Woman marks birthday with music festival celebrating Warrington talent

Janet Harding, from Woolston, came up with the idea to create a music festival for her 50th birthday after joking around with a group of friends within the music industry.

Originally from Worcestershire, Janet often writes reviews for different music magazines and has cemented connections and friendships with musicians and creatives within the industry.

It was at an event in January in Parr Hall that the idea to put on a music festival was suggested by a friend, and Janet suddenly found that people around her were all offering to chip in.

“As the day went on, more and more people were getting involved,” she said.

“Bands were offering to play, and it all just came together as an exciting gig experience really.”

Eventually, a location was chosen for ‘Janfest’ and the event took over the Cheshire Cheese, on Knutsford Road, on Saturday, June 8.

Janet with the Gondolas, who headlined her 50th birthday (Image: Supplied)

Janet was contacted by so many people wanting to play and help out, that she had to create a waiting list.

“It was overwhelming to be honest, because we could have made it a full weekend,” she said.

“Every single person that contributed did it all voluntarily as a gift – the band and the performers, and even the pub.

“Every band I picked has got such charisma, the standard was very high as they’re all people I’ve met through doing reviews for magazines.”

Janet wanted to celebrate original music as part of her birthday, highlighting the breadth of talent in and around Warrington.

“People don’t realise that Warrington has an incredible music scene, it just goes a little unnoticed,” she said.

“It’s here if you know where to look for it.”

Gondolas headlined the event and were joined on the line-up by other artists including Muddy Elephant, who are set to support Busted in Leeds next month.

‘Janfest’ started at 1pm and ran until curfew at 11pm, with people flocking to the pub throughout the day to celebrate Janet.

Joe Kavaney performed an acoustic set at Janfest (Image: Supplied)

“It was very informal and quiet at first and then it started filling up and towards the end of the evening we were hoping nobody else came because it got that busy,” she said.

“People have messaged me that have said ‘thanks for having me’ that I don’t actually remember seeing – that shows how busy it was.

“The music industry turned out in force, but I had family as well as friends from other areas that aren’t particularly involved in music, so it was lovely seeing all these different areas of my life coming together.

“There was a moment around 7 o’clock when we had just gone on to the full band performances and it just seemed full of people, I just remember thinking ‘this is what you do it all for’.”