Summer music returns

A summer music festival is to be held at Newark’s Riverside Park.

The organisers say it will replace the live music that was a central part of Newark and Sherwood District Council’s Newark On Water Festival.

That festival was last held in 2004 when 16,000 people watched the headline act, The Human League.

Admission was free but the cost of running it, and health and safety concerns caused by the high attendance, led to it being scrapped.

Now, the couple who ran the children’s fairground that was part of the event are bringing music back.

Mr and Mrs Gordon Pearson have booked a Robbie Williams tribute band, Robbie Williams Millennium, to perform on Saturday, June 14, and the Motown group, JD And The Impressions, for the following day.

Local bands will make up the rest of the line-up over the two days. The event will open at 10am and close at 10pm each day.

Tickets will cost £3 and under-tens will be admitted free.

The Pearsons, who are investing £5,000-£6,000 in the event, have the support of the district council.

Mr Pearson, the owner of Pearson’s Amusements of Ibstock, Leicestershire, said Newark had missed the music that came with the Newark On Water Festival.

He said he wanted his Newark Music Festival to be a local attraction, although there was no way of halting wider appeal.

Mr Pearson said it was the first time they had organised a music festival.

He said the site would be fenced and there would be stewards from a reputable security firm. The stage and music system have already been booked.

Mr Pearson, who has been in the fairground business for 50 years and travels all over the UK, said: “We believe it will be successful enough for us to hold it every year.

“It won’t be as big as before, but there were a lot of disappointed people, including us, when it finished so we hope by bringing it back we can make those people happy again.”