How It All Began
Rob and Di Lyon were instrumental in starting the whole Dart Music Festival (DMF) off in Dartmouth in the late 1990’s.
When they ran the Seale Arms (Victoria Road, Dartmouth), they started putting on live music. They got bands from all over, particularly Bristol, to perform Jazz and Blues and made it a regular feature. Along with the Royal Castle Hotel (RCH) they were the first to host this kind of live music regularly in Dartmouth.
In the summer of 1996, Rob and Di went to the Kinsale Jazz Festival near Cork in Southern Ireland and realised how much like Dartmouth the place was. Here they got talking to Ian Briggs who was playing at the event and the idea of replicating the festival in Dartmouth took hold.
In the autumn of 1996, discussed his thoughts on holding a Music Festival in Dartmouth Rob with to Nigel Way (owner of the RCH). Nigel said “go for it.” and the rest is folklore.
In March 1998 the Lyons sold the pub, which meant they had loads of free time on their hands, so they decided to organise the Festival to give themselves something to do. They had just six weeks to plan everything, in order to hold the first DMF in May. May was chosen because things went a bit flat in the town after Easter and there seemed to be a gap in the calendar.
The inaugural DMF was a huge success, with ninety bands appearing all over Dartmouth and Kingswear during May 8th, 9th and 10th. Rob says that on the following Monday morning he wasn’t sure how the local community would react. Walking over to the Bandstand to start the clearing up he was approached by various folk who enthusiastically congratulated him on such a wonderful event and how great it was for Dartmouth. That made it all worthwhile and dispelled any doubts he held.
Mounting the first DMF took tons of effort and drew on the voluntary efforts of lots of people (a polite way of saying press-ganged) and the team grew to include, as founding members: Rob & Di, Nigel Way, Roger Kempton and Liz Flower.
Rob didn’t get where he is today by being slow to delegate and quickly suggested Liz Flower would be the perfect person to Chair the event management committee. This she did for 3 great years and upon standing down has been a patron and supporter ever since. Liz returns to Dartmouth and visits the DMF each May.
The DMF team was further bolstered by addition of Ed Welch as Festival Patron. Despite other festivals seeking to enlist him he chose to support DMF with the magical phrase “can I give you some money?” Ed is still Patron and gives tremendous support every year.
This kind of reaction is tremendously important to the DMF and is one of the reasons DMF is still going strong after twelve years. Local people want the DMF to happen and are prepared to help.
The first DMF would not have happened without the generosity of lots and lots of people and business’s who helped put it together.
All the finance came from local people and local business. A special mention must go to Philip Bonnet of Philip & Sons. They gave a large donation because they saw the importance and the long term potential of such an event in Dartmouth. The Round Table stepped forward saying they supported the DMF “Music for All” ethos.
This kind of support early on really encouraged everyone, it made the difference not between a good event and a great one but literally between an event and no event. That the first festival turned out to be a great one is down to all the super people involved.
A feature of this first DMF was that it was mostly local people who attended. Yes there were some visitors but it was mainly locals. Some of whom said they had a great time because they caught up with so many friends.
Bayards Cove was a particular attraction as anyone who has been there on a sunny DMF Saturday afternoon will confirm.
It wasn’t all plain sailing the first year. Money was very tight. So tight in fact that at one stage the organisers ran out of cash on Saturday night – no money left to pay the bands. All hopes rested on the collecting tins doing the rounds as the bands played. The tins came through, and the bands got paid.
Not all the acts went down well. A local band booked to play on the Red River Boat called Miss UK 1972, were billed as a rock band with a difference which never fails to surprise. The difference being they were transvestites and whilst they were in big demand locally, not one ticket was sold for the boat trip. Apparently the disappointed band was very good natured about it.
After it was all over the Committee folk said it was like walking on air, just a most fantastic feeling.
DMF has passed it’s tenth birthday, but this would never have happened without those who initially supported the idea. In addition to those already mentioned DMF owes a debt of gratitude to the following folks.
The late Roger Kempton who brought such a large contribution to the DMF will not be forgotten. His wit and humour, love of Pink Floyd, help in building and supervising the construction of the stage and above all his towering commitment to the Festival will not be seen again. Sadly missed but remembered in the annual Roger Kempton memorial concert.
Roki Schiffner for her sterling work as the DMF Public Relations officer.
John and Debby Kimble who were Towers of strength, patience and organisational ability.
Each year has seen a veritable parade of brilliantly varied musical forms and artists that bring such a rich tapestry of musical genres to Dartmouth in May.