Homegrown Festival makes the most of local talent

The Homegrown Festival lived up to its name at the weekend by featuring East Anglian performers of all ages.

As well as seasoned musicians with many performances behind them, the three-day event at Suffolk Academy in Barrow, included the stage debut of a group of performers as young as six from the Bury St Edmunds based Queen’s Road School of Rock.

Organiser Sara Kathleen said: “They absolutely killed it – they were amazing!

“We use local bands because there’s so much talent locally.”

It is a formula that proves popular with more than 2,000 people attending this year.

Sara added: “Sunday was a free day which was an experiment for us this year.

“We had about 500 people pre-book tickets but so many more people turned up.”

The whole event is organised by Sara with Glen and Julie Moulds, who are all volunteers. Glen even built the stage to cut costs.

Sara explained: “It’s because of that we don’t have to charge £200 for a weekend ticket.”

This year Joanne Jobling was brought in to help with the children’s activities which are so important to the festival, which attracts many families.

This year they included Cardboard City which gradually grows as children add buildings made from donated cardboard.

• More pictures by Mecha Morton in Friday's Bury Free Press.