The chairman of the Leigh Folk Festival says the colossal free event - which draws in crowds of an estimated 20,000 to the area - has reached a serious crisis point, with its future hanging in the balance.

Mick Davison, who has been involved in the festival for 20 years and has held position of chairman for two, described the annual festival which is now in its 26th year, as having become a "victim of its own success".

"We have reached a stage where we must seriously consider the future for the Leigh Folk Festival" added Mr Davison, 72, of Elmsleigh Road, Leigh. "We have created a festival which has morphed into a four day extravaganza way beyond the 'village fete' scenario of its early incarnation."

He explained that finances and manpower are the main problem, with more "hoop jumping" and restrictions coming into place as the festival has grown.

"Two years ago we were at an all-time low and The Stobart Group at Southend Airport stepped in at the eleventh hour to save us with sponsorship. We had to really work hard after that to make it happen, and remember we are doing it on a shoestring with a small group of volunteers.

"We were able to continue last year, and for the first time had to employ professional security.

"We now have the responsibility and ownership of a festival that, to be bluntly honest, we no longer have the expertise or indeed the qualifications to control or administer.

"The weight of responsibility which rests on our shoulders as the current organising body is horrendous. If any drastic emergency was to happen at the event, the buck starts and ends with us... it really does not bear thinking about.

"When we first started out, we never had to carry out such things as 'risk assessments', which we now need to do with everywhere we use. If there is a cobble out of place, it is down to us to sort it out. None of us are professionals within the fields that we volunteer in and it is a huge undertaking."

Mr Davison - largely known as Mickie D of long-standing "cockle rocker" band, the Grand Reunion - added that he will be retiring from his role as chairman of the LFF this year.

He said: "We have reached a stage where we must seriously consider the future for LFF. Employing a professional outside agency to run the festival would see the end of the 'access-for-all' ethos which we have, over the years, fought to maintain.

"We want to maintain the uniqueness of it being a folk festival, and keep the community vibe, including traditional acts such as Morris dancing, clog and belly dancing. We really don't want to lose that. The uniqueness of it being a free folk festival is what brings in people from all over the country.

"I am convinced that if we wish to continue in our present format and avoid being commercially driven, as well as helping to relieve the annual stress, strain and pressure of organisation, we must seriously consider we revert to it being a bi-annual event or have a fallow year every fourth or fifth period to coincide with the football World Cup or the Olympic Games.

"We also really need to open this to the public to find out what our punters want."

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THE Leigh Folk Festival takes place across more than 20 venues, with more than 200 acts, attracting more than 20,000 people and is now unchallenged as the largest free folk festival in the country.

Back in 1992, National Music Day was an initiative dreamed up by Tim Renton MP and Mick Jagger, sparking a one day explosion of live music events around the UK, ranging from street corner busking to the Glastonbury Festival.

The local response was to stage a day’s folk music and dancing, an occasion which proved so popular that it was repeated the following year, then the next, and so on.

A LFF spokesmans said :"Over the intervening period the Leigh Folk Festival has grown enormously in scope and scale, and now encompasses concerts, dance displays, ceilidhs, a centrepiece procession, workshops, open mic, kids’ activities, film, street theatre, storytelling, busking, art and plenty more besides.

"Rather than drifting towards becoming another commercially driven, ticketed event, the team of volunteer organisers has doggedly held fast to the original grass roots, access-for-all ethos, and so the festival has retained its unique, eclectic and idiosyncratic atmosphere.

"The pastoral, village fete atmosphere of the Library Gardens and the bustling, waterfront location of Old Leigh are both fundamental to the spirit of the weekend, and offer a natural, unpretentious welcome to visitors in their thousands.

"A century ago, Essex proved fertile ground for the first wave of folk song collectors like Cecil Sharp and Ralph Vaughan-Williams, and perhaps some of this legacy persists in our local traditional music scene. And while the ‘Thames Delta’ is probably best known for the blues and pub-rock bands of the 60s and 70s, it has always supported a flourishing folk and acoustic music scene."