THE free nine-day Monmouth Festival that has been held in Blestium car park for 10 years is moving away from its traditional format and splitting into two halves.

The two stages that have provided music simultaneously will now not compete with each other, but complement the programme of bands with Chippenham now hosting the main stage.

In response to feedback from members of the public, to make sure that everyone gets the chance to see as many of the performers as possible, the event will split into two halves.

The ‘second stage’ - which this year is again at the Riverside Hotel - will kick the festival off on Saturday 27th July and run until Wednesday 31st July.

Then, in a move away from the traditional format that has existed since 1983, main stage music will start on Wednesday, but will run through until the evening of Sunday, 4th August, incorporating the family funday on the final day.

Not only will the festival start one day later, it will end a day later on a Sunday, giving the last two days a real festival-style look to the event.

“In the past, when the festival has finished on a Saturday, anyone staying over in the town that weekend would have to go home early, but now they can enjoy music on both Saturday and Sunday as the music programme will begin at 12 noon and end at 10.30pm both days,” said Cerys Watts, one of the festival organisers.

“We are still having the same number of bands as before, but we can now start earlier as we were always restricted to a 6pm start when set up on the car park.

“The county council have been very accommodating and helpful in our relocation and we hope there will be less disruption to the parking in the town this year,” she added.

The site for the main stage will be opposite Waitrose, with the back of the stage facing away from the supermarket, see picture.

Once the main stage is erected, there will be organisers on site 24/7 to not only watch over the stage, but also to prevent anyone from pitching tents there on the last weekend.

“We are thrilled that The Riverside Hotel is hosting the festival’s second stage again this year and are looking forward to working with Matt and his team. We are delighted to be working with St Mary’s Church, The Methodist Chapel and all our Fringe venues once more. We would also like to thank Monmouthshire County Council for their help in facilitate these changes,” said Cerys.

A spokesperson from Monmouthshire County Council said: “The stage will be elevated off the ground and the Operations team will be ensuring that any damage is managed and the ground is put back to how it was before the event. A deposit will also be paid should the council need to undertake any remedial work.”