Toploader and Saw Doctors set to rock Kilnsey

But next month, the Upper Wharfedale site of Kilnsey Crag, near Grassington, will be joining the likes of Woodstock, Reading and Glastonbury when it hosts a three-day music festival – one of the first of its kind in the Yorkshire Dales.

Some 40 bands, including the Saw Doctors and Toploader will be playing at the event, while it is hoped up to 3,000 tickets will be sold.

The event is being organised by mother-of-three Gillian Rackham and her ex-gamekeeper husband Philip, who have lived in the area for more than 20 years and wanted to do something to attract families back into the Dales following the closure of one nearby primary school and threatened closure of another, due to dwindling pupil numbers.

And despite the traditional festival associations of booming music, plastic beer cups, and soggy tents swimming in knee high mud, rural villagers are rushing to take part.

“It has taken a bit of persuading,” said Mrs Rackham, 47, whose three daughters now aged between 13 and 21 grew up in the area.

“I have been involved with a lot of the community groups since I have lived here and I have noticed that in this area there is a big hole missing for teenagers.

“There isn’t anything for them to do.

“It is a beautiful place to go with your children and for them to grow up.

“But we are not getting families moving in because of the house prices – in Kettlewell 40 per cent of the homes are holiday cottages.

“It is such a shame because it is a lovely village and fantastic for families.”

Education bosses planned to shut down both nearby Kettlewell and Arncliffe Primaries with pupils moving to Threshfield and Grassington as a way of dealing with the issue of falling pupil numbers in Upper Wharfedale.

But following a campaign to save Kettlewell school, it was given a reprieve by North Yorkshire County Council’s executive last year with a warning that “appropriate measures” needed to be taken to address dwindling pupil numbers.

Fewer than 30 youngsters are currently said to be attending the school.

Kettlewell is also home to an annual scarecrow festival, where more than 100 homemade scarecrows are put up in gardens, open spaces, and rooftops and which attracts thousands of visitors every year.

Mrs Rackham said a family with three children recently moved in to the village having fallen in love with it during the event, and she hopes the new music festival, called Cragfest, will have a similar effect.

“My husband Philip, who works in events, had the idea for it last year and we just thought what a fantastic place to have a music festival,” she said.

“We got in touch with the landlord of the field and it has been action stations ever since.

“We called a public meeting for residents in February.

“Straight away people thought Leeds Festival or Glastonbury when we said we wanted to have a festival and they panicked a bit.

“The initial reaction was people asking well what sort of people are going to be coming in here?

“But when we explained that it wasn’t going to be like a pop and rock festival and was more for families they became really interested.

“We are putting regular updates on the village notice boards so people can see what is happening with it.

“Now everybody is really excited.

“We have got a licence for 4,999 people but we are limiting it to 3,000.

“We will be happy if we get between 1,500 and 2,000.

“This is the first ever music festival like this in the Dales and it needs somebody who understands the area to put on something like this.

“We don’t think it will make any money in the first year, if possible enough to cover our costs, but we are hoping to establish it as an annual event.”

The festival is costing £70,000 to put on at the Kilnsey Showground and will also see the towering Kilnsey Crag, floodlit with low energy LEDs to provide a backdrop to the event.

A community minibus will operate between the festival and surrounding villages over the three days so locals can leave their cars at home.

Mrs Rackham says local suppliers are also taking part in the event with fish and chips made from local trout being sold alongside real ale and rabbit burgers.

The event runs from May 25 to May 27 and festival goers can camp on site.

Weekend tickets costs £40 and are available from www.ticketline.co.uk/cragfest