1965

And so it all begins!

The story began in autumn 1964 when Cambridge City Council decided to hold a music festival the next summer. They approached local firefighter and political activist Ken Woollard who was a regular attender at the newly formed Cambridge Folk Club. Ken had been inspired by a documentary, Jazz On A Summer’s Day, about the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. He wanted a festival that preserved the values of the fast evolving folk club movement and expressed his socialist ideals, one which covered a wide spectrum of music, and most importantly had a friendly family atmosphere. The first Festival sold 1400 tickets and almost broke even. Squeezed in as a late addition to the bill was a young Paul Simon who had just released I Am A Rock.

Cambridge Folk Festival 1965: Paul Simon, Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem, Bill Clfton, Stan Kelly, Ethan Signer, Arthur Rosenbau, The Strawberry Hill Boys, Doris Henderson, Shirley Collins, Bob Davemport, Peggy Seeger, Hedy West, Isla Cameron, The Watersons, Pete Sayers