Rochdale Feel Good Festival starts on Friday

Feel Good Festival 2013: The crowd watching bands on the main stage

After months of planning, preparation and increasing expectations one of Greater Manchester’s best loved free events is almost upon us.

Rochdale Feel Good Festival, funded by Rochdale Borough Council will return this Friday 29 August and Saturday 30 August to bring fine food, fantastic entertainment and chart topping bands to Rochdale Town Hall Square. And with arguably the biggest and best line up to date, organisers are expecting crowds to exceed the 10,000 that turned up in 2013.

Musically speaking, attendees can look forward to headline performances from Scouting For Girls, along with a very special set from The Selecter, plus Manchester folk duo Bird To Beast, electronic crossover outfit MDNGHT and Battle of the Bands winners 5ft Fez.

The Celebrity Kitchen will feature chefs Ainsley Harriott, Aazam Ahmad, Andrew Nutter and Justine Forrest.

Skylight Arts Circus troupe will be on hand to dazzle spectators with displays of acrobatics, and M6 Street Theatre company will be delivering a specially created piece for the Feel Good Festival. The Flying Horse Hotel is hosting its own music bill, running well into the early hours on both nights, and the Pandemonium Drumming Workshop will be set up outside Rochdale Central Library between 11am and 12pm on Saturday.

In addition there will also be live puppet shows, family craft activities in the Link4Life Creativity Tent, the Rock Choir, and Vibe Youth Music’s DJ workshops.

Debbie Hernon, of Rochdale Feel Good Festival, said: “After putting so much work in over the last few months the pressure is always on in the final week to ensure the event goes off without a hitch. Nerves aside, though, we can’t wait to kick things off on Friday and with a line up like this year’s we’re sure the seventh Rochdale Feel Good Festival will follow in the footsteps of predecessors, and be remembered as an outright success. Roll on the weekend then.”

The summer festival is funded by Rochdale Borough Council, together with sponsorship from local businesses including Rochdale Online, RRG Toyota, Rochdale Observer, Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre, Carillion, Balfour Beatty Living, Rochdale 6th Form College, 96.2 The Revolution, The Flying Horse Hotel, Hopwood Hall College, Mango Bar, Rochdale Exchange, Link4Life, Public Health and the Maskew Fund.