Music: St. Ann’s Spring Festival – Fabulous and free!

Located in the beautiful inner city park of St. Ann’s Well Gardens, this spring festival was founded to celebrate the park’s centenary, and is now in its ninth year.
Named after its chalybeate (iron bearing) spring, and apparently based on a myth of Annafrieda, a Saxon lady whose lover was murdered, her tears miraculously becoming the chalybeate spring, the gardens were developed by Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, and in the late 19th century film pioneer George Albert Smith used the now demolished pump house to produce short films.
Most importantly, the local authorities in 1908 bought the gardens which were under serious threat from development proposals. The cost was £10,000. That’s all it took to save this fantastic park.
With thousands of visitors descending every year, the Spring Festival has become one of the biggest free events in the area. As well as market and food stalls, arts and crafts, a healing zone, workshops, a kid’s zone, and tonnes of entertainment across the board, there is the music stage which runs throughout the day, featuring a high quality and eclectic mix of mainly local talent.
On the bill this year are the soul-funk collective Ephemerals, the lively funk-rockers Hot Border Patrol (who feature The Noisettes’ Dan Smith on guitar), Brighton’s new wave legends The Piranhas, new indie kids on-the-block White Room, up and coming singer songwriter Hayley Ross, indie-folkers Common Tongues, the extremely talented teenager Maisie Peters, atmospheric electronica from Sea Bed, soulful singer Kitty Montague, Surrey-based pop punkers HomeBound, very young hopefuls TRUX, Hope & Annie, and the Cascade Choir.
This event is run by The Friends of St Ann’s Well Gardens and is a registered charity.
St Ann’s Well Gardens, Saturday 14 May, 11am-7pm, free