One man's musical vision

THERE are probably many things you can do in a back bedroom in Gosport. But organising a top international music festival, featuring some of the biggest names from the last 40 years of rock and pop history, is surely not one of them.

You might imagine that the Gosport Summer Festival - which takes place from August 9 to 12 and sees stars including James Brown, Atomic Kitten, Rolf Harris, Leo Sayer and Queen guitarist Roger Taylor entertaining a crowd of 5,000 at Fort Brockhurst - is the product of months of hard work by dozens of frantic organisers, with a plethora of committees in charge of such vital details as booking, accommodation, catering and marquee-erecting.

You might imagine that - but you'd be completely off the mark.

The Gosport Festival, the once-controversial celebration of popular music in all its varied forms, and now a hallowed tradition in the town, is the vision of just one man - Hampshire County Councillor Peter Chegwyn.

Chegwyn, who, in addition to his civic duties as a county councillor for Gosport, also runs his own parliamentary and campaigns consultancy, dreamed up the idea for the festival 10 years ago - and, since Gosport Borough Council gave

up funding the whole event a few years back, now has complete artistic control over it.

Not surprisingly, he talks about it with passion and pride - and, his unwavering belief in the festival having triumphed over the pessimistic predictions of his political opponents and some Gosport residents, with not a little defiance. "Even when I was the leader of Gosport Council and had the majority, politics being what it is it meant there were always opponents," says Chegwyn, who says that four months of his life each year are lost to the festival.

"We have slowly won most of the council and the town around. People have come to realise that it's not just good fun for local people, it's a serious money-spinner for the local economy. This year, it will bring in more than £500,000 to Gosport."

If you don't believe him, just try booking a hotel or B&B room in Gosport during the next 10 days. You're more likely to hear James Brown break into a verse of Dancing Queen.

In the world of music festivals, Gosport's must be close to unique. Its combination of the kind of star names you'd associate with Reading or Glastonbury with the laid-back atmosphere and off-the-beaten-track venues more familiar from dozens of folk festivals make it a winner with visitors and performers alike.

"It's a very friendly, intimate festival, and we never get any trouble," says Chegwyn.

"It's different from something like Glastonbury. We look after our guests really well.

"BB King said 'I travel all round the world and I'm treated like a number. Here, I'm treated like a human being'. It's much more personal than they are used to at big stadium shows.

"They don't feel threatened here. They couldn't wander round somewhere like Glastonbury without getting mobbed.

"The whole festival from the top to the bottom, and even taking in elements like security, is very friendly and laid-back. People come here knowing they'll have a good night out."

Another reason for its popularity is its chalk-and-cheese approach. Where else but Gosport would you find such revered giants of the music world as James Brown or Roger Taylor sharing a bill with lip-glossed young pretenders like Atomic Kitten?

According to Chegwyn, the festival's appealingly jumbled line-up is as much the result of serendipity as hard-nosed planning.

"I try to get a balance of people who are right for the festival, but sometimes it's just a matter of luck that we manage to get people. With James Brown, for instance, who is playing his only UK appearance this year at Gosport, we just happened to fit in with his schedule.

"Different people come for different bands. Queen still have a huge following, and we've got Queen fans flying in from all over Europe.

"This year's line-up is probably the strongest yet. All the main artists are good sellers. James Brown is a worldwide music superstar, everyone knows Rolf Harris, and Atomic Kitten's new single is out now, so they'll probably be at number one by the time of the festival."

Since the first festival in 1991, an impressive catalogue of music stars has descended on the town for the event, including Bill Wyman, The Drifters, Dannii Minogue, Bob Geldof, The Saw Doctors, Jools Holland, BB King and even Take That - who reportedly caused 300 teenage girls to go "berserk" when they opened 1992's festival with a performance at Bay House School.

"BB King was an absolute gentleman and a world superstar, and a hero of mine for many years. It was lovely to meet him and find out he was such a nice person.

"We got Take That just before they went really big - we had a feeling about them."

The fact that, a couple of weeks before the festival, Chegwyn not only sets aside precious time to talk about his beloved festival, but can talk about it in fully-formed sentences and manage to sound laid-back at the same time, is a testament not only to his organisational skills, but his strength of character too.

"I do pretty well everything from booking the artists to sending out press releases to putting up posters.

"I'm lucky because I run my own business, so I can organise that around the rest of my life."

All this from the tiny converted back bedroom of his house in Russell Street, Gosport.

"It's very crammed. It's just me and the cat," says Chegwyn. (And no, in case you were wondering, there isn't a Mrs Chegwyn: "No wife would put up with me doing this.")

Chegwyn's passion for the festival event - which, financially, rarely does more than break even each year - even extends to putting up £20,000 of his own cash. The festival, which costs £200,000 to stage, used to be funded entirely by Gosport Borough Council, but they have now slashed their contribution to £10,000 a year.

"I thought very seriously this year about whether I could do it. If I looked at it in hard-hearted economic terms, it wouldn't be worth doing, but it's really a labour of love. It's nice to be able to do something positive yourself rather than just look at other people doing it."

And, after all that effort, he won't even be watching the show.

"The one person who won't be standing there watching James Brown will be me, because there will always be something to do backstage."

Chegwyn says he might be persuaded to take a short break after the event.

"I'll probably go up to the Edinburgh Festival. At least if I see things going wrong there, I'll know it's nothing to do with me."

n Tickets for the Gosport Summer Festival, at Fort Brockhurst from August 9-12, are available from the 24-hour ticketline on 0870 603 2665 or by visiting the website at www.ticketweb.co.uk.