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Cancellation of Dover Music Festival, at Cruise Terminal 1, for operational reasons says organisers

11:10, 24 January 2018

Dover Music Festival is finished after four years.

Its committee say that the event is now cancelled for “operational reasons.”

A statement on the event’s website said: “Nothing is forever and we are unable to continue with the DMF in its current form.

Dave Ferra's Blues Band at the first Dover Music Festival, 2014
Dave Ferra's Blues Band at the first Dover Music Festival, 2014

“Dover Harbour Board, who have been very supportive allowing use of the Cruise Terminal completely free of charge, are unable to provide the venue due to operational reasons but will continue with the Regatta in 2018.

“It is possible that we will be working with them to bring more music on the seafront in the future.

“But for now we would like to thank everyone who has supported the Dover Music Festival - who knows, it may return again in the future.”

The festival has entertained thousands people in Dover over the last four summers.

It started at venues such as Pencester Gardens for the first and continued at Cruise Terminal 1 for the last two.

The committee says that the event had begun as a “seed of an idea” by music lovers and the move to free shows to the Western Docks took the event to another level.

Dale Bennett and the Incidentals at the last Dover Music Festival
Dale Bennett and the Incidentals at the last Dover Music Festival

The festival had originally only been planned for three years.

It brought in household name bands and singers, tribute groups and local acts.

The first event, from July 18 to 20 2014, had more than 60 acts including Dave Ferra’s Blues Band and the Landmark Show Choir of Deal.

It was spread over Dover Town Hall, Crabble Corn Mill, Pencester Gardens and Market Square.

The 2015 show’s headliners included tribute acts Letz Zep and Fleetwood Bac.

The first festival at Cruise Terminal 1 began on Black Saturday, July 23, 2016, when there were massive traffic holdups because of delays in French border security controls.

One band for that day, The Christians, were stuck in Traffic for eight hours.

The final festival, last August 26 and 27, was closed by Paul Young’s band Los Pacaminos on the first day and Toyal Willcox on the second.

Other acts then included Dale Bennett and the Incidentals and Stellar Talk.

The last two festivals raised money for Kelly Turner as part of a massive local fundraising campaign to get £1 million for specialist cancer treatment in America.

Tragically the 17-year-old died last November but money raised for her is going for other victims of the extremely rare form of the disease she had.

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