it in spite of the weather.  Having some experience of 'event management' I felt very sorry for you facing the trials and tribulations of the windy weather and late arrivals.  You did sterling work. We think it was the friendliest festival we've been to, you'd get our vote for best small festival any day.  Weren't Fairport great!  What fab toilets and showers.  We stayed til the end of the Animals and had a great time. 
Good show, well done, thanks again to all concerned. Angela & Pete Olsen

Wet and windy but a great festival weekend. Bernard Cooper

Just a note to say had top weekend and will be up for next year, so keep me informed . Andrea Moore

Crowded Out

Thank you for putting on the festival last weekend – fine job. We really enjoyed it, made some friends, did OK business and discovered Boss Hoss. Hope you can get some cash back for the main stage fiasco – very unlucky – we really felt for you but the crowd was understanding. Hopefully the weather will be a bit less dramatic and scary next time.
Cheers, Bern (Priya Trading)

Really enjoyed the festival last Sunday.  Shame about the weather.  Thought the organisation was brill.   Rose Irons

Donovan

Very much enjoyed festival. Sound great and mix of bands. Friendly atmosphere. LOVED outdoor stage. Please don't leave out next year. Was lovely sitting on grass watching 2tone band and later on Jah Wobble. Weather obviously a disaster, but no one could help that. All in all though we had a great time despite the weather, oh and WOW what amazing toilets!
Susan Waterfield

Jan Graveson

Hi, I would just like to thank you for a great weekend, despite the weather.....The toilets and showers on site we fantastic, especially the toilets.. I have never been to a festival with such clean loos and plenty of loo paper, keep it up for next year. Everybody on site was really friendly with drinks and food not being a rip off.. I am definately coming again next year as i was due to go to nantwich in 2007 as i live 10mins up the road, but the journey was well worth it, I especially enjoyed having some artists plugged in!!! Let me know if you have any vacances for helping out next year. Once again a big thank you, and lets hope the sun shines in 2009 !!!
Kind regards Bean 

an absolutely magic weekend even with the weather! loved it! first time I have taken my 11 year old daughter to a festival and it was perfect - tiolets like that and the lovely people were the perfect intro. Especially loved disco indians and hazel o'connor
Sarah Nelmes

We have just returned from the Acoustic Festival at Catton Park. We had a really good time, despite the awful wind and rain on Sunday and Monday, and just wanted to say how well organised  we found it to be.  We were one of the ticket holders from the cancelled 2007 festival, and  it turned out to be well worth the wait.  The atmosphere at Catton park was fantatastic.  It was lovely to see so many poeple from all age groups having  such a good time together. Congratulations to everyone involved! Thank you, Dorcas and David Kirk

Loved this years festival. Really looking forward to next year. Thanks to everyone for putting on such a great show.
Sue Chamberlain

Many many thanks to every single one of you folk involved in the festival this weekend for making it such a fabulous time for us humble ticket purchasers, there were 5 of us in our little group (hubby was taking photos for Get ready To Rock) plus me and 3 kids and we've all come home having had a fun weekend and singing the praises of everyone involved, especially considering the fun Mother Nature was determined to have. The work involved before and during the weekend must have been monumental, (we've been involved in much smaller projects in the past which were crazy enough to deal with - we could only guess at the backstage headaches you guys must have been dealing with) with the weather causing much grief. Mike, you are a saint for staying calm with so many oddballs over the weekend, and the changes in stage times etc much have caused panic. We take our hats off to you all - I sincerely hope that the work involved hasn't put you off staging the event again next year - we'll definitely be back, and spreading the word within our large group of friends and acquaintances. So its HUGE thanks again from all of us, for a great time, you're bloody marvellous!!! Clare Pollard

Just a few lines to say how much we enjoyed the weekend, especially as you are still in a state of 'now what next!'. My philosophy is that events on such a scale can never pass off without ... er...'challenges'. The big thing is to have the + side hugely exceeding the - side. Yes, the weather was appalling, but most of the problems were beyond your control and you dealt with the constantly-changing problems admirably. Coffee great at £1 !! Official t-shirts great for £10. Eclecticism of acts good too, but maybe need to re-name fest Acoustish!!! As at the beginning, many thanks for the superhuman effort; I have never seen a man's hair going grey so quickly! Regards John Alderdice

