The wait is almost over as Caerphilly’s Big Cheese Festival returns this weekend for its 19th year!

Lots of details – who / what is on when can be found below on this page:

Music Marquee: Timetable | Artists / Bands
Reenactment Arena: Timetable | Entertainment / Displays

The sights and sounds of the Big Cheese Festival will surround Caerphilly Castle from Friday 29th July to Sunday 31st July, with a whole host of family entertainment on offer.

Starting off with the Great Cheese Race at 6:30pm on Friday 29th July, where competitors work in pairs to see who can carry a truckle of Caerphilly Cheese along the route in the shortest time. After the great cheese champions have been decided, an evening of musical entertainment will follow in the music marquee to include Kizzy Crawford, Vince James and Whitehall Parade.

The music marquee will also host a range of musicians on Saturday 30th July and Sunday 31st July including Gin Rummy, Danielle Lewis, The Heavy Quartet and Feelgood Experiment. The Great Hall will be home to the beautiful sounds of Caerphilly Ladies Choir, The Melody Makers, Aber Valley Male Voice Choir and many more throughout the weekend.

Re-enactments will provide historical entertainment throughout the weekend from various periods in time including Roman, Medieval and 10th Century, all of which will be performed in the designated re-enactment area.

Pembrokeshire Falconry will also entertain within the re-enactment area on both Saturday and Sunday at 1:15pm and 5:00pm.

The Big Cheese Festival will also include a vast range of food and craft stalls for visitors to explore throughout the weekend.

Park and ride services are available at the Y Gwyndy Campus on Friday 29th and from Bedwas High School and St Cenydd School on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st July. The Y Gwyndy Campus will serve as a park and walk facility on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st July.

Go2MyTown.com Event Crew

Keep an eye out for the Go2MyTown.com Event Crew on Saturday and say “Hi”, we’ll be around gathering more photos and video.

We’ll also sharing info on the FREE entry to win a “Family Pass” to Llancaiach Fawr Manor in Nelson.

More info on the Competition Page.

Music Marquee

Timetable

Artists / Bands / Personalities

Steve Fisher

Festival Compere
The Big Cheese will be compered by the incomparable Mister Steve Fisher. Steve has worked in the creative industries for more than two decades including as an actor, producer and director for theatre, tv, film and radio. This year he looks lively on the music stage, bringing his unique personality and charisma to the festival!

Kizzy Crawford

Friday 6pm

A Welsh speaker with Bajan heritage, 19 year old Kizzy Crawford’s solo career began just two years ago. In that time, Kizzy has developed an increasing sophistication to her songwriting and performance, which is complimented by her soaring voice that boasts both range and charisma. Her ambition as a black Welsh artist is to make her mark by fusing bilingual soul-folk jazz and she’s already getting recognition for her work with airplay on BBC Radio 1, BBC 6Music, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru as well as live TV performances on S4C, Children in Need for BBC 1 and the 6 Nations advert campaign.

http://www.kizzymerielcrawford.com/

Vince James

Friday 7.15pm

Introducing an exciting new emerging Welsh talent. The whiskey soaked vocals of frontman Olly combined with his simple and skilfully constructed songs are piquing interest of local radio DJs and music lovers.
Lead singer Olly had been performing for years on the streets busking until he met a Welsh music producer Adam Richards. Since that meeting Vince James came into existence and has since developed his own individual sound, which is a captivating blend of indie-pop, folk and country.

https://www.facebook.com/vincejamesmusic

Whitehall Parade

Friday 8.30pm

An eight piece rootsy folk rock band based in Cardiff. You might remember these chaps and chapesses as the artists formerly known as The James Clode Band. Well they’re back, 2.0, new and improved, having performed a number of venues, events and festivals across the UK including the Watchet Music Festival, C2C Country-to-Country Festival and the Welsh Perry & Cider Festival at Caldicot Castle.

Their music is a combination of up-beat, foot stomping tunes and softer, more folk-orientated melodies. Not to be missed.

http://www.whitehallparade.com/

Valley Jive (Dance Workshop)

Saturday & Sunday 12pm midday

Learning to jive with Valley Jive is a fun introduction to get you dancing to 50’s Rock and Roll. ‘Learn2Jive’ classes are held every Tuesday evening 7:45-10 pm at Llanbradach Social Club, Caerphilly and Valley Jive hold a dance the first Friday of the month, with a record hop or a live Rock n Roll band. Valley Jive play mostly authentic 1950’s jive music but also cater for other styles such as bop, swing, Lindy hop, rockabilly, strolls.

