Isle of Wight Festival royalty turned out in force on Friday (22nd August) for the launch of Ray Foulk’s newly reprinted book The Last Great Event at Dimbola in Freshwater.
Ray – one of the brothers behind the original Isle of Wight Festivals – was interviewed by the BBC’s Tom Stroud, with his daughter Cordelia’s mother, Sarah, delivering 2 readings from the book. In the audience were familiar faces from the festival’s history, including Peter Harrigan – publicity manager for the legendary 1969 and 1970 events and now Managing Director of Medina Publishing – along with Ray’s sister Jo, who worked in the original festival office, and Vicky Foulk, daughter of Ronnie Foulk, who co-produced the early festivals with his brother Bill.
The event was a sell-out, with Mermaid Gin providing drinks as the audience enjoyed behind-the-scenes stories from the festival era, a short film on the staging of the events, and a live performance of Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright by Medina Publishing’s Charlotte Beadle.
Dimbola’s Executive Chairman Dr Brian Hinton said:
“The whole evening was a triumph. We sold a lot of Ray’s books and raised funds for the Julia Margaret Cameron Trust who run Dimbola – so all good!
“Huge thanks to Ray and his family, and to John Giddings who all support Dimbola. We are very pleased that Ray has included a chapter on the new Festivals in this paperback edition.”
Afterwards, photographs were taken in front of the newly installed ‘Wight Spirit’ panel by artist Guy Portelli – a striking mosaic featuring the handprints of artists who performed at the early festivals. The work was part of the Experience 25 exhibition at London’s O2 last year and has now found a permanent home at Dimbola.
The launch followed events at Medina Books in Cowes on Thursday (21st) and AAA Records in Newport on Saturday (23rd). The Last Great Event is now on sale at Dimbola, Medina Books, and AAA Records, priced £17.99.
