Bands line up for Woolstock!

Landlord Marcus and his wife Michelle O’Flanagan are delighted at the programme that has come together for the event which runs on July 5 from midday to 10.30pm.

“It started off between us and the customers,” says 
Marcus. “We just thought it would be good if we could pull off a music festival between us and the customers, and that’s how it started. We also did it as a fundraiser to start with for St Wilfrid’s Hospice. Between us and the customers, we all had a connection with St Wilfrid’s Hospice.”

And since that year, it has all gone crazy, Marcus says. From eight bands they are now up to ten bands this year, and they know already they are looking at a total audience of around 500 people passing through on the day.

The music is all sorts.

“We have had folk music and rock ‘n’ roll music. We have had various bands. It’s quite a range of all different genres,” Michelle said.

Marcus added: “We have a committee now to organise it. It’s a lot of work to put it all together. One of the guys on the committee is very up to date with his music and local bands.

“He deals with the bands and works out what goes in the show. He goes to see the bands and chooses them, but two or three of the bands we have had right from the beginning.”

The success of the event lies in the atmosphere it creates, Marcus believes: “We just get a really good atmosphere on the day.”

Tickets, with special rates for families, are available on www.woolstockaid.co.uk

“This year we have three charities we are raising money for,” Marcus said. “We have Cancer Research, the Sussex Snowdrop and St Wilfrid’s.”

There will be a bouncy castle for the children, plus ice creams and barbecue.

“If you are going to survive as a pub, you have to do different stuff,” Marcus says – though he stresses this particular event wasn’t an instance of diversification, simply something generated by the community.

“We have accommodation, and we concentrate on food. We do a lot of events like pub quizzes and so on.”

Whatever he’s doing, it’s clearly working. Marcus is delighted to count himself 
The Woolpack’s longest-serving landlord.

More details available from the pub.