The countdown begins to the launch of the Festival. I am pleased that the day is finally here after a long build up that began back in April!

At long last the day has arrived, the moment of reckoning is here and we can get stuck in!

For the last few days it has been like being at the centre of a whirlwind. People rushing around me - Viv, Sue and Jo setting up hospitality. Stuart getting the sound and lights ready in all the venues. Grips fetching and carrying all things ranging from fridges to lights, flags to signs. Event managers coming in with lots of questions. Tom moving the box office downstairs, setting up a complicated system of wires so we can still sell tickets using the new computer system and online. Poets ringing up with questions and changes to their arrival times. Deliveries of radio microphones or parcels full of leaflets for the festival Goers Room. The artists arriving to mount the William Blake exhibition. Three Counties Bookshop coming to look at the marquee outside the Burgage Hall where books will now be sold and producing a lovely string of fairy lights to give the marquee a special atmosphere in the evening!

Everyone working so hard, all with their jobs to do, trying to make everything look as fabulous as possible and run as smoothly as possible. Our Festival motto: Keep Calm and Carry On!

Chloe Garner

Director

Ledbury Poetry Festival