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Meet Evesham Festival of Words organiser, Sue Ablet

Jacci Gooding

Here at SWLF we know the hard work setting up and running a literary Festival takes but we also know the reward makes it all worthwhile. Author Sue Ablet is the woman behind the Evesham Festival of Words, she shares her experience here.





Sue Ablett (right) with Prue Leith




Welcome, Sue. Tell me a little bit about yourself.


I’ve had a chequered career, starting off as a Russian linguist, then branching into university admin and research, pulling in a PhD along the way (just for fun!) before landing what was probably my dream job running a national children’s cancer charity.  I’ve been retired for about nine years now.  Running Evesham Festival of Words is pretty time-consuming but good fun

 


How did it all begin?


There was a previous literary festival in Evesham which ran for two years from 2014 to 2015.  It had the rather strange name of Asparawriting Festival.  It put on some good events and ran a writing competition, but didn’t attract sufficient attendees and folded after two years.  I found myself on the Committee of that Festival for its second year.  When it was clear that it couldn’t continue, I got together a group of people who were keen to put on a literary festival but run completely differently and we were very clear ‘our’ festival had to at least break even every year.  So we came up with a more meaningful name, rebranded, relaunched, and held our first Festival in 2016.

 

Did you have any experience in running this sort of event before you started?


For the last 20 years of my working life I was Executive Director of a large national children’s cancer charity.  That meant I had plenty of experience of organising events; bringing in funds and managing finances; chairing meetings; working with volunteers; setting up a website; publicity etc.  Plus being a ‘people person’ really helps as you need to motivate others. I had written quite a lot but all non-fiction. I had no creative writing skills and no writing contacts.  Luckily we had on our committee a local writer, Lindsay Stanberry-Flynn.  Lindsay sadly died about three years ago but she was key to us putting together a programme in year one – she called on everyone she knew!  By year two, we were beginning to be approached by authors and other contributors who had heard good things about us.

 


Was it easy to garner support?


It wasn’t too difficult.  We were lucky in the first year in that we managed to gain grants from both Evesham Town Council and Wychavon District Council, and a number of local businesses contributed to the costs of our Festival Brochure.  That really helped because in the beginning you often find you need to pay some bills before you’ve even sold a ticket.

Getting our attendees in year one took a bit of effort – there were a lot of favours called in, and I persuaded lots of people I knew to come along.  By year two, word was getting out and it felt a lot easier.

 


Tell us about your love for Evesham.


I was born and bred in Evesham.  I went away to University but then found myself living in Evesham again.  I moved away in my early 30s for a job at Leicester University (at that point Evesham felt a bit small home town).  About 16 years ago my mum was really very unwell for quite some time so I found myself spending ever more time in Evesham.  I fell back in love with the place, renewed some old acquaintances, and made many new friends and contacts. 

By accident some years ago I found myself leading the appeal to raise about £1m for the Evesham Bell Tower Appeal.  We succeeded in that and that really embedded me back in the community.  Many of the contacts I made in the course of that appeal subsequently also became supporters of Evesham Festival of Words.


 

What did the town of Evesham think of having a festival on their doorstep?


I always describe Evesham as a town of Festivals.  Some have been going for many years – the Angling Festival, Wychavon Festival of Brass, etc, while others are much more recent, such as the incredibly impressive Battle of Evesham Festival. When you looked at the list of all the Festivals, a literary festival/festival of words was missing  We now find that more and more people are coming from outside the town which is great. We’re certainly held up as being a very professional, well-organised and friendly festival, and we get a lot of very positive comments about the quality of the programme we put on each year.

 


Unlike a lot of festivals you run events for most of the year. How difficult - or not - is that to do?


It is something that developed over time.  Year one (2016) we just had a single weekend.  By year two we had ideas and were being approached by more people wanting to take part.  We couldn’t fit it all in to just 3 days so we spilled over a bit either side of that weekend.  By the following year we were officially talking about fringe events.  We have a bit of a gap, often in January and February, when we don’t put on events, and not too many in August.  But generally we have something on most months of the year.  We really like it, as do our attendees. 

 


Are some events more popular than others?


Yes inevitably.  We use a wide range of venues around the town and believe that it is much better to have a small venue that is full than a large one where attendees are rattling around.  Over the years we have got quite good at judging likely ticket sales and selecting venues accordingly.  It is not always the bigger or the well-known names that prove the most popular.

Over the years we have tried certain types of event, found they didn’t work particularly well, and have dropped them.  Events for children is a good example.  We put on some good events but didn’t have the right contacts to ensure good attendance.  Comedy is another type of event that we tried, it didn’t work terribly well, and we no longer do.  Comedy is very subjective and there are other outlets focussing on comedy.







 


How do you choose which subjects and authors you’d like to see at the festival year on year?


I’d probably say that it sort of just happens.  We don’t have a particular theme to work to, so can be pretty flexible in terms of subjects, authors and type of event.  Ideas come to us in a variety of ways, or we are approached by potential contributors.


 

Where do you find your participants?


Lots of different ways.  It may be that someone has seen a speaker at another Festival and suggests them.  I watch a lot of talks on the online platform (Restless) and have brought a number of excellent speakers that I heard speak online to Evesham.  Other speakers may be recommended to us.  One or two of our contributors have come to us as a result of chance conversations on holiday  or just being out and about.  We do get quite a few approaches from potential contributors.  It always feels a bit of a risk to just take people on without any personal knowledge of what they do and how.  We set high standards and don’t want to compromise on that. 


 

And how about volunteers?


In the early days we really didn’t have any volunteers.  We are now in a much better position, which helps to spread the load at events.  This year we have a really good number of volunteers who are helping with distribution of our Festival Brochures, ensuring much wider distribution than previously.  We have two or three people who will help out at events (serving teas, greeting folk etc).  We have volunteer cake makers.  And we have an absolute star in our volunteer graphic designer – she does all our design work (brochure, bookmarks, banners, etc etc).  We’re also very lucky to just have a new volunteer who is doing a great job running our social media – an area that none of us on the Committee are very au fait with.

 

Do you ever feel you’re running out of steam?


No!  Luckily I’m a very active, high energy creature.  As long as I really enjoy what I’m doing, and I just love the Festival, then I happily keep going.  2020 and lockdown did give us a break of course.  When I signed up to be chair initially, I don’t think I envisaged I’d still be doing it eight years later, but it works.  We get such positive feedback on the Festival that that really helps keep the energy levels up, not just for me but for the rest of the Committee too.


 

How have ticket sales been since Covid?


2021, which actually was still very much Covid times, was really quite difficult for ticket sales. We got by in 2021. 2022 was very much better, and 2023 was a fabulous year (probably our best yet).  2024 is looking good.  Our brochure came out a bit earlier this year and we already have two sold out events. 

 


And please add anything else you would like to say about yourself, the festival, the future of the festival


I guess at some point I might like to hand over the Chairmanship, and just come along to events as a very keen attendee.  So far I haven’t managed to find anyone willing to take over!  I am a very hands on Chair and it is a very significant commitment.  Maybe one of these days.  Meanwhile, even before our first event of 2024 takes place, we have already lined up our first couple of events for 2025.  So hopefully the Festival will continue to run for a good number of years yet.

 

Thank you Sue for this very interesting insight into the wonderful Evesham Festival of Words.

 



Here is the link to the festival site https://eveshamfestivalofwords.org/

 

 


 

Interview by Jacci Gooding

  

   


 






  



 


 


 


 

 

 

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