 | | Camping at the original Deeply Vale |
Chris Hewitt is one of the original organisers and he says that Deeply Vale stands as something of a legend amongst musicians and the media of the North-West. | "There’s this thing now that Glastonbury, successful as it is, socially excludes people from the North-West." | | Chris Hewitt on why Deeply Vale needs reviving |
"Back in the 70s, there were three major festivals on the free festival circuit. Those were the one at Stonehenge, the one at Glastonbury, and the one at Deeply Vale, which started in ’76 with 300 people, grew to 3000 people the next year, and in ’78 and ’79 had 20,000 people in this little valley between Heywood and Rochdale."
 | | The facilities will be better in 2006! |
He thinks the time is right to revive it because Glastonbury has become too expensive. "There’s this thing now that Glastonbury, successful as it is, socially excludes people from the North-West, because you’ve got a situation now that to get a ticket, you’ve got to stay up all night, you’ve got to have a landline and you’ve got to pay for it with a card, which means you’ve got to have the money there and then.
 | | The main stage at Deeply Vale in the 70s |
So what we want to do is put on a festival that is more in the price range of the people in the North-West, that people don’t have to travel 200 miles to, and all those people that can’t get a ticket to Glastonbury can come to something with the same roots." Hewitt is hopeful about the bands that could be involved as he's already received plenty of support from local bands.
 | | Deeply Vale 2006 is launched |
"Jimi Goodwin of Doves was actually at the festival aged eight, so he’s got a natural affinity with it. He told Badly Drawn Boy about it, who loves the idea. Elbow love the idea. Some of the older people who played there in their very early days, like the Fall and Durutti Column, are behind it. All of these people want to come on board and play." A four day festival on moorland between Rochdale and Heywood? Stranger things have happened. It could be that the North-West will finally get a summer festival to rival the Glastonburys, Vs, Leeds and Readings of this world. | 
