The Foodies Festival gets bigger every year and I am very happy to attend.
Do most people go for the food or the entertainment?
The temperature this weekend is near 30 degrees so will it put the public off attending?
Saturday – MasterChef and Great British Bake Off stars
I arrive later on Saturday. It is scorching. The field is packed with cars and as you enter the site, people are everywhere. All kinds of pop up stalls selling bags, baskets, sweets, pies, hot food – whatever takes your fancy, chocolate in every form, biscuits, cakes, ice cream – in this heat I have no idea how they are keeping it all from melting.
MasterChef champions are in the Chefs Theatre. Great British Bake Off stars are in the Cake & Bake Theatre, Michelin-starred and top local chefs, Babna, Paul Durand (Manifest) , Luke Payne (The Pack Horse), William Guthrie (Cewe Hall Hotel), Tom Rhodes (Masterchef Champion) , Gill Howard (GBBO Semi-Finalist 2024) Kat Buckley (The Baking Explorer), Richard Nuttall (Next Door), Kevin Bonello, Rebecca Gibb, Ritchie Stainsby and so many more – cook their delicious recipes, in various open air marquee tents, scheduled to appear at set times during each day. There is a drinks theatre with new wines, cocktails and champagnes. It gives you a chance to sit down for an hour and watch their expertise, in between walking round the very large colourful, delicious smelling site.
Children have a fun fair with dodgems, heater skelter, dry ski slide, quiet areas for the babies to chill out – and much more. There is even a Kids Cookery Theatre and silent disco!
The Wanted 2.0
Friday night Symphonic Ibiza headlined the music stage.
Tonight, Saturday night, it is The Wanted 2.0 who are Max George and Siva Kaneswaran. The Wanted had many hits, ‘Glad You Came’, ‘Walks Like Rihanna’, ‘All Time Low’, ‘Rule The World’, ‘Chasing The Sun’, ‘I Found You’, ‘Heart vacancy’.
Tom Parker, who was in the original group, died from an inoperable brain tumour on March 30, 2022. Nathan and Jay did not want to carry on with the group without Tom, which left Max and Siva. They did decide to carry on, under the name The Wanted 2.0. And they are here today, performing all the old hits.
Earlier this year Max found out he had an atrioventricular block, which caused his heart to beat abnormally. He had heart surgery and a pacemaker fitted. And yet here he is entertaining us all. His family and friends are in the crowd – this is his hometown, Manchester, so of course they are all coming out to cheer him on.
Everyone has stayed to watch them perform.
Sunday it is Blue’s turn to perform
Sunday I return, as Blue are the headline act. I am boiling. The place is packed. Families are sat together on blankets, eating food from the various vendors. There are thirty something ladies who have had a few too many drinks up against the front of stage barriers with their Chanel bags, perfect hair and make up – and here I am melting away! Everyone is pushing nearer.
Blue enter the stage. The women go crazy – I won’t repeat some of the words coming from their mouths. They are thrashing around and I can’t tell you how many times I was hit with a Chanel bag. Elbows are pushed into me.
Simon Webbe, Lee Ryan, Antony Costa and Duncan James are all wearing linen clothes. Simon is really suffering from the heat. This is Simon’s home town – he grew up near Manchester. We don’t mind if any of you want to take your shirts off – they keep them on. God knows what the women at the front would do if the lads started to undress!! The wasps are after them on stage and they keep jumping and swatting them away!
Hit after hit from Blue
The hits keep coming for an hour – what memories from the past 25 years – yes it really is that long since they started. ‘One Love’, ‘Guilty’, ‘All Rise’, ‘U Make Me wanna’, ‘Bubblin’ – all these and more.
Antony has lost so much weight, well done! And he looks good.
Lee is smiling and looks so happy. He was diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia, Asperger and Autism earlier this year which would be difficult for anyone to deal with, and yet here he is entertaining us all and the rest of the world, touring, performing – how on earth does he handle it all? A lovely soul with a kind heart and a beautiful voice. He has his sixth child due soon which makes him very happy and he now lives in Spain.
They are slick, professional, down to earth and very handsome. And those voices!
Thank you Blue for making millions of people happy with your music.
Looking forward to when I see you again – now I need a cold shower!
All photos by Deborah Law