Just wanted to say that having just got back from holiday & having waited so long, I was more than just a little reticent to come to the festival. But I did and am really glad as I saw some fantastic acts & had a great time. Thanks Kate Cadwell

Thanks for a fantastic weekend; it was a shame about the weather but it could've been much worse and you all coped with it admirably. The bands were superb with some wonderful surprises; Rod Branigan was the talk of the festival after his Saturday night masterclass. The beers were excellent (much better than the warm tins at Nantwich!), catering good, retail stalls appropriate and I never thought I'd enjoy the luxury of Armitage Shanks sanitary ware at a festival! The site (including access & parking) was spot on. We're already looking forward to next year; assuming you are daft enough to put yourself through it all over again! I'll continue to spread the word and I suspect there'll be a good crowd of us next time around. I can't make the Rock n Roots event but a Walter Trout loving mate of mine will be descending with his family for the weekend. Good luck with that event. I hope that, after last year's problems, you've done OK this time around. All the best and thanks once again.
Sean Kinson

I just wanted to send a huge thanks for another great acoustic festival. It was awesome as usual. We've just returned from the site [out of the rain finally] and I wanted to thank all the organizers and staff for one of Britain's top festivals. I also just wanted to send a thank you for bringing the South African guitar and sitar wiz, Guy Buttery to the event. He was by far the highlight of the festival and I do hope we have him back. The small audience of a few hundred there [compared to Tull's set when they all packed in] will agree. Guy was incredible.
Thanks for an amazing weekend. see you there next year. Peter Holloway

I attended this years festival with my husband and two others. We all had a fantastic time. We all had a completely relaxed and stress free week end. The bands were great the atmosphere was great. Even the unforseen, adverse weather conditions did not affect our enjoyment. IT WAS THE BEST WEEKEND EVER!! Sarah Baker

Dear Acoustic Festival organisers, Please pass this message on to all those involved. One of the best events I have been to for a long time. I went yesterday Sunday 25th May with my 15 year old daughter ( her first festival...and keen to see Jethro Tull). The organisation of the event was very good, parking was close by, the security stewards were efficient without being 'heavy' . Lots of fun stalls and always some interesting music to enjoy. The quality of the bands was really good, we arrived to see the last ten minutes of Ed Tudor Pole and wished we had seen his whole act ( our only regret of the day). Gordon Giltrap, friendly and accessible and highly skilled musicianship, 9 below Zero played a storm despite the storm around them (starting to chuck the rain down then). Acoustic Beatles got us all singing and dancing despite the cold. Melanie was a revelation...such a powerful voice...and deserved her iconic status. Seeing her really was an event. And then came Jethro Tull....naughty, funny, powerful and melodic - left us in a state of bliss. And me in a state of nostalgia...I was my daughter's age when I last saw them live at the Hammersmith Odeon in late 1970s. Just when we thought it could get no better...Boss Hoss (or is it Hoss Boss?) rode over the horizon. Outrageously camp cowboys...we thoroughly enjoyed their torsos in vests as well as their hilarious and rousing rendition of Hey Joe to a country rhythmn. Please book them again next year.  The other bands on the day were also very good, but at times we had to sneak off to warm up in the car...due to impending hypothermia. Toilets were well maintained and there seemed to be enough of them. I shall definitely book again next year. Everyone was so friendly and the music was so good I fear my daughter might have been ruined for other events. She now wants to definitely attend various other festivals around the country...I wonder if she will enjoy such an intimate, friendly and well organised experience as this one? Thank you for rearranging it this year...keep us on your mailing list. From Jessica Woolliscroft and daughter Rosie. PS We live in Alsager near Crewe, and valued the short travelling distance too.

Hazel O'Connor Arrives

I attended my first festival yesterday with a friend and was pleasantly surprised at the ease of getting there and parked so close to the arena. the organisation seemed adequate. the facilities and choice were great. Congratulations to all those involved in what was on the whole a successful event and it appeared that a contingency had been put into place for the acts and this was obviously put into effect!. well done to all. When does next year's information come out? regards Ian Tan

MAY I COMPLEMENT YOU ON THE EXCELLENT TOILET FASCILITIES. THE TOILETS AND SHOWERS WERE CLEAN AND FRESH FOR THE WHOLE WEEKEND. WELL DONE AND THANKYOU.

And yes...here are The Posh Loos

For a full review with photos visit