Shropshire Star

Shropshire food festival under new management

One of Shropshire's biggest festivals – which attracts thousands of people from across the region and beyond – is under new management.

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Lindsey Rollings has been appointed as the new events manager for Ludlow Food Festival, which will be held for the 22nd year this autumn.

She has taken on the role after the departure of Beth Heath, who has managed the event for the past 11 years.

The food festival is Ludlow's single biggest event of the year, regularly attracting 20,000 people to the grounds of Ludlow Castle. Many travel from across the UK or even from overseas to attend.

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Started by a group of enthusiasts in the mid 1990s, it was among the first of its kind and helped put Ludlow on the map as the UK's capital.

For half of its life it has been managed by events organiser Mrs Heath, who said she had agreed to leave at the end of last year. She said she had to relinquish her role at Ludlow Food Festival due to her commitments with Beth Heath Events.

Mrs Heath said: "My other events have just become too big to do everything. I was employed as director at Ludlow Food Festival, whereas the other events such as Shrewsbury Food Festival are with my own company. At Shrewsbury Food Festival last year we got 26,000 in. It's a lot more than just a hobby."

Her commitments also involve organising Shropshire Kids Festival in April, Shropshire County Show in May and the new Telfood Feastival, which is set to run for the first time in July, as well as Shrewsbury Christmas celebrations in December.

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Ms Rollings, 24, said the festival crowds regularly filled Ludlow Castle to capacity, so they were not necessarily looking to increase numbers for 2016, but rather to focus on quality and community involvement.

She said: "It is important that the festival is about quality and not just attracting the highest possible number of people. There is a point at which too many people start to diminish the experience for people attending the event and this is not what we want.

"We want to make sure that we get back to be the best again. The festival will be returning to its roots which is to showcase Ludlow as the capital of food. It will be in the castle but will also spread out into the town with more community involvement with local businesses and schools."

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