The event arose from the folk club of the same name founded in Trowbridge in 1970 and the annual festival held there until 1984, when it moved to Stowford Manor Farm. Prior to 2010, all events took place in marquees and the compact site includes camping, car parking, three separate stages plus children's tent, two beer tents and a myriad of trade stalls selling items from all over the world. 2010 saw the introduction of an outdoor main stage, with two marquees, and several additional small stages and undercover performance areas.
History
The folk club of the same name was founded by Pat Drinkwater in 1970 in an old store room at the rear of The Lamb pub in Mortimer Street, Trowbridge. Early performers included Maddy Prior and Tim Hart, Keith Christmas, Dick Gaughan and Stéphane Grappelli. Many others later played there. The first festival was held in 1974 before moving to Stowford Farm, Wingfield in 1980, under the direction of Alan Briars and Dave Newman. Newman died in 2005 and Briars in 2007. In 2006 a group of enthusiasts relaunched the Village Pump folk club at The Lamb. The 2011 event was called off, the first time this had happened, because of difficulties in obtaining ticket revenues from the online transaction company. Trowbridge Village Pump Festival Limited, the company that ran the festival, did not find out until late January 2010 that the online transaction provider had sold on that part of their business to another company. The new owner viewed festivals in general as very risky and applied conditions to the release of the ticket revenue, i.e. the monies would not be released until 3 months after the festival. It was by that time too late move to another provider as the application period typically takes 3 months with no guarantee of acceptance. The company shareholders voted to suspend the event in 2011 whilst seeking alternatives to allow the festival to be held in 2012. The Weekender was held at the Village pump after hearing of the demise of the Village pump Ltd. Many of the original members of the festival decided to resurrect the festival under the new name Village Pump Folk Festival, with the Blessing of Mr Pat Drinkwater, the founder of the name. The 2012 Village Pump Folk Festival took take place at White HorseCountry Park, Westbury on 20–22 July 2012 with Show of Hands as festival Patrons. It was also covered by FromeFM. Following disappointing ticket sales in 2015 and 2016, the organisers decided to take the Village Pump Folk Festival into voluntary liquidation. The 2017 festival was initially cancelled, but later a smaller festival was planned. Another group of volunteers have since gathered together, including several of the previous committee members and a number of new faces in order to keep the festival alive. It is hoped that a larger scale festival will follow in 2018. Tickets for the 2018 festival which is returning to the Stowford Manor Farm went on sale 3 January 2018.
