Festival gold on first night

The Audlem Festival was off to a fantastic start last night with packed pubs and music that would satisfy the sternest critic. At the Shroppie Fly, for example, local favourites Heavy Weather filled the pub with two sets of blues and rock that had the audience yelling for more. Their bluesy numbers were aided by the brilliant harmonica playing of Ade White guesting on half a dozen numbers.

The band has been playing with Whitesnake legend Bernie Marsden – of Here I Go Again fame, a USA #1. Jim Kirkpatrick's guitar playing has packed local venues now for years and his soaring While My Guitar Gently Weeps brought a huge roar of approval.

One of the delights of the Festival weekend is the people from around the world that turn up to enjoy the music. John and Di had drifted into the village on the narrowboat Duke. Where they had been until recently revealed the true pull of the Audlem Festival. Not too many people can spend the summer cruising England's canals and the winters (the English ones that is) in sunnier climes prospecting for gold in the South Island of New Zealand.

They enjoyed success with the pan too this year. They'd first realised there was gold out there for the taking when they found a woman in NZ collecting enough gold in a river, its exact location a closely guarded secret, to make her own wedding ring – now that's a true romance! John and Di, equipped with their own pans, soon found the grains of gold were accumulating.

Last night, back in Blighty, they struck musical gold in Audlem at the start of Festival that promises to be a weekend to remember.

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