Don’t miss this workshop to get your toes a-tapping!

https://www.facebook.com/ValleyJive/

Danielle Lewis

Saturday 12.45pm

Anyone lucky enough to live in Wales is likely to have heard the absolutely beautiful voice and life enriching songs of Danielle Lewis. Since releasing her debut EP in July 2013, Paper Hearts, Danielle has been a live guest on three of their S4C TV programmes with more in the pipeline, been playlisted on BBC Radio Cymru, featured as Artist of the Week on BBC Radio Wales and invited onto BBC Wales’ Emerging Talent Horizons Project for 2016.
”Danielle’s unique music does something very rare in the singer-songwriter world – she exudes happiness and joy, her songs are light, her smile fills the room. She has a rare and organic natural warmth that shines through the music. Where most wallow, she soars.” – Bethan Elfyn, Project Manager Horizons & Specialist Music Presenter BBC Radio Wales

http://www.daniellelewis.co.uk/

The Brwmys

Saturday 2pm

Foot-stomping, jig-tastic future folk from Cardiff, playing an eclectic mix of Bluegrass to Bhangra, Irish to Arabic…and everything in between… After forming in 2012, The Brwmys have been spreading their music around like jam on toast. Influences are predominantly folk, rock and blues, but these are combined with flavours of Asia, South America, and the middle-east to give the band an unusual and unique sound. Songs can be simple or complex, gentle or manic with no barriers to constrain experimentation. Be prepared to swig your cider, dance your socks off, and find out what the Brwmys actually means…

https://www.facebook.com/thebrwmys/

Gin Rummy

Saturday 3.15pm

Gin Rummy is a group of friends from South Wales drawn together through a passion for funky folk and reggae goodness. New in this format, they’re by no means new kids on the block. These are experienced, weather hardened jammers, fresh from the surfboard and the wistful fire-lit beach party.

Steel Forks Band

Saturday 4.30pm

Steel Forks Band boast three singer-songwriters all chipping-in to create their diverse musical style: original tunes covering rock, folk, blues, and country. What more could you ask for? Taking inspiration from the obscure and classical 70’s catalogue, they can pick you up or rock you to sleep in one sitting. There are notable namedrops with David Sivell (former guitarist and backing singer with Zervas and Pepper) and Dave Morris (formerly Whistling Biscuits local fame and Cardiff Big Gig Finalist, Dave Morris and The Knock), together with third contributor, the multi-instrumentalist, Laurence Semmons on the unique pedal steel, and a solid rhythm section from home with Andy ‘D’Bot’ Davies (bass) and Sarah Griffiths (drums). They’re guaranteed to meet your musical needs and more.

The Wayners

Saturday 5.45pm

Based in the south of France, The Wayners was formed in 2013 by valleys boy Wayne Brooks of Abercarn, shortly joined thereafter by a trio of talented French musicians. They have already enjoyed a successful first tour of Wales in the summer of 2014 and are thrilled to back! This is really something special – you’ll know it as soon as you hear them.

http://www.thewayners.com/

Ivan Moult

Sunday 12.45pm

Blessed with a voice that could soothe a set of angry ringwraiths into tranquillity, Ivan Moult inhabits a curious, gentle space set between the 1970s folk/blues tradition and modern, confessional lyricism. Prepare to be charmed.

http://ivanmoult.com/

The Schmoozenbergs

Sunday 2pm

Conjuring up the mood of 1930’s Paris, fused with the energy of a campfire jam session, we are a group of musicians with a passion for gypsy swing music. Irresistible rhythms, lyrical melodies and our own little bit of ‘special sauce’ give us the ingredients for a heart warming, hip swinging sound. They say Paris is the city of love, well let’s hear it for Caerphilly!

http://schmusic.co.uk/

The Heavy Quartet

Sunday 3.15pm

The Heavy Quartet plays raucous brassy jazz-rock fusion with more twists than a corkscrew, taking the tradition and tossing it up with any other musical style they can lay their hands on. The musical styles include electronic swing, funk, reggae, ska, improvisation, a bit of klezmer-ish and African thrown into the mix. Festival favourites, they’re sure to grab your attention and wave it wildly like a wrecking ball.

https://www.facebook.com/The-Heavy-Quartet-319590968055001/

Feelgood Experiment

Sunday 4.30pm

6-piece soul-hop collective Feelgood Experiment are one of Bristol’s most exciting new musical exports, creating innovative sounds inspired by the likes of Fela Kuti, John Coltrane, Hiatus Kaiyote, D’Angelo, Miles Davis and Takuya Kuroda. Fronted by vocalist Holly Wellington and trumpeter Alfie Grieve, it features the very best of Bristol’s blossoming young music scene as they combine a love of jazz, soul, Afrobeat, hip hop and R&B to concoct bewitching tunes with complex rhythmic counterpoint and irresistibly groovy harmonic lines. We defy you not to dance!

https://www.facebook.com/feelgoodexperiment/

Rusty Shackle

Sunday 5.45pm

South Wales based indie folk roots band Rusty Shackle have been captivating audiences with their incredible live performances since early 2010. Their shows blend well crafted catchy tunes with stunning high-energy level performances which will make sure you’ll leave exhausted with their tunes swimming around your head for days afterwards. With years of domestic and international touring under their belts, and a large and loyal fan base already in place, Rusty Shackle have found themselves to be seasoned regulars on the UK festival circuit. Their most prestigious performances to date have been at Glastonbury, Cambridge Folk and Beautiful Days Festival. What a way to wrap up The Big Cheese!

http://www.rustyshackle.com/

Reenactment Arena

Timetable

Entertainment / Displays

Pembrokeshire Falconry

1.15pm & 5.00pm Saturday and Sunday

Experience the thrill of the Peregrine Falcon stooping over head at more than 100 miles per hour, followed by the majestic soaring of the Red Kite and the giant presence of the Vulture and Eagle. These are just some of the birds of prey you can expect to encounter in their displays.

http://www.pembrokeshire-falconry.co.uk/