TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

I thought I'd create this topic for any who want to comment on the stalls - food and otherwise - and tell us about any of your purchases

I must admit that with the quality of the music, I actually spent very little time browsing the stalls this year.  I did the usual 'queue up for t-shirts' on Thursday afternoon, and purchased the green Barry Kitson design one.  I was disappointed with the dated one, which was just the line-up, but on the front instead of the back.  I understand that t-shirt printing is a lot cheaper if you go for one side only (I had that conversation with the merch lady at the Oysterband gig I went to recently) which I assume is the reason for it, but it just looked to me like everyone was wearing their t shirt back to front!

Then I visited the CD stall, where I picked up the new Ralph and Peggy CD (listening to it now, and it's jolly good) and Bob Fox's Garland for Joey CD (I have become a bit of a War Horse junkie, having moved down to Michael Morpurgo country, where he picked up the seeds of the original story). I also got a few from the cheap boxes, by Jim Causley, Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman, Granny's Attic and Kate Bramley.  

Apart from that, the only other CD I bought was a Blair Dunlop one from the car boot on Saturday morning.

Food-wise, I had a slightly disappointing burrito, but good burgers from the two burger stalls, and an Oggie and some very tasty Indian snacks.

I bought Peggy and Ralph’s cd, not yet listened to though, will soon.

Goan fish caladine… really gorgeous, Indian chickpea and potato curry.

Mac cheese, loved this too.

Little else this time really.

Would like to see the pics of the available tees.  Cropredy has a high quality double sided t-shirt tradition going back to the early 80s.  Would be sad if that tailed off due to economics alone.

Bought nothing this year, other than food (and beer, obviously!)

Falafels in pitta (our standard Cropredy fare) from the "Vegan & Vegetarian" stall - as good as ever. 8/10.

Decided to also try something different this year, so:

SMAC - very impressed with their Mac & Cheese. 8/10.

Leon's - excellent curry for me, and far too much food in the nut roast + salad for my wife to get through (what I tasted was extremely good). Our first time using Leon's, and I can now understand why it always seems to get rave reviews. 9/10.

Glamping food - superb sausage/scrambled egg baps in the morning, and their vegetarian hamper was so good that we ordered one for the Sunday morning to take home with us. 10/10.

I had saved up and got my annual pair of earrings from the jewellery stall a bit further down from Shilpa Silver, where the man always recognises my 15 year old ish earrings I bought there…a festival vest top  (disappointed also to find it was just the line-up)  the poster, an Arteangel Shineys Christmas decoration, as I think she is wonderful and like to support in a small way. A copy of The Song Remains the Same for £6. A buffalo icecream from the farm down the village.

We were pleased to see that the reduced numbers had not apparently deterred the stallholders.

We bought a couple of things but didn't indulge in t-shirts this year. The Barry Kitson one was, well, green and the other one with just the lineup was unexciting.

Food was ok, much better access to stalls and the bar with fewer punters.

Green T shirt for me (nice interesting design), and foodwise I really enjoyed the Smac shrooms and the cheesy grits from halfway up the field (great value at £4!). Veggie burger was a tad disappointing (undercooked), and the veggie hotdog was nice but pricy (£10).

I bought some soap and room fragrances from the handmade soap stall (?? & Rosie?) this was Friday and they’d already had a tremendous weekend, sold loads, so they were very happy. Mr B bought a fab green shirt from the stall next to the Oggies.

We had pizza, fish & chips and a curry from the main field, and toasties & coffee from the stall in field 1. Plus free cake on the last day as they were just about to close up. I believe there are no calories if it’s free…  ;)

No CDs as I’m trying to reduce clutter

Definitely no calories if it’s free Bridget! And actually I believe there’s no calories
in any if the food bought on site..
 (I hope)

Ate at Taste Tibet, twice. Very nice indeed. Also enjoyed a Tandoori wrap from the new stall up at the top of the field. Vegan/Vegetarian falafal salad also hit the mark.

Top marks also to the bar staff for keeping the beer cool and in good condition in the heat.

Thought the food options were very good.
I had The Tibetan Chicken & Dhal, The Indian Chicken Masala and The Goan Mackerel Masala (Do you detect a theme here?) All were excellent.
Also bought the Barry Kitson poster ( Far more Cropredy relevant than the Roger Dean one (I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw a dragon wandering through Cropredy)
Also bought a couple of gifts from the Library of Flowers stall (Mates rates as it’s run by a friend 😉)
As I stated on my Cropredy report, our friend running the stall said that in spite of the reduced numbers, she had taken more by the end of Friday than she had for the whole weekend last year!

While browsing in the cd tent I noticed they had a number of rare folk albums for sale, one of them was the debut self titled Forest album. They were asking for £350 even though it had a rather bad tear in the cover. I have a copy in far better condition. I wonder what they would value that as!

I think you’re right Jen!

Forgot Mr B bought a pink bar staff t-shirt and a Brasenose t-shirt, both good quality and printed on both sides  :)

I purchased beer...lots of beer...

I also purchased the new Rosalie Cunningham on CD and Thelonious Monk's  'Brilliant Corners' on vinyl

From the car boot I got Beatles at the BBC, Stranglers 'Black and White' and The Bonzo's 'Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse', a Spike Milligan Book of records, an old Murray Walker book on Motorcycle Racing 7 a penguin Modern Classic...  

I also broke the golden rule (don't but a new guitar at festival if 'refreshed') and bought a new guitar from Hobgoblin

I then purchased more beer...  

Lovely to see you all.  I had a ball...

Cheers,

Slippy O0

I guess the big question is... having sobered up and got it home, do you regret it?!  :D

Good to see you there, and maybe we'll bump into each other at the Launceston Folk Club or somewhere (Fairport and Merry Hell both booked for 2026, but dates not announced yet).

Yes, good to see you Will.  No regrets about the guitar!  Wallet took a bit of a pounding though...(although that was probably more ale than guitar!)

Cheers,

Slippy

Chicken curry from the new Indian stall. Very Nice. The oggies were yummy, as usual. My only gripe was the Traditional Fish and Chips stall. I had a jumbo sausage and chips which cost £13. The chips were awful. I bought the radioactive green t shirt!

Hilarious (not).  How tf does anybody think they can get away with that?  Vote with your feet, people.  At that price, I'd need them served on the silken thigh of a dazzling young lady.

That is a bit steep, indeed! Food-wise we had an Oggie each ( I had cheese and he, beef) and a curry each, Himsen had an Indian one and I had a Goan Fish Curry having heard so much and never tried them. All was fine, though …dare I say it….I was not blown away with the Goan fish curry. It was like having a fish korma, which I found not unpleasant, but slightly strange.

We also treated ourselves to a buffalo ice cream in the village.

That was my experience with the Goan fish curry a few years ago.  I thought I should try it as everyone raves about it, but it did very little for me, so I've never gone back there.

I love Goan fish caladine…. Always have it.

But a couple of years ago Covid took away my senses of taste and smell…. So really I’ve no idea what it’s like apart from memory… but I loved it when I had these senses still 🤣

The hand cream from that stall is miraculous- I wish I’d bought more!

I bought a tonne of samosas 😂

Cds are NOT clutter. 🧐😇😂Sheens mobile cd player arrived today! Reembrace the 80’s!

I know, I know! I still buy a CD from most bands I see (the smaller ones who rely on selling CDs to supplement the meagre income from gigs) for some reason I didn’t even make it into the CD tent! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Interestingly last night Lindisfarne had no CDs for sale, only uninspiring t-shirts. At least it meant I saved some money.

I noticed that more than one band made comments about 'for those who still listen to CDs...' or something of that ilk from the stage, which I don't remember before, which suggests that they are getting more people saying 'but I don't have a CD player' to them.  Joe Broughton gave a good rundown of how streaming income compared to the purchase of one CD which although not news to me, seemed to be to a number of people around ("To give us the same income as the purchase of one CD you'd have to listen to our CD all day every day for 10 years on Spotify.  I've heard our CDs and trust me, you don't want to do that!").

CDs remain the most popular physical format of music (and for good reason).  The death of CDs is a fiction.

I believe it is, but it is one of several being pushed as 'what modern people want.'
I recently bought a 'new' used car, and it took a long while to find one with a CD player.
(best car I've ever owned by the way).
Computers tend not to have CD burners too.
Music, books, movies, games are all being pushed towards digital as opposed to physical format.
The worry is streaming as opposed to downloading.
You never own a copy of the item you are, essentially, renting.
A steady income stream for those that have the rights to the material, which is not always the creative person, and often, without their agreement or even knowledge.

I am currently awaiting the delivery of nine albums, including three Big Star CD's - which I'm looking forward to hearing.
I'm doing my bit